Claire Corkill

University of York, Archaeology, Graduate Student

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My current research focuses on the First World War internment camp at Knockaloe, Isle of Man. This site held over 22,000 men of German, Austro-Hungarian and Turkish origin throughout the war and became the site of a diverse and complex community.

Today the site leaves little visible presence in the landscape as during the post-war period the camp was systematically deconstructed and its inhabitents were dispersed.

What does survive is a wealth of material culture from craftwork produced by the internees to photographs and documentary sources such as official records, journals and letters. More intangible evidence also survives in the form of memories and stories passed through generations by internees and camp staff.

By drawing together all of these resources my research aims to create a virtual museum that will recreate Knockaloe camp making it accessible through the development of a 3d reconstruction and a virtual archive. The user will be able to find out information about how the camp functioned while moving around the space and experiencing how it was used. The museum will also contain details of individuals biographies linking stories, documents, images and objects to show how the experience of internement varied from person to person. Another element of the museum will be the incorporation of wikkis or blogs which will allow the user to add information to the collection enabling them to take part in creating a greater understanding of the Knockaloe and its inhabitants.
Supervisors: Mark Edmonds and Anthony Masinton

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Papers by Claire Corkill

Memorials from the Isle of Man TT Races

by Ray Moore and Claire Corkill

Raced over a 60.7km (37¾m) circuit of public roads where speeds can reach in excess of 320kmh (20... more Raced over a 60.7km (37¾m) circuit of public roads where speeds can reach in excess of 320kmh (200mph) and where participants pass within centimetres of houses, stone walls and lamp posts, the Isle of Man TT (or Tourist Trophy) Races remain the oldest and most prestigious event in the motorcycle road racing calendar. Once an important event in the fledgling Motorcycle Grand Prix World Championship (1949-1976) and part of TT Formula 1 Championship (1977-1990) it is has attracted the world's best racers :- Hailwood, Duke, Read, Agostini, Dunlop, Hislop and McGuiness. Throughout its 105 year history (1907-2012) commercial pressure, technological developments and course improvements have been associated with a rise in speed, and the current the lap record stands at 17m 12.3s with an average speed of 132mph/212kph. These rising speeds have been associated with a rise in accidents and consequently fatalities, with the number of riders killed standing at 136 men and women; with a total of 239 killed on the 'Mountain Circuit', if those at the TT's sister event, the Manx Grand Prix (MGP), are included. This 'darker side' of the event has attracted repeated calls from the media for the event to be banned, with as many column inches devoted to reporting death as any other aspect of the racing or its results. It's most vociferous critic, the British rider Barry Sheene, even claimed that "[t]his is not racing; this is a suicide mission" (Anon 2003). Yet, while death and danger are a pervasive reality at the TT Races; fans, locals and competitors vehemently defend the event as one of the last bastions of personal freedom. Guy Martin, TV presenter and racing participant, has recently defended the event: "The TT is dangerous, of course it is, but that's the reason I do it". (Martin after Rostance 2012).

Following fatality the family, friends and fans of those who are killed are often moved to raise commemorative monuments to the deceased at the place of death. Some of these memorials are transiant lasting a matter of weeks, but some become more perminent monuments and the focus for successive visits. As this archive shows the form and nature of commemoration is variable from simple plaques and benches, to more extensive statues, memorial gardens and marshal's shelters.

References

Anon. 2003. 'Obituaries: Barry Sheene'. The Telegraph, 11 March 2003: 25.

Rostance, T. 2012. 'Isle of Man TT: Guy Martin on danger, death and Everest'. BBC News. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/motorsport/17192387 (accessed 06 June 2012).

Knockaloe First World War Internment Camp: A Virtual Museum and Archive

Identity in the “Road Racing Capital of the World”: heritage, geography and contested spaces

by Claire Corkill and Ray Moore

This article explores the complex relationship between sport and landscape and their role in the ... more This article explores the complex relationship between sport and landscape and their role in the expression and maintenance of identity. While discussions have typically emphasised the role taken by stadia and sporting venues in the development and expression of sporting and national identities, fewer have considered the role taken by the wider landscape. It is this landscape that provides the context in which many sports are enacted and watched and it is through the embodied actions and experiences that landscape is given added meaning, reinforcing narratives of space that are implicated in the creation and maintenance of national identities. Yet here, unlike stadia or other sporting venues, space is much less regulated; as a result, participants and observers are also implicated in the creation of “counter geographies” that destabilise “official” narratives of space. Here our focus is on the contested landscapes of the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy Races; an event where sporting narratives have become materially and conceptually part of the landscape. Through a discussion of these landscapes and their expression in the Staying the Course exhibition curated by Manx National Heritage, we contend that geographies of sport must also reflect on the contested nature of sporting spaces.

‘The Island of Blood’: death and commemoration at the Isle of Man TT Races

The Isle of Man Tourist Trophy, the oldest motorcycle road racing event in the world, also remain... more The Isle of Man Tourist Trophy, the oldest motorcycle road racing event in the world, also remains one of the most controversial with a total of some 237 of competitors killed during its 104-year history. These fatalities are implicated within complex narratives of both remembrance and forgetting most evidently played out in the roadside memorials, place names and ‘cyber memorials’ created to commemorate the deaths. This paper provides a survey of these memorials along with an appraisal of their involvement in expressions of ‘public’ and ‘private’ grief.