Notes From A Small Island

Bryson makes a stop to see the Durham Cathedral, immediately proclaiming it to be the “best cathedral in Britain” (263). Not only is it sufficiently ancient and well-preserved, but it is also unmarred by throngs of tourists and modest in its admission fees.

Afterward, Bryson heads to Ashington, a former mining community that was once home to the Pitman Painters. The group emerged out of a social welfare program that supplied local workers with opportunities to develop other skills: painting, music lessons, philosophy, drama and opera, and athletic talents, among others. Bryson is impressed by the “hunger for betterment in places like Ashington” (265), though, sadly, these institutions are now gone.

He visits the works of the Pitmen Painters, which, unlike the programs themselves, have been preserved in the Woodhorn Colliery Museum, which also details the history of coal mining in the area. While Bryson admits that the paintings are not masterworks, he is duly impressed by the time and effort put forth by men who worked such physically brutal jobs. Bryson notices that one of the owners of the now-defunct mine was the fifth Duke of Portland. Again, he cannot help but remark upon the densely packed, and closely linked, history that exists across this small island.