Timeline:
1066 – Friary (Carmelite or white friars)
1539 – Friary knocked down
1786 – St. Marks church re-built
1817 – Holmes field
1842 – Timbre yard
1872 – St. Marks church consecrated
1846 – Railway station
1985 – Railway closure
1996 – Shopping complex. St. Marks shopping centre opens as does Lincoln University.
During initial research into the local area an article was found from the Lincolnshire Echo detailing a discovery of 20 burials underneath the site that is now Debenhams. Detailing a court case to determine whether the discovery was in breach of the ‘Disussed Burials Act 1894’ (http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/discovery-20-bodies-nearly-ended-shopping-centre/story-14228193-detail/story.html ed grover 28/12/2011) The decision St. Marks wasn’t a burial ground meant that the shopping centre could continue with building plans and officially opened in 1996; although some shops in the centre had been open before this date. This information was interesting enough to warrant further research into the St. Marks shopping centre.
Research uncovered the reason the shopping centre is called St. Marks. Previously the shopping centre was St. Marks Station and before that St. Marks Church. The discovery that the shopping centre had a previous existence as a station would perhaps be common knowledge to local residents of Lincoln but how many would have been conscious of the churches existence? or are conscious of it when using the space today? The interesting idea drawn from this research is how dramatically the landscape and functions of one place can change.
With further research we discovered a short history of the land that is now St. Marks Shopping centre. Firstly the Friary excavated when digging the foundations for Debenhams was that of the Carmelite Monks, as stated in Ed Grover’s news article, the Carmelite’s were known as the white friars because of there religious scapulars (religious shoulder wear one of the signifiers an individual belonged to the Carmelites). The location of there Friary Was facing onto the High Street with the then burial ground at the back of the Friary as the map shows:
It seems that the memory of St. Marks church has remained a constant feature of the location since it existed when the Friary had been forgotten until its re-discovery. Interesting to consider how one religious building can fall into disuse and when re-discovered be built over when a second religious building can remain present in the conscious or sub-conscious of people through the continued existence of its name. Asking ourselves how much we knew about the use of these buildings and the existence of the white friary before the existence of the shopping centre is a question that could be put to our audience through performance in a bid to make them consider how they have not been here before.
Further research discovered the official opening date of the shopping centre is the same year as the Universities opening. Thinking about the meaning and implications these two buildings have for a community, about what statements they make, one a place of furthered learning and the other arguably a contemporary past time but certainly a landmark to consumerism, it increases the implications of counsel granted permission to build over the friary. As Debenems involvement with the St. Marks shopping centre is said to be crucial to encouraging other chains to invest in the site, did this influence the counsels decision on whether or not the friary was protected by the disused burials act of 1894? Two buildings opening in the same year both representations of contemporary culture and lifestyles. As local culture changes the use of buildings and space change with that culture. The white friars has been built over because its historical remains are not as valued as a shopping centre to the current community.
It is also interesting to consider the physical use of the buildings as space. While it is no surprise the layouts of shops are constructed to maximise potential sales, with similar products placed next to each other and displays set up demonstrating products, it may be a surprise that the brick work of St. Marks station is still in use, currently housing part of Argos and Phones 4 U. With the brick work changing colour at the join between Phones 4 U and Lakeland. The offices for JD sports are built on the same location and in the same shape as the original signalling box for St. Marks station. While that is a new building the plague marking St. Marks station on the side is the original. How conscious are the public of this information? How many walk through this shopping centre without making the connection to what it is that was in this space before them? even with the remaining brickwork and building shapes. A good stimulant for creating a performance both this information and these questions will contribute towards the rehearsal process. While local residents are perhaps more knowledgeable on the previous use of these buildings it may not be in the foreground of there thoughts when using these spaces. Our performance, while challenging the relationship between audience and performer, will also try to make the audience consider the previous uses of the space.
Creating a performance in a limited space or a space outside of the performers control, as we will be doing, reduces the materials available for creating scene and environment. Our performance will be very physical as the materials available to create the performance will be mainly the performers body. As Erika Fischer-Lichte details the impact Embodiment had as an emerging theatrical notion:
Actors had to become profficient at expressing physically the meanings that the poet had expressed textually- especially the emotions, mental states, thought processes and character traits of dramatis persona. (2008, p.77)
Our performance will need to express physically the meanings of our texts. The text in this case being the history of the buildings and the cultural changes brought about by this history. It will be a challenge to accurately portrait the mental states of different cultural opinions from different historical periods while explaining the physical use of the space over those time frames. The difference in material importance, for example, between a friar whose religious life would have a very different outlook on material possesions compered to a train conductor or the employies of Homebase today. All this information will be used as stimulous for creating a performance piece that will try to incorporate and explore these ideas.
Works Cited
Fischer-Lichte, Erika. The Transformative Power of Performance, 2008. Routledge: Oxon
Mills, D R (ed.) R C Wheeler, Historic Town Plans of Lincoln: 1610-1920, 2004. The Boydell Press: Woodbridge.
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