Ackroyd & Harvey undertook a wide ranging research and development period for The Ash Project, during this time the artists amassed considerable data showing how the ash tree is rooted and woven into the British landscape through place names. Working from Ordnance Survey Open Names, 1,300 towns, villages, farms, rivers, dales, woodlands and significant buildings in England, Wales and Scotland have been identified bearing ‘ash’, derivations of ‘ash’ or early linguistic forms of ‘ash’ within their name. Presented as a wall drawing, each place name is hand-written in ash charcoal, revealing how the ash populates our country’s geographical and human atlas.
The drawing of the names took place over a single day during January 2018, with brilliant help from University of Kent students.
