Mapping the Cinematic Landscape

01 Mapping the Cinematic Landscape

01 Mapping the Cinematic Landscape

Project 1: Mapping the Cinematic Landscape The Trialetics of Spaciality

Mapping: The Trialetics of Spaciality Film as Storytelling An-other Ballycastle as Construct

Appendix

Project 1 Mapping the Cinematic Landscape

Like a piece of architecture, the city is a construction in space, but one of vast scale, a thing perceive only in the course of long spans of time.

City design is therefore a temporal art, but it can rarely use the controlled and limited sequences of other temporal arts like music.

On different occasions and for different people, the sequences are reversed, interrupted, abandoned, cut across.

The Trialetics of Spaciality Henri Lefebvre’s ‘Production of Space’ introduced the notion of the ‘Spatial Triad’ here Lefebvre breaks down space into three categories: Lived Space/ Physical - or the empirical, measurable and mappable space - is the actual, physical reality Perceived Space/ Non-Reality - is the result of a social process. Namely a space which becomes subjective - abstract space, conceptual space, imagined space - which is no longer three-dimensional, taking the shape of spatial representations and mental images Conceived Space/ Reality - a space which is lived. A space of action, related to verbs, a space for interactions with the physical dimension ‘the theoretical construct reaches an extreme where everything is included in this third spatial dimension: a dimension of the other’ Using Lefebvre’s trialetics concept I will first map lived Ballycastle, then determine how Ballycastle came to be where it is today. Finally I will create the third spatial dimension/ construct, an-other.

Lived

Spatiality

Conceived

Perceived

Opposite: Plan View Transition between Ballycastle Harbour and Rathlin Island Harbour

Mapping: Lived Space/ Perceived space Ballycastle today [2015] is a small seaside town located on the North East coast of Northern Ireland with a population of 5,089 according to 2001 census. The town sits at the Northern most extreme of the Glens of Antrim, within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town sits at the foot of the ninth glen called ‘Glentaise’ [Irish for ‘bright cheeks’].

To the North East of Ballycastle sits a rocky cliff named ‘Fair Head’ the Basalt rock rises some 196 metres above sea level offering long views back to Ballycastle and across the North Channel to the Mull of Kintyre [Scotland].

Ballycastle is situated along the banks of three rivers that converge to flow into the North Channel they are called: The Carey, Glenshesk and Tow River. At the end of the rivers is Ballycastle Beach. This blue flag sandy beach stretches for 1.3km East to West.

Ballycastle town is divided into two very distinct centres, the Harbour/Beach centre and the Commercial/ Economic centre. These centres are connected via Quay Road.

Opposite: Transition between Ballycastle Harbour and Rathlin Island Harbour

Landscape

Built Environment

Infrastructure

Open Public Space

Prominent Buildings

Notional Centres

‘The Diamond’

‘The Harbour’

Hugh Boyd’s Manor House 55°12’16.47”N 6°14’25.57”W Hugh Boyd (1690-1765), born at Drumawillan House, Glentaise, inherited his father’s estate in 1711, aged 21.

Hugh became manager of Ballycastle Colliery Salt Works and Company, and quickly began expanding the business. In 1737, he was granted £10,000 by the Irish Parliament for the establishment of a harbour at Ballycastle.

Colonel Boyd also built Holy Trinity Church in the town, in 1756, at a cost of £2,769. The Manor House, Ballycastle, County Antrim, is a mid-18th century building. It had an archway above the front door which set a statue of an Indian river god.

Within the grounds a brewery was erected beside the Manor House and possibly the glass-works was built to provide bottles for the beer. There was a tan yard at the back of the Manor house which Hugh Boyd had built in 1739.

The manor house currently lies in ruin.

Above: East Elevation of Hugh Boyd’s Manor House Opposite: West Elevation of Hugh Boyd’s Manor House

The old brewery 55°12’16.04”N 6°14’32.65”W Across the road from the Manor House is now a trio of terraced houses, these used to be the personal brewery for Hugh Boyd. The brewery was in an ideal located for quickly moving brewed beer across to the glass house for bottling, then transported to the nearby harbour. From the harbour the bottled beer was shipped across Ireland and Europe where it was sold.

Although the brewery is now defunct and the building converted into three terraced houses traces of the old function can be seen from the outside, specifically around the back.

