Landmarks

yerself

yerself

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I had a hard earned day off work today and whilst driving aimlessly along listening to Radio Lancashire I happened to hear that a panopticon was being officially unveiled in Blackburn. Then, lo and behold, a certain Gayle Knight came on singing the praises of this new local landmark in Corporation Park.
As I had my camera with me I thought I'd go along and take some pictures for the benefit of any Accrington Web members who may be interested (Tealeaf sprung to mind for some reason). I drove down Accrington Road and when in the Eanam area looked toward Corporation Park, the only landmarks I could see were a mosque and the telecommunications aerials situated near the tank on Revidge Road. I drove along Preston New Road and turned right into Revidge Road, carried on past Corporation Park, but never sighted the panopticon Gayle was enthusing about.
When I arrived home, without having seen this apparent enhancement to Blackburn and East Lancs in general, I put the following two words into the Oxford online dictionary: panopticon and landmark. Below are the results:
landmark


• noun 1 an object or feature of a landscape or town that is easily seen and recognized from a distance.


panopticon


/panoptik
schwa.gif
n/ • noun [SIZE=-1]historical[/SIZE] a circular prison with cells arranged around a central well, from which prisoners could at all times be observed.

I wonder if Gayle could enlighten us as to the whereabouts of this easily seen and recognised circular prison?
 
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It is in the park. If you'd have got out of your car on Revidge Rd and walked into the park you would have clearly seen it.

As for the name - I know it means circular prison but it also means Pan (panoramic) opticon (to see) - I didn't choose the name so can't particularly defend it. I personally think the name has put a lot of people off the project and I suspect the name will be dropped in time once they are all built and they are individually associated with each area. For instance, I suspect that the Blackburn Panopticon 'Colourfields' will always be known as the Cannon Batteries.
 
I wished you'd have parked your car and took a photograph for us.

When I was at school I used to go into the park every lunctime. There is indeed a cracking panoramic view of Blackburn from the top of the park, and it would be interesting to see what they have done there.
 
I wished you'd have parked your car and took a photograph for us.

When I was at school I used to go into the park every lunctime. There is indeed a cracking panoramic view of Blackburn from the top of the park, and it would be interesting to see what they have done there.
 
Have you got a pic of it for us Gayle?

I thought the point of these Panopticons was that they could be seen for miles around. Apparently you can't even see this one if you're within yards of it!
 
Well it's not the blot on the landscape we were going to have on the Coppice.
 
It's hardly noticeable! As landmarks go I'd put that one down as a non-starter. Still it's not as bad as the Wycollar egg or the Rossendale spaceship I suppose. I'd be interested to see how it manages to bring tourism, growth and regeneration to Blackburn.
 
I've just had a peep at the Panopticons site. This is what I've copied from there:

A Panopticon for Hyndburn

There are currently no plans for Hyndburn.


Lovely, thats all I can say!
 
I'm not sure it is tea leaf. Hyndburn now has nothing and no plans for anything, which sort of sums up what always happens form what I read on here. Why can't you have something new but with elements that suggest some of it's history. The comming together of the past and present.
 
There were some pics in tonights LET....but they weren't particularly attractive...however the LET told us that it gave a wonderful view of the town.
 
It's a bit hard to judge from a couple of photographs, but first impressions make it look like a walk way from an inner city slum carpeted with oddments from the market.
 
Ooooh Garinda........how I wish I had your knack of descriptive language.......that is exactly what it looks like! It looks like it has been cobbled together from offcuts.
 
Margaret Pilkington said:
There were some pics in tonights LET....but they weren't particularly attractive...however the LET told us that it gave a wonderful view of the town.
Click to expand...

The thing is there is already a fantastic view from up there. I don't see how this is improving it.

I have nothing against public art, or indeed modern art, my only criteria is that it should be good or at least challenging. This just looks dire, and will certainly not stand the test of time. In fact it already looks passe.
 
So it's a lose-lose situation isn't it? We put challenging pieces in front of you and you hate them, we put subtle and understated ones in front of you and you hate them too.
 
Gayle said:
As for the name - I know it means circular prison but it also means Pan (panoramic) opticon (to see)
Click to expand...

Pan..A cooking pot
Op...contractive of Operation
Tic..an involuntary twitch
On..an operational indicator

Pa....contraction of ..Father
Nop.contraction of 'no problem' used in text, more often contracted to 'np'
Ti...Chemical symbol for Titanium
Con...a rip off


What was it that Abraham Lincoln said?
 
I used to go up to Corporation park with my gran in the 60's...if it was nice weather we'd take some sandwiches and a bottle of Orange (3d back on the bottle)....we didnt go for the 'panopticon' (whatever that definition) we went because it was a 'PARK'

MY point is...Guinness first law..it does not matter how much publicity you give an attraction that has nothing for the youth of today or how much press you get..it is still futile!
 
Things go out of fashion - parks go out of fashion. Sometimes you need something to remind people that things still exist. People will visit the park again because they'll be reminded about it and when they're in there they'll remember all the things that they used to love.

My guess is that a number of people who post on here (even people who don't like it) will go and visit it. That's people who may remember it but also people who have never been before. People from outside the area will see the publicity and they too will visit it and see all the other great things the park has to offer.
 
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