We’re now leaving behind White Horse Pacified to move onto WSSW: Part 4 – Hey Diddle Diddle. This took Kim and I around some bits of what I term ‘proper’ places. By that I mean houses and areas that have clearly been here much longer than all this ‘new’ (70s, 80s 90s) development of Swindon.
The walk took us down Old Shaw Lane and right past Lower Shaw Farm – home of Swindon’s Literature festival amongst other things and close to the Nine Elms pub. It also took us via Shaw Village centre where, as it was a warm sunny evening, we stopped for ice-cream. Yet another reason why this walk took us hours!
Of course, should the fancy take you to do this walk during the day-time, The Village Inn at Shawwould make a good stopping point for lunch and/or a pint being approximately on the mid-way point of this walk.
So anyway, suitably refreshed with ice-cream and a sit-down we ventured on to the next sculpture on the list which is ‘Hey Diddle Diddle’.
It’s described thus: 1992 – Artist: Vega Bermejo. Material: Portland Stone. Project details: Commissioned by Thamesdown Borough Council through the Percent for Art Policy and sponsored by Clarke Holmes Ltd. This charming sculpture in a domestic setting depicts the popular nursery rhyme.’
Hey Diddle Diddle – the front view – the cat and the fiddle
Well, by this time we are getting closer to where I live but I still wasn’t making the connection. Talk about not really ‘seeing’ or knowing what is under your nose. It’s shameful. For twenty years I’ve been passing this thing on the 1A bus home from town and never realized. I’m not going to lie, I’ve had the thought ‘well, fancy having a huge stone cat in your front garden’and similar – because it’s quite literally in a front garden in The Prinnells (between Shaw/Middleaze and Grange Park) Oh dear. Though to be fair, as the bus swings by, the only bit of the sculpture you can see is the cat. But readers, this is so much more then a giant cat. Stop and take the time to examine it and you will see.
A nursery rhyme in sculpture form
As the descriptions says and the name implies, this sculpture is all about the well known nursery rhyme ‘Hey Diddle Diddle the cat and the fiddle…’ The roadside end of it is indeed the cat’s face but it’s only on closer inspection that you can see the fiddle. The other end has the cow’s face on it and the two sides depict the dish and the spoon, the moon and the little dog laughing to see such fun. I rather suspect he was laughing at me for not knowing what was under my nose. And quite right too.
So anyway Kim and I thoroughly examined it and took photographs. Like so many of these sculptures it’s in need of a bit of TLC. Just a brush and some warm water would piff it up no end. If it was in my front garden I think I might be doing that. And perhaps encouraging visitors and offering cream teas! 🙂 Though before I get too judgemental I ought to consider that there might be some sort of clause prohibiting that.
As with all the others so far, this is a really interesting and intriguing sculpture. I love the idea of it – representing a nursery rhyme in this sort of setting – as of course nursery rhymes and domesticity go together. But hey – don’t take my word for it – go and see it for yourself.
The moon, the little dog and the dish and the spoon.
Public art of the bovine variety: The GWH Cow Sculpture
Cow sculpture at Great Western Hospital
Whenever I see the GWH cow sculpture it makes me smile and think of one of my favourite Ogden Nash poems:
‘Two cows, mildly mooing: No bull; nothing doing’
Which, if you think about it, is a masterclass in understatement. As is:
‘The cow is of the bovine ilk; One end is moo, the other milk’
‘Cow’
Date of Installation : 1987 Material : Welded Steel
Anyway, I just like that it’s there. Though why a cow exactly? Any particular reason for that, do we know? What I DO know is that it was created in 1987 by Tom Gleeson – the same hand that welded the gorilla that now lives in Queen’s Park.
From Swindon History blogspot: ‘The long time resident gorilla took up his present position in 1994. The welded steel sculpture by Tom Gleeson was purchased by the Borough following an exhibition in the Theatre Square in the mid 1980s.
19/07/2013: UPDATE:
Okay. We might not know why a cow rather than any other animal. But we do now know, thanks to a comment on the blog that it used to be at PMH. In an internal courtyard/garden as I remember. It got moved from there when the GWH opened. I don’t remember exactly how long it had been there. Only that it appeared some time between 1983 and 1990 (dates I worked at PMH).
Ken White – Swindon’s Mural Man. Known and loved by many Swindonians for the murals that once dotted the Swindonscape. Only one now remains, and that’s his first one, the Golden Lion Bridge mural.
If you haven’t heard of him and think you don’t know his work then you couldn’t be more wrong. An extract from the artist‘s website will explain:
‘Ken White is perhaps best known for his murals, sited in a wide variety of locations all over the world. To date, he has painted over one hundred murals.
He was, for many years, the personal artist for Virgin boss Richard Branson and has completed works for him in many Virgin establishments throughout the world, including record shops, hotels and airport lounges.
