Streetscape

Hidden Offa

CCORDING to an informative little booklet published by Hereford City Council (Hereford City Sculpture Trail, by Garth Lawson) there are no less than 16 examples of open-air civic art to be found dotted around the city. The 12-page guide thoughtfully groups them together into walking and cycle tours, with an annotated centrefold map. Pride of place, understandably, goes to Brian Alabaster’s realistic Hereford Bull, standing alongside the Old House in High Town, though for my money I prefer Jemma Pearson’s informal study Sir Edward Elgar, sited in the south-east corner of the Cathedral Close. In 2018 Ms Pearson contributed a second work for the city: a life-size bronze of Lance-Corporal Allan Lewis VC (1895-1918), who died in northern France seven weeks before the end of hostilities. The ‘immediacy’ of both these works is that the artist has eschewed any form of protective enclosure (such as railings). Dear old Elgar stands on a stone quadrant, leaning against his trusty bicycle admiring the cathedral’s north door; while Lance-Corporal Lewis stands dutifully to attention outside a busy Costa coffee bar by one of the pedestrian approaches to the Old Market shopping precinct. Flanders poppies magically appear around his army boots on 11th November. Two war heroes who aren’t yet honoured within the city are the Fijian SAS sergeant Talaisi Labalaba BEM (1942-72) killed in Oman; and the SOE agent Violette Szabo (1921-45), executed in the Ravensbrück concentration camp, the only woman to receive both the George Cross and the Croix de Guerre. A plinth-mounted bronze head in High Town, honouring Violette Szabo in this 75th anniversary of her death, would be an inspiring addition. Heroism and national pride are the currency of municipal statuary. After Nelson’s death there was a huge outpouring of grief, culminating in the erection of Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square. Ten others were to follow, many financed through public subscription. Hereford’s, on Castle Green, commemorates a private river trip made by Nelson and his mistress in 1802 to Ross-on-Wye, Monmouth and Chepstow (the Admiral wanted to investigate the possibility of turning Chepstow into a naval dockyard). The lovers even took Lord Hamilton along for the boat ride. Sadly, Hereford’s monument doesn’t feature an effigy of Nelson (just an urn) as the budget ran out. Typical Hereford. In the city, the best traditions of Victorian streetscape are represented by frock-coated Sir George Cornewall Lewis, arms haughtily folded, standing in front of the Shire Hall. This local MP attained no less than three of Parliament’s High Offices: Chancellor, Home Secretary and Defence Secretary. This austere bronze figure really only becomes animated once a year, when New Year revellers usually plant a traffic cone on his bald head! Herefordshire is the chosen home of two sculptors of international repute: Walenty Pytel, who has a studio near Ross-on-Wye, and Angela Conner who lives at Monnington-on-Wye. Walenty Pytel has a number 6 A

Magical and menacing. The sandstone and bronze effigy of King Offa, hidden behind Tesco’s Hereford supermarket. Photo: Alex Thimm

of pieces which can be found in the city, including (my favourite) Old Hospital Swans, in the grounds of Hereford’s former General Hospital, now private apartments. This Polish-born sculptor is probably best known for the striking steel structure, entitled Take Off, which marks the approaches to Birmingham International Airport. Angela Conner – once an assistant to Barbara Hepworth – has produced bronzes of a host of famous figures, including Prince Charles, Noel Coward, General de Gaulle, Laurence Olivier and the Queen Mother. One local celebrity who is missing from the streets of Hereford is Nell Gwyn (though there is a wall-mounted plaque marking her birthplace in Gwyn Street). Perhaps British Land and Waitrose should jointly commission Ms Conner to create a full-size bronze of Charles II’s mistress, to be sited outside the entrance to the supermarket. It would sell a lot of oranges! My nomination for Hereford’s most secret piece of streetscape goes to Offa, an arresting sandstone and patinated bronze depiction of the eighth century Mercian war lord. It is both magical and menacing. You will find him hidden behind the Tesco supermarket in Bewell Street (the rather obscure location is said to have been suggested, at the time of the store’s construction, as the possible site of Offa’s Hereford palace. Who commissioned and who carried out this fine work remain a mystery). This statue certainly deserves a more prominent location. And where better than on the triangular stone plinth in front of All Saints Church, replacing that offensive collection of scrap metal. It should face directly down Broad Street towards Hereford Cathedral, where, in front of the Lady Chapel, is the Shrine of St Ethelbert the King, put to death on Offa’s orders in 794.

Nick Jones

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