St Catherine’s Hill is a chalk landscape on the southern edge of Winchester, rising 70 metres above the city. The remains of man-made monuments dating back to the Bronze and Iron ages that can be found there are testament to local people’s enduring relationship with the hill. My intention in this book is to explore that relationship.
I want the viewer to feel as if they are accompanying me on a walk around the hill. Each image represents an encounter with human interaction with the landscape, either through people we meet on our way, or through some evidence of past human presence.
I hope that the viewer will be able to feel the hill, to imagine the texture and sound of flint rubble underfoot, an occasional sighting of a butterfly, the sense of space that comes from the uninterrupted views of the rolling Hampshire countryside and, from below, the hum of the M3 motorway as it cuts through the centre of these ancient downs.
The motorway serves as a reminder of the continually evolving relationship between the hill and the local community. Thousands of motorists pass through every day, many probably unaware of the drama that unfolded 30 years ago. Protesters – both local and from further afield – chained themselves to diggers in an attempt to stop the road being built. They were unsuccessful and the landscape was changed forever.
