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BB2331
: Revisiting the Angels
Wednesday
15th November 2023
I
had three objectives when Robert and I set
off today, although you could add a fourth,
namely to do our best to avoid the
forecast rain! Tempting though it
was to delay our start with coffee and cake
at the Sizergh Castle café, a window of
opportunity arose so we set off down the
hill and into the Brigsteer Park wood, emerging
at the far side at the Park End Moss bird
hide.
Last
time we were there was during Covid lock-down,
in the days when we walked in small numbers,
socially distanced and opened gate latches
with twigs. Not surprisingly it had
been locked. Today there were no such
inhibitions and the door swung open to allow
us to enter.
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After
all the recent rain, I expected the wetlands
to be very, well, wet and they did not disappoint.
There were many birds of the duck
family in the distance. We really
needed TV Mike to be with us to identify
them. Robert did, however, spot a
Little Egret flying by.
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First
objective achieved, we took the track that
leads through Honeybee Wood to Barrowfield
Farm where a wooden panel had a most intriguing
pattern.
Can
you see the ostrich head?
The
climb up through the trees and onto Helsington
Barrow is quite steep and a little slippery
but we conquered it without problem.
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We had a brief debate as to whether
we should head north to visit the Mushroom
shelter but decided against it, given the
weather. Instead we strode along the
scar, enjoying the panorama of the flooded
fields in the valley.
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My
second objective was St John the Evangelist's
little church and in particular to admire
yet again the wonderful, evocative mural
by Marion Saumarez. I knew that it
was Great War memorial painting and that
village children had been used as models
for the angels but I didn't know much about
the artist herself.
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She
was of noble stock. Her father was
James St Vincent, 4th Lord de Saumerez whose
UK home was Shrubland
Hall
near Ipswich.
Marion
was born in 1885 in London, brought up in
Guernsey and Paris and trained in the Académie
Julian in Paris.
She seems to have
spent much of her life in the Ipswich area,
dying, unmarried in 1978.
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So,
how did she come to paint the mural at this
tiny church many miles from home?
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The Two
Valley News
from September 2019 provides the answer.
In 1919 there was much desire
to erect a memorial in St. John’s church to those who fell in the Great War.
It
happened that Marion de Saumarez, an accomplished portrait painter whose family
was renting Sizergh Castle, became friendly with bookbinder and fellow artist
Mary Benson of Levens, daughter of Mrs Emily Benson, a benefactor to the
church. Thus was conceived the unique painting which still covers the east wall
of the church, painted with oils in muted colours and depicting twelve angels
against a background of hills and a river redolent of the scene outside the
church.
Miss de Saumarez made preliminary sketches for the faces of the angels,
using local girls as models. One was May Wilkinson, daughter of a gardener at
Sizergh; another was Annie Hayton, a Monitor (classroom assistant) at the
school, who as Mrs Willan later became teacher at the school, organist at the
church and secretary of the PCC. May’s brother and Annie’s cousin both died of
wounds received at the Battle of the Somme.
The
article talks of "muted colours".
I suspect they have faded over time
so I have enhanced the
colours though possibly by too much.
Meanwhile
Robert was interested in the organ and pointed
out to me the foot pedals which were spaced
so narrowly, about half the usual width.
Presumably the organist of the day
had rather more delicate feet than the norm!
That
was two objectives satisfied, it was then
just a short walk back to the car and an
even shorter drive down to the Strickland
Arms where we enjoyed the beer and
the most delicious "smoked mackerel and horseradish pâté with chicory, walnut &
blue cheese salad, lemon dressing and toasted sourdough muffin".
That
was the third objective satisfied!
Don,
Wednesday 15th November 2023
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