This piece by sound artist Dave Howell describes a part of the Severn Vale landscape in which the presence of industry is powerfully palpable. The construction of the nuclear power stations at Berkeley and Oldbury-on-Severn in the late 1950s / early 1960s brought huge changes to the area. In a fascinating interview set alongside recordings inside and around the decommissioned station, Bill Gilll talks about working in the reactor and feeling the magic of the new science, tackling early problems with its efficiency, environmental concerns and the dramatic changes in accessibility from the open door policy of its early days to times of intensified security and armed police.

Bill Gill - metal bars and modern magic: power in the landscape at Oldbury-on-Severn

Pieced together by sound artist Dave Howell, this soundscape explores the issue of flood protection in the Lower Severn Vale, specifically focusing on the extensive system of rhines cut into the grassy, low-lying landscape which drain excess water from the land, channeling and emptying it out through muddy pills and into the river at low tide. It features interviews with Matthew Riddle, a local farmer, councillor and board member of the Lower Severn Drainage Board, who discusses the necessity of keeping this system maintained through annual cutting and clearing; and with Sally Pattison, biodiversity officer at South Gloucestershire Council, who looks at these interconnected, corridor-like watercourses from the perspective of an important wildlife habitat and ecosystem.

a forgotten landscape