Winding House — Steve Messam

the Architect of Ruins - #1: Winding House

Architect of Ruins - No.1 - Winding House.

This winding house on a fellside in the North Pennines was part of a wagon incline used to transport iron ore from the mine down to the railway at the bottom of the valley. This was a gravity incline with the full wagons going down pulled the empties back up. The winding house straddled the tramway and on the top is the control gear used to slow the wagons down and stop them crashing at the bottom.

The landscape is home to hundreds of ruined structures. From WW2 pillboxes to dilapidated barns, redundant railway bridges and the remnants of heavy industry. Most of these structures remain either because they are simply too difficult to remove, or they’ve had numerous uses since their first construction. But all tell a story of the use of the landscape and connect us to the roots of how the landscape shaped our communities and culture.

‘The Architect of Ruins’ is a modern classic German novel by Herbert Rosendorfer. In it he imagines an ‘Architect of Ruins’ who leads the central character deep inside the earth, winding ever downwards as stories are told in fragments. Once at the bottom the journey winds its way back up and the stories are resolved and the wider picture is revealed.

The project seeks to transform a number of ruined structures in the landscape temporarily into fantastical follies and visual landmarks. By highlighting these often overlooked structures the project aims to reveal the layers of narrative that make up the story of the landscape. From mining and agriculture, to the transformative effect of the railways and the role of landowners.