Strange brick patterns are visible, these used to be open windows for sunlight and ventilation. Rail beams for sliding doors can still be seen wedged into the wall, these allowed barrels of brewed beer to be rolled out and loaded onto horse and cart, ready to be transported.

Opposite: East Elevation of the Old Brewery

Hugh Boyd’s Old manor house 55°12’14.31”N 6°14’35.18”W The facade of Hugh Boyd’s original house can be read as a time line of events. Reading from right to left [private to public] the most ancient facade of brick and slate is the oldest of the 3 farmhouses.

This building was a private stable for Hugh Boyd’s personal horses. It is also the most dilapidated of the three existing buildings, it is now used as a storage shed.

The middle structure is an in-situ concrete building with corrugated roof. It’s original purpose was a workshop to maintain the stables adjacent to it, however the original structure has not stood the test of time. The building is now a mechanics.

The left structure is the boundary wall of the plot, it is a breezblock wall with a red/orange render. The material of each building/ structure become more modern the closer it is to the street.

Opposite: South Elevation of Hugh Boyd’s Old Manor House

River Tow 55°12’9.07”N 6°14’28.76”W The River Tow is a misfit stream occupying an unusually wide valley, running from south-west to north-east. The valley was formerly used by the river Bush, where it entered the sea at Ballycastle. Today this river is diverted at Armoy by a low moronic watershed, left by the Scottish ice sheets, and enters the sea at Portballintrae, some miles to the west of Ballycastle.

The highlands to the east of Ballycastle are drained by the Glenshesk, Glenmakeeran and Carey rivers. The Glenshesk and Carey rivers join about half a mile from the sea to form the Margy river, into which flows the Tow River as a left bank tributary, before entering the sea just east of Ballycastle.

The Tow River once flowed into the original harbour of Ballycastle.

The harbour however was unfit to cope with the expansion of the town’s industry consequently the harbour was moved into deeper waters and the river was redirected into the Glenshek River.

Above: River Tow, the landscape evokes the a dreamlike experience Opposite: Section through River Tow

Mapping: An-other B a l ly c a s t l e a s c o n s t r u c t The landscape in which Ballycastle nestles into has played a significant role in shaping it’s culture. Storytelling in particular is one of the most prominent facets to Ballycastle’s culture and indeed within any town throughout the glens of Antrim.

Throughout Ballycastle’s history the topography of the glens has prevented any large settlement from occurring within it’s realm, this lead to very small towns and communities forming within the glens themselves. The majority of people however lead nomadic lives, moving goods from one town to another, subsequently telling tales of their travels.

These stories were a way of passing information from one generation to another. Throughout the centuries, stories that were told have eventually turned into epic tales that have popularly become known as myths and legends.

Within this section I will map how a particular image/ scene can be transformed from one event into another epic event through simple changes this will mimic the passing down of the story from one generation to another eventually becoming a myth/legend.

‘Without further preamble or explanation he fell to reciting Ossianic lays. For half an hour I sat there while his firm voice went on. After a while he changed from poetry to prose....I listened spellbound, and as I listened, it came to me suddenly that here on the last inhabited piece of European land, looking out into the Atlantic horizon, I was hearing the oldest living tradition in the British Isles.

Robin Flower, The Irish Tradition - p105

Opposite: ‘The Song’s of Ossian’ Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, 1809

Rural Landscape

Urban Landscape

film as storytelling

The constant jumping between, landscape and urban landscape, perceived, conceived realities, past and present within Ballycastle lead me focus on the duality of the town.

To convey the notion of storytelling I decided to make a short film highlighting these dualities. The film represents the storytelling aspect of the town, the conflict between landscape and urbanity is conveyed though imaginary.

Appendix 1

History of Ballycastle

Caledonia

Dรกl Riata

Hiberni Britannia

British Isles 300 A.D

Roman Conquered Land Non Roman Land

Kingdom of Dál Riata 300 A.D. Dál Riata (also Dalriada or Dalriada) was a Gaelic over kingdom that included parts of western Scotland and northeastern Ulster in Caledonia Ireland, across the North Channel. In the late 6th–early 7th century it encompassed roughly what is now Argyle and Lochaber in Scotland and also County Antrim in Ulster. To its east and north was Pict-land.

