Snickets Project - Introduction
"Snicket" is a word that is used in various different places around the country, particularly in the North, and has different meanings depending on the locality. In my village in Northumberland the word refers to a number of pathways that run between otherwise neighbouring properties, from one road to another. They serve an important purpose in providing more direct routes for pedestrians from one part of the village to another without having to go "round the block" by road. They are easily missed if you are not familiar with them, and are mostly sheltered from view, and neighbouring properties are similarly difficult to see from them.
Some of these paths date back to the 1890s when four farms that originally occupied the land hereabout were divided up for development. Some are likely to be very considerably older as they follow the routes of old field boundaries.
This project involves photographing four of these snickets at specific intervals along their length (largely determined by changes in the physical nature of the boundaries) at various times throughout the year. The intention is to document how the snickets change over time, seasonally or temporarily, or indeed do not change. The snickets are a form of dynamic time capsule of certain aspects of life in the village and these photographs seek to capture some of those traces of time. By adopting a typological approach, producing sets of consistent and related images, I hope to make it easier to see those changes and illustrate the passage of time.