Building the new Community Hub in the park means that we have lost the metal sculpture resembling a crown that has enjoyed pride of place in front of the library since Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012. It has not been lost forever as a prime position has been reserved for it in the new scheme, thanks to the lobbying efforts of the Friends of Marple Memorial Park but it gives us a chance to remind ourselves of how this relatively new piece of Our Local Heritage came about. It sounds simple but the process was much more involved and tortuous than you might expect.
It all began with an idea floated by the Friends of Marple Memorial Park. Could something be done to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012, marking her sixty years on the throne? The Friends had long considered working in conjunction with the Horticultural Department of Cheadle and Marple College and this presented an ideal opportunity. Rebecca Knowles, one of the College lecturers, had experience of garden design, having won an award at the RHS Tatton Show and she developed the Concept Design. This was inspired by various aspects of royal regalia and associated symbols, in particular the Sovereign’s Orb, the Cosmati Pavement* in Westminster Abbey and the vaulted ceiling in the Abbey which had, in turn, inspired the illuminated arches which were erected in the Mall for the coronation in 1953.
1953 Coronation: The Mall illuminated arches (click for another image)
Modifications were made to this concept as the design progressed but essentially all the elements were combined in the final design. The rather rundown bed at the front of the library was given a raised border in hard landscape and the arches formed the centrepiece with an orb on top and a simple crown suspended from the apex. The metalwork was prepared and assembled by a local metalwork artist, Wayne Chaisty, who had previously carried out other commissions for Marple and the park.
Metal art sculptor Wayne Chaisty was commissioned to create this element of the project. As many local people will know, Wayne did the circular Coronation Bench in the park, the locks display on Oldknow Gardens and the Nativity sculpture that is featured on Market Street each Christmas, so he has a fantastic track record locally (click Blacksmith Arts at Marple Rec )
Money is always the key to these projects but fund raising went well with contributions from a wide variety of organisations within the community. Everything was proceeding according to plan but then the council informed the organisers that they needed planning permission. Planning permission for a flowerbed? Even if it was strictly necessary, you would have hoped that the Council would have been fully supportive of an application designed to enhance the council’s own environment. But no. Full planning permission was required and that necessitated detailed drawings, a Design Access Statement and precise dimensions of ancillary items such as the display panel. As well as the delay in preparing for, and then getting, planning permission, there was a charge of £170 plus £85 for approval of the materials — £255 in total. This seems excessive for something of no commercial value but designed to enhance the community’s park, particularly when compared to the fee for a domestic extension — just £25.
The concept design for the new flower bed display comprises of four main elements with an optional fifth
All these problems caused unnecessary delays and the plants could not wait. They had been waiting long after they should have been planted but they were carefully tended by the staff and students at the College and they were eventually planted in August. Once the plants were in, the sculpture could be installed on the special foundations, carefully placed to minimise disturbance of the planting scheme. The final segment of the project, the information panel explaining the background and inspiration behind the scheme, was then installed. The Diamond Jubilee memorial was complete. The latest element to be added to our local heritage, demonstrating that heritage is an evolving concept, each generation adding to the overall legacy.
But that was more than a decade ago and, as anyone with a garden knows, things change over time. The original planting carried out by the college used annuals and it looked fantastic. They were proud of their own efforts and offered to plant a new design each year as an ongoing project. However, there was a change in personnel at the college and it was not to be. Recurring cost of plants and labour requirements prevented the Friends of the park taking over that commitment so they planted the bed with perennials, interspersed with bulbs, and have maintained it beautifully since then. The plans for the new community hub obviously threatened the future of this display but an excellent new site has been marked out for its successor in a prime position near the entrance to the new building, roughly where the infant swings are at present and in front of the planned outside seating area. The plants have been given new homes - they have been replanted elsewhere in the park and the bed will receive new planting when it is recreated, and the sculpture is being looked after by the Friends of Marple Memorial Park. Hopefully our latest item of Local Heritage will return to us, refreshed and rejuvenated, in a couple of years.
A digression — What is a Cosmati pavement?It is a mosaic floor in front of the High Altar at Westminster Abbey which was laid down in 1268 as part of the gothic rebuilding of the Abbey by Henry III. Italian workmen were brought over to design and lay it. The Cosmati family specialised in this type of work for almost two hundred years, hence the generic name ‘Cosmati’. The technique is called ‘opus sextile’ — ‘cut work’ —and it consists of geometrical patterns built up from pieces of stone of different colours and sizes, cut into a variety of shapes. It differs from ancient Roman and medieval mosaic work as that consists of square stones of equal size. |
