Simon Marsden
The Cheesewring, Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, England
Vintage Gelatin Silver Print
41 x 31 cms
16 1/8 x 12 1/4 ins
16 1/8 x 12 1/4 ins
SM023
Literature
Simon Marsden, 'Phantoms of the Isles. Further Tales from the Haunted Realm', 1990, Illustrated and text P.44-46
Inscribed with title and signature on the back. 'This is the most haunted landscape I know, a dark, wild and dangerous place that is saturated with ancient history and myth....
Inscribed with title and signature on the back.
'This is the most haunted landscape I know, a dark, wild and dangerous place that is saturated with ancient history and myth. The area has a strange drawing power, a cruel spell that lures one unsuspectingly into its web of eerie landmarks; stone circles, Celtic crosses, disused mines, deep and mysterious pools and the remains of prehistoric villages all lie scattered across the moor, then, as night falls, wild animals wander the unseen horizons and the ghost of primitive man are said to rise from their graves.
One summer's evening I found myself driving through this wilderness near the small village of Minions. I had been here once before, to photograph an ancient burial chamber associated with the spectre of a Druid priest, and remembered the group of ghostly, deserted mine buildings that stood out against the skyline. In the far distance, I could see the strange leaning rock formation known as the Cheesewring, which is thought by many to be a source of psychic power. It was now almost dark and so I decided to find a place to stay for the night.
We began discussing the moor and my interest in the supernatural and the two locals told me several extraordinary and frightening stories of what, in their own words, 'lay out there in the wilderness'. Tales of ghostly carriages with skeletal drivers, of people who had literally vanished in a strange mist that descends without warning, and of certain remote spots where one experiences horrific feelings of 'timeless melancholy' and 'evil foreboding'.'
Extract from Simon Marsden, 'Phantoms of the Isles. Further Tales from the Haunted Realm', 1990, P.44-46
'This is the most haunted landscape I know, a dark, wild and dangerous place that is saturated with ancient history and myth. The area has a strange drawing power, a cruel spell that lures one unsuspectingly into its web of eerie landmarks; stone circles, Celtic crosses, disused mines, deep and mysterious pools and the remains of prehistoric villages all lie scattered across the moor, then, as night falls, wild animals wander the unseen horizons and the ghost of primitive man are said to rise from their graves.
One summer's evening I found myself driving through this wilderness near the small village of Minions. I had been here once before, to photograph an ancient burial chamber associated with the spectre of a Druid priest, and remembered the group of ghostly, deserted mine buildings that stood out against the skyline. In the far distance, I could see the strange leaning rock formation known as the Cheesewring, which is thought by many to be a source of psychic power. It was now almost dark and so I decided to find a place to stay for the night.
We began discussing the moor and my interest in the supernatural and the two locals told me several extraordinary and frightening stories of what, in their own words, 'lay out there in the wilderness'. Tales of ghostly carriages with skeletal drivers, of people who had literally vanished in a strange mist that descends without warning, and of certain remote spots where one experiences horrific feelings of 'timeless melancholy' and 'evil foreboding'.'
Extract from Simon Marsden, 'Phantoms of the Isles. Further Tales from the Haunted Realm', 1990, P.44-46