GeoGraph - photograph every grid square

· Bassett Family

· Castle

There is much controversy over the monument, and there always has been. Some people love it, others hate it. Many people think it is an ugly blot on the landscape. Others have suggested there should be another one next to it to the memory of all those miners who died in the mines to make the Bassets rich. But whatever you think of it the structure is now grade two listed and subject to conservation status. So we are stuck with thing! But why is it there? It is simplistic to say it was built to a dude who put down food riots. Yes, he did, but he also petitioned for the abolition of the slave trade, amongst other things. And he implemented safety procedures in the mines which, for their day, were ahead of their time and would probably qualify him for 'responsible mass employer status Regency style'. He financed Trevithick's research and installed a flushing loo, (steam powered!), in his house long before Thomas Crapper came a long.
The monument was commissioned by a committee who sought to pay tribute to him. They sought the advice of Polymath William Whewell on the construction. The foundation stone was laid with full Masonic honours and Basset's surviving family did not want the thing put up. But it indeed went up, albeit destroying much archeology in it's wake. On a positive note an accompanying charitable fund for injured miners was set up at the same time. It used to have a staircase in it but that has long gone. It leaks like crazy and the joinery is not so great as you would expect. I doubt the man in whose memory it was built would like it very much and, lover of art that he was, would have likely thought it an eyesore. Or a 'conspicuous toothpick' as it has been called. But it is fascinating in it's own way and seems to be an intrinsic part of the landscape now :-)