“Polevault”: Audiowalk on Mental Illness & Infanticide linked to canals

Professor Hilary Marland recently collaborated with Talking Birds as part of the ‘Polevault’ endeavour linked to their Olympic project: ‘Decathlon 2012’, providing commentary on mental illness and infanticide linked to canals. The project culminated in a downloadable ‘audio walk’ including the story of Elizabeth Barnwell, who was suffering from ‘puerperal mania’, a severe form of postnatal mental illness.

The roots of the Olympic sport of the Pole Vault reach back many centuries when obstacles, or more commonly canals or other stretches of water, were traversed using a pole. Canals have a complex and sometimes dark history as places where desperate people attempted to take their own lives. One such case was that of Elizabeth Barnwell. This audio walk tells her story.

With:
Professor Hilary Marland from the Centre for the History of Medicine, University of Warwick (interviewed by Nick Walker)
Roland Mackie – Canal Ranger for Coventry Council (interviewed by Anne Forgan)

You can download the audio walk here.