6. About The Cockle Pickers

Penclawdd is the name of the costal village which is the most recognised in South Wales, for it's Cockle Picking.

"Up until the end of the 19th Century, Penclawdd was a flourishing sea port... but above all else, Penclawdd was synonymous with cockles and cockling, and this is the only one of the old industries to survive."

The coast of Penclawdd touches onto the Burry Estuary, with then touches onto the coast of my home town, Llanelli. This is how I am so familiar with the Cockle Pickers. The, almost famous, low tides of the Burry Estuary make the cockle beds some of the finest quality harvest for the cockle industry.

"During the Industrial Revolution, women whose husbands were unfit work in the coal mines turned to cockle gathering as a lifeline, and right up to the 1970's, women were the main gatherers."

I was surprised to find quite a bit of information about the cockles pickers on the internet, I was expecting to have to make some in depth research with books, more of a historical reference. It still does seem to be a quite unknown lifestyle. 

http://www.enjoygower.com/communities/penclawddcom.cfm

http://www.bodnant-welshfood.co.uk/blog/the-cockles-of-penclawdd-3291.html

The article from 'Bodnant' seemed to be full of very useful research on the cockle pickers, it specifically focuses on the lives of the women of the industry and especially the Burry Inlet, which is the local area which I am researching.

It's a fairly useful article, but there aren't any sources on the information so I'm not that sure how reliable it is, even though it's only basic information.

The article has sparked some ideas for me to try out. Both these articles highlighted the women of the cockle picking industry and how important they were. The second article says that they wouldn't find these women picking cockles any more, but yet I am aware that there are still several women still out slaving at this labour.

These articles are fairly useful to look at, but I do think that it might be worth talking to people who know or have experience in the industry.

What kind of Project?

I know I would like to do a project on the cockle pickers. After some basic research, it's defiantly something which I have a strong interest and passion for, even a slight curiosity about. It's my interest in the work of Elin Høyland and also the work of Geoff Charles, which I also saw at the Diffusion Photography Festival which I would like to research some more, both Documentary Photographers who might have sparked my interest in this genre. I have tried 'A Day In The Life Of...' projects before in the past documentary photography modules, and as I've tried it in the past I feel that it will not be suitable for this project. I would like to document the rare, agricultural way of life, in all it's glory.