Phase Two of the over-arching strategy and curated works for the award winning development, Beaulieu Park. This phase features lines of poetry and a series of bronze books on sandstone cubes lining the path through the linear park that links zones within the conurbation.

Artist: David Mackie

During the time of Henry VIII’s courtship of Anne Boleyn, they are known to have spent time at the tudor palace, now New Hall School. The library of King Henry held 37 books, which David has used as the concept behind a series of bronzes. Each bronze ‘book’ lies open at a page as if someone had just set it down onto a stone. The imagined books celebrate the character of the park, forming a trail of books cast in bronze with low relief, illustrating imagery from the tudor world. The images for each ‘book’ were created as part of a series of workshops with children from the local primary school. Each cube of stone acts as a series of perch seats along the linear path with a line of poetry cut into the vertical surface.

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Poet: Tony Mitton

The lines of the sonnet tell the story of the royal courtship using the punning of which the Tudor’s were so fond, and implies the love-affairs of today.

In Beaulieu’s park, so long ago, right here,

Is where King Henry kept his Royal Deer.

The Palace housed a fair young Anne Boleyn,

It’s thought he sought her tender heart to win.

Though some would say the truth is far from clear,

Did Anne hunt Henry as her Royal Dear?

But now this park, where deer would graze and roam,

Is where all kind of folk may make their home.

Where royalty would hunt and take their pleasure,

Is now where all of us may spend our leisure.

For see, as past time fades and drops away,

It yields to how we live and love today.

 

Commission: finding the path, telling the story

Artist: David Mackie

Poet: Tony Mitton

Location: Linear Park, Beaulieu, Chelmsford

Materials: sandstone, bronze

Client: Countryside Properties (UK) Ltd.