Dál Riata

The mountainous landscape played a significant role in cultivating the culture of Dál Riata inhabitants. The mountainous regions in which Dál Riata encompassed forced the inhabitant to move around in small groups, leaving very little archaeological ruminants. This in turn encouraged people to have few possessions, therefore telling stories was a way of passing down information of cultural importance.

The stories evolved with each new generation telling them, eventually the characters becoming god-like. Story telling in the Glens of Antrim still plays a vital role in passing on information.

Hiberni Britannia

British Isles

Roman Conquered Land Land Roman Conquered

300 A.D

Non-Roman Conquered Non Roman Land Land of Water BodyBody of Water

Dál Riata information...

Ossian Evoking Ghosts on the Edge of the Lora François Pascal Simon Gérard, 1801 Oil on canvas, 184.5 x 194.5 cm Gérard’s original painting was lost in a shipwreck after being bought by the King of Sweden after the fall of Napoleon, but survives in three replicas by the artist. A watercolour copy by Jean-Baptiste Isabey was placed as frontispiece to Napoleon’s copy of the poems.

Girodet’s painting was a success when exhibited in 1802, and remains a key work in the emergence of French Romantic painting, but the specific allusions to the political situation that he intended it to carry were largely lost on the public, and overtaken by the Peace of Amiens with England, signed in 1802 between the completion and exhibition of the work.

Opposite: ‘Ossian Evoking Ghosts on the Edge of the Lora’ François Pascal Simon Gérard

The poems of ossian In 1760 James MacPherson published ‘The Poems of Ossian’ a loose translation of a Gaelic manuscript MacPherson had come into possession of. The book is a series of poems written by a blind bard named Ossian [Oisín], in it he describes epic battles in which his father Fingal took part. Fingal’s character is loosely based on the Irish hero Fionn mac Cumhaill.

The mood is epic, but there is no single narrative, although the same characters reappear. Though the stories “are of endless battles and unhappy loves”, the enemies and causes of strife are given little explanation and context.

There is very little information given on the religion, culture or society of the characters, and buildings are hardly mentioned. The landscape is more real than the people who inhabit it. Drowned in eternal mist, illuminated by a decrepit sun or by ephemeral meteors, it is a world of greyness. Fingal is king of a region of south-west Scotland similar to the historical kingdom of Dál Riata and the poems appear to be set around the 3rd century, with the “king of the world” mentioned being the Roman Emperor Augustus (Octavian).

Opposite: ‘The Poems of Ossian’ by James MacPherson

Port Brittas and the North channel Before the establishment of Ballycastle town by Sorley Boy MacDonnell in 1565 ‘Ballycastle Bay’ was formally known as Port Brittas, and the small settlement by the river Margy was called Margietown. The settlement was an ancient trading post between Scotland and Ireland situated in the Kingdom of Dál Riata.

The treacherous expanse of water between Ireland and Scotland named the North Channel was seen as an easier mode of transit than trekking over the rugged Glens of Antrim. The coastline has claimed many ships including the Girona a ship from the Spanish Armada.

The images to the left is an analysis of the ships that have influenced Ballycastle during it’s history. The Birlinn boats brought the Vikings from Scandinavia, the trading ships moved goods from Ireland to Scotland.

Opposite [Top to Bottom]: Vikings Invade Northern Ireland English Invade and Kill MacDonnell Clan North Channel Becomes a Trade Route North Channel Used for Fishing

‘the diamond’ In 1758, Ballycastle was the economic centre of Ballycastle. Its sheltered square in the valley of the Tow, compared with the somewhat exposed situation of Dunineeny, was one of the main reasons for its subsequent growth.

In 1758 Hugh Boyd built a church beside the old castle in the Diamond.

Here the markets and fairs were transferred to this new centre. There are two weekly markets in Ballycastle, on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

The only six annual fairs in Ballycastle are on Easter Tuesday, the last Tuesday of May, last Tuesday of July (“wee Lammas Fair” or gooseberry fair), last Tuesday of August (Lammas Fair), last Tuesday of October (Apple Fair) and last Tuesday of November.

Opposite [Top to Bottom]: ‘The Diamond’ c.1980s ‘The Diamond’ During Lammas Fair