Llif
If the river Severn were a person, how would you tell her story?
Pe bai’r afon Hafren yn berson, sut fyddech chi'n dweud ei stori?
Visual artist Gemma Green-Hope and writer and audio producer Sofie Isenberg are aiming to answer this question as they gather material to make an art exhibition and an animated film about the river. The team will speak to glacial and fluvial geomorphologists in order to find out how the river first came into existence, whether and how its course has changed over time, and how it has influenced, and been influenced by, the surrounding landscape. They will gather information about the mythology and folklore surrounding the Severn, and about its history of human intervention (and intervention in human lives). They will also document the way life and death unfold around the river, including collecting oral histories from people who have lived, worked and played along the Severn.
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Mae’r artist gweledol Gemma Green-Hope a’r awdur a chynhyrchydd sain Sofie Isenberg yn bwriadu ateb y cwestiwn hwn wrth iddyn nhw gasglu deunydd i wneud arddangosfa gelf a ffilm wedi’i hanimeiddio am yr afon. Bydd y tîm yn siarad â geomorffolegwyr rhewlifol ac afonol er mwyn darganfod sut y daeth yr afon i fodolaeth gyntaf, a yw ei chwrs wedi newid dros amser a sut, a sut y mae wedi dylanwadu, a chael ei dylanwadu gan, y dirwedd o’i chwmpas. Byddant yn casglu gwybodaeth am y fytholeg a’r llên gwerin sy’n amgylchynu’r Hafren, ac am ei hanes o ymyrraeth ddynol (a'i ymyrraeth ym mywydau dynol). Byddant hefyd yn dogfennu'r ffordd y mae bywyd a marwolaeth yn datblygu o amgylch yr afon, gan gynnwys casglu hanesion llafar gan bobl sydd wedi byw, gweithio a chwarae ar hyd yr Hafren.
This project took us from sea to source on a research trip culminating in a workshop at Oriel Davies Gallery in Newtown.
We are now in the process of using all of the research gathered to create the script and storyboard for an animated film.
Visual Diary
Research Trip
Research
As part of this project we conducted interviews with glacial and fluvial geomorphologists, historians, mythology and folklore experts and people who have lived,
worked and played along the Severn.
People we’ve interviewed or consulted with about this project:
Adrian Lister. Palaeobiologist, Natural History Museum.
Chloe Newcomb Hodgetts. Professional forager.
Chris Witts. Creator of the website River Severn Tales, who also worked for many years on commercial ships on the river.
Corinne Spiller. Unlocking the Severn project, Canal & River Trust.
David Pannett. Scholar of the River Severn’s geomorphological development.
Dewi Roberts. Naturalist and river enthusiast, photographer and videographer, educator.
Julia Tinker. Ironbridge Coracle Trust
Marion Blockley. Ironbridge Coracle Trust
Peter Toghill. Geologist. Author of The Geology of Britain and Geology of Shropshire.
Stephen Tooth. Geographer, Aberystwyth University.
Rose Hewlett. Historian, University of Bristol.
Seán Vicary. Artist based in West Wales, working across animation, moving image and digital media.
Simon Whitehead. Movement artist based in West Wales, engaged in an ongoing sound project involving the Afon Dulais river.
Sioned Davies. Emerita Professor, School of Welsh, Cardiff University. Translator of The Mabinogion.
Steffan Jones Hughes. Artist and Director of Oriel Davies Gallery.
What we’ve been reading, watching and listening to:
Birds and Us: A 12,000 Year History, from Cave Art to Conservation. 2023. Birkhead, Tim. Penguin.
Britain’s Beautiful Rivers: Richard Hammond. Episode 1: The Severn. May 2022. Channel 4.
British Mammals in the Tertiary period. Hooker, J.J. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society (1989), 38: 9-2 1.
The boar with the apples on his tusks: Life in the Newport Wetlands 7500 years ago. Foster, Jennifer. Gloucester House Histories.
The Book of Eels. 2021. Svensson, Patrik. Harper Collins.
Chironomid-inferred summer temperatures for the Last Glacial–Interglacial Transition from a lake sediment sequence in Muir Park Reservoir, west-central Scotland. Brooks, Stephen, Davies, Kimberley, Mather, Karen, Matthews, Ian, and John Lowe. Journal Of Quaternary Science (2016) 31(3) 214–224
The day the sea came in: 1607 on the Gwent Levels. Hewlett, Rose. Gloucester House Histories.
Eels, Beavers, and Horses: Human Niche Construction in the European Late Upper Palaeolithic. Brown, Tony and Laura Basell. October 2017, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 83:1-22
Freshwater Worlds. Recording of a presentation by Dewi Roberts.
The Geology of Britain. 2000. Toghill, Peter. Swan Hill Press.
Geology of Shropshire. 2005. Toghill, Peter. Crowood Press.
Hidden History of The River Severn. 2022 Youtube video by Paul and Rebecca Whitewick.
The History of the World in 100 Plants. 2022. Barnes, Simon. Simon & Schuster.
The Ice Age Legacy in North Shropshire. 2008. Pannett, David. Proceedings of the Shropshire Geological Society, 13, 86-91.
The impact of Quaternary Ice Ages on mammalian evolution. Lister, Adrian. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B (2004) 359, 221–241
A long-term perspective on ungulate–vegetation interactions. Bradshaw, Richard H.W., Hannon, Gina E., and Adrian M. Lister. Forest Ecology and Management 181 (2003) 267–280.
The Long Term Response of Birds to Climate Change: New Results from a Cold Stage Avifauna in Northern England. Stewart, John and Roger Jacobi. 2015.
The Lost Rainforests of Britain. 2022. Shrubsole, Guy. William Collins.
The Mabinogion. 2018. Davies, Sioned. Oxford University Press.
The Origin and Distribution of the Freshwater Fishes of the British Isles. Wheeler, Alwyne. Journal of Biogeography , Mar., 1977, Vol. 4, No. 1 (Mar., 1977), pp. 1-24
Otherlands: A Journey Through Earth’s Extinct Worlds. [YEAR]. Halliday, Thomas. [Publisher].
Pirates: A New History, from Vikings to Somali Raiders. 2019. Lehr, Peter. Yale University Press.
Quaternary Herpetofaunas of the British Isles: Taxonomic Descriptions, Palaeoenvironmental Reconstructions and Biostratigraphic Implications. Gleed-Owen, Chris
Radiocarbon Dating Of European Beaver (Castor Fiber L. 1958) From Gough’s Cave Provides Evidence Of Population Persistence Over The Younger Dryas In Britain. Marr, Melissa. Proc. Univ. Bristol Spelaeol. Soc., 2016, 27 (1), 105-108
The River and the Rock. 2022. Roberts, Dewi, Tooth, Stephen, and Hywel Griffiths. Gwasg Carreg Gwalch.
Sabrina: Goddess of the River Severn. April 24, 2023 Episode of the Bristol History Podcast.
A Sleepwalk on the Severn: A BBC Radio 4 dramatisation. 2011, Oswald, Alice. BBC Worldwide Ltd.
Spirits of Severn. 2019. Dames, Michael. Austin Macauley Publishers.
Walking the Severn Way: 210 miles from the River Severn’s source in Powys to Severn Beach near Bristol. 2019. Marsh, Terry. Cicerone Press.
Wetland birds in the recent fossil record of Britain and northwest Europe. Stewart, John R. British Birds 97 • January 2004 • 33-43