On the Ancholme

The river Ancholme, with a recorded history going back to the 13th century, is about 20 miles long and runs a straight course from its source south of Bishopbridge, in rural Lincolnshire passing through open countryside, several small hamlets and the old market town of Brigg, before meeting the Humber Estuary at South Ferriby. Now primarily used for leisure pursuits, the river for hundreds of years served as an important route for the transportation of cargo, linking rural areas with with the industrial towns of Yorkshire and beyond. These photographs were taken with no remit other than that of exploration and to document people and places encountered. It could be seen as a microcosm of rural England and references, slightly tongue in cheek, the work ‘Sleeping on the Mississippi’ by Alec Soth – a sweeping and yet intimate depiction of life in Middle America.