With the launch of Virgin Atlantic in 1984, Ken produced what is probably his most well known work: the “Scarlet Lady” emblem which features on all the airline’s aircraft’.
Image by Roger Ogle for Link Magazine
Ken’s early life
Life his brother and his father before him, Ken began his working life in the GWR works aged 15. He started out as a rivet hotter, later getting a move to sign writing in the carriage and wagon works.
As soon as he could he went to night classes at Swindon college to do his ‘O’ and ‘A’Levels in art. Those attained he left the works and entered Swindon’s art college to undertake a full-time art diploma.
Ken White – Swindon’s Mural Man
Ken’s mural painting activity didn’t restrict itself to Swindon though. As the personal artist for Richard Branson he travelled the world painting Virgin Megastores, airport lounges and more. You’ll find a great selection of Ken’s artistic output in this book: Ken White Muralist and Painter.
The Virgin Scarlet Lady
So yep. Not only has Ken painted murals all over the world he is the creator of Richard Branson’s ‘Scarlet Lady’. See, I said you’d know his work. So is he not something to celebrate about Swindon?
Well, as far as I’m concerned he’s worthy of his own place on my personal selection of ‘Ten things to celebrate about Swindon’list. Which I haven’t compiled in any particular order.
You can read more about Ken’s Swindon murals on SwindonWeb.
You’d be forgiven for not knowing anything of the West Swindon Sculpture Walk. This morning I chatted to someone on the bus about this, and she, a long-time resident of Swindon had no idea that these sculptures existed.
The route to this one takes you through a part of West Swindon I’d never even heard of, let alone walked through: The Bramptons. Blimey! It was like entering another universe. They have a club. With a swimming pool! It was all a bit Stepford actually.
White Horse Pacified
‘White Horse Pacified 1987. Artist: Julie Livsey. Materials: Steel and concrete. Project details: The sculpture was completed during an international artist exchange between Swindon and Lisbon, Portugal. Funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Southern Arts, Wiltshire County Council and Thamesdown Borough Council. The work is an interpretation of the famous chalk cut white horses surrounding Swindon’.
Promote it?!
A further point – the friend doing the walk with me lives in Bristol so this was all new to her. So by this point in the proceedings she voiced questions already in my mind: ‘Why is this not better known?’, Wouldn’t some signage be a good idea?’ and ‘Some labelling on the sculptures themselves could be quite good too’.
As I said earlier – people who’ve been here a long time – or even were born here – have no awareness of this thing as an entity. So what flippin’ chance does anyone else stand? SBC, Swindon and Wiltshire tourism – you are missing a trick!
Walk it, cycle it, picnic it!
You can walk or even cycle this trail. It can be pic-nic(ed) There’s pub stops and play parks and out-door gyms along the way. It’s a great with a dog. Yeah – if you want to romp through it all, you could do it in a couple of hours. But hey – you could actually make a whole day of this thing. But nobody knows about it! Well not enough people anyroad!!!
Anyway dear readers, next up is ‘Hey Diddle Diddle”. I’ll leave you to think on that one. Until next time…. Here is a link to a map of this sculpture trail.
It’s interesting how, since starting this blog, I’ve begun noticing things more. Apropos the subject of this post it’s less a case of noticing and more a case of paying some actual attention. Kiln Park West Swindon a case in point.
I live in West Swindon and regularly walk to the West Swindon Centre, my route to which traverses an area of open ground that forms a sort of ‘no-man’s land’ between the villages of Grange Park, Westlea and Freshbrook. On this area there sits a tree. The tree once was circled by a bench – now long gone.
However, what does still circle the tree are clay tiles. Clearly I’ve noticed both the tree and the tiles before but haven’t, until now, really given any thought about the message they bear:
Kiln Park 150 AD – 1989 with patterned tiles in between the tiles with text on them.
Roman History of Kiln Park West Swindon
Back in the day when the Romans were stamping around this area there was a large Roman pottery industry in West Swindon. Certainly the ground here is all clay. I eventually got rid of my lawn because it either was so dry and hard that it had cracks like the San Andreas Fault running through it – or it was like Flanders.
It is probable then that Swindon first began life as a settlement linked to a military encampment in the early days of the Roman occupation. The place that is now Swindon lay on the junction of two Roman roads. One leading south from Cirencester towards Marlborough and the other south eastwards to Silchester ( Ermin Street). Evidence exists to show that Swindon’s quarries were in use at this time to produce stone for villas and clay from the Whitehill region (now West Swindon) was used to produce Whitehill Ware pottery.
All of which is really rather fab and interesting is it not? An example of the seemingly small and mundane things that, at face value, appear insignificant but yet have history and stories behind them.
