"England – Wales: An den Ursprungsorten der industriellen Revolution"

Name of traveller

Hans-Peter Bärtschi (b. 1950) and Sylvia Bärtschi-Baumann (b. 1952)

Reason for travel

• study of industrial heritage

Date of travel

two journeys in 1985 and 1995

Eine Zeile Cottages [in Gloddfa Ganol] war so eingerichtet, dass jedes Haus eine Entwicklungsstufe in Ausstattung und Komfort lebendig machte. Für spezielle Kunden wurden in der dortigen Werkstatt noch Schiefersteine gebrochen. Es braucht Feingefühl, die Sedimentschichten so anzuschlagen, dass die Steinplatte ohne Zerstörung gespalten werden kann. (Bärtschi 41)

Content

• architecture: description of the two bridges constructed by Thomas Telford (1757-1834) and Robert Stephenson (1803-1859) across the Conwy river
• industry:
  • inspects historical and contemporary industrial sites and charts their destruction
  • points out that before the First World War, Wales used to be leading in the production of coal and slate
  • visits shortly after the Miners' Strike and relates it to Margaret Thatcher's politics of deindustrialisation
  • interviews various industrial workers who report on the consequences of deindustrialisation
  • inspection of various slate quarries around Blaenau Ffestiniog, including the former tourist attraction Gloddfa Ganol
  • sees abandoned mines and slag heaps near Aberystwyth
• people: undertakes the first journey together with his British wife, Sylvia Bärtschi-Baumann
• transport:
  • modes of travel: bus, car and mountain railway
  • points out that the Snowdonia Railway is a Swiss product

Nationality of traveller

Swiss and British

Language of publication

German

Gender of traveller

Male, Female

Type of publication

industrial study; travelogue

Citation

Bärtschi, Hans-Peter. "England – Wales: An den Ursprungsorten der industriellen Revolution." Der endliche Fortschritt: Unterwegs zur Zerstörung der Industriekultur. Zürich: Verlag Orell Füssli, 2002. 40-8. Print.