My drawing of Waterton at Bempton for an article I wrote for ‘Yorkshire Life’ in 1976.
In May 1834 Charles Waterton had himself lowered by rope down the cliffs at Flamborough by two local egg-gatherers:
‘The sea was roaring at the base of this stupendous wall of rocks; thousands and tens of thousands of wild fowl were in an instant on the wing: the kittiwakes and jackdaws rose in circling flight; while most of the guillemots, razorbills, and puffins, left the ledges of the rocks, in a straight and downward line, with a peculiarly quick motion of the pinions, till they plunged into the ocean.’
Charles Waterton, ‘Essays on Natural History’ (1835-1857)
Frontispiece of ‘Remarkable Men’, published by the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, undated.
My version of this scene was based on this Victorian engraving, artist uncredited except for the initials in the bottom left hand corner, which could be those of the engraver.
by the Rambler, The Free Press, Saturday, July 28, 1888
I came across this evocative essay while searching for articles about a mass trespass in Coxley Valley (complete with Brass Band: they did things in style in 1888!):
I am one of those quaint individuals – and there are a few in Horbury yet – who seldom ever leave my picturesque residence on a quiet Sabbath to visit that popular resort, Coxley Valley. Sunday last was an exception to the rule, for just as I and my wife had finished our frugal meal at dinner time, I filled up my pipe, bent upon having a quiet hour, when all on a sudden my intention in this respect was frustrated by the sound of a beating drum and a tremendous burst of music reaching my ears from twenty brass instruments.
A day out in Coxley Valley
For the moment I was thunderstruck, but, recovering my senses, I rushed out of the room into the roadway, only to find a lot more gazeful individuals running out of their humble cottages bare-headed.
Relaxing at Coxley Dam
Naturally I became as inquisitive as the majority of bystanders to know the cause of such a commotion on the sacred Sabbath. True, I was not long in gaining the required information, and what do you think it was? Why the Brighouse Temperance Brass Band had come out that afternoon to remind us that they were going to give a sacred musical concert in Coxley Valley, not for the benefit of our noble and valuable institution at Wakefield (the Clayton Hospital), but in aid of their band fund.
With this “gentle reminder,” a very large number dressed in their favourite Sunday “togs” wended their way to the favourite spot; many went, too, because it is their custom in the summer months so to do.
I, of course, thought of a letter and its contents I had in my possession, which came from the neighbourhood of Westgate [the ‘Free Press’ office in Wakefield], and conscious of the fact that I had a duty to perform, like the rest of the curious ones, I, too, resolved to spend the afternoon at Coxley Valley.
After a pleasant half hour’s walk, with eyes wide open, and ears not closed to several compliments paid that some Horbury “Ramblers” would be there, I arrived at this much talked of “beautiful and charming resort” with senses refreshed by the newly-made hay and the various wild flowers that send forth their perfume from the woods up the slope.
A turn of the road soon brought me in sight of “Belmont Shanty” as it is called, and as I read a bill on the boards my spirits began to revive. Here is a copy of it:
I painted this watercolour of Walton Hall, the Water Gate and the Iron Bridge in July 2004 as an illustration for the cover of a menu for the restaurant in the Waterton Park Hotel.
I’m currently transferring my Waterton’s Park booklet from the original Microsoft Publisher version to a new Adobe InDesign version on my iMac.
The content will be the same but I’m taking the opportunity to make a few tweaks to the design. I’m sticking to one versatile typeface, Adobe Caslon Pro. It’s got a slightly more spiky and crisper look that Dolly Pro which was my previous favourite typeface for booklets. I like Caslon’s semi-bold italic for the headings in place of the Viners Hand that I used in the original.
I felt that the quiver of blowpipe arrows would sit better in the bottom righthand corner, where it’s right next to the appropriate paragraph, so Waterton capturing the cayman gets pride of place at the top of the page.
The George Gissing Centre, in Thompson’s Yard off the top of Westgate, opened its doors for yesterday’s Wakefield Art Walk. This was Victorian novelist George Gissing’s childhood home. His father, Thomas Gissing was a pharmacist who wrote Ferns and Fern Allies of Wakefield.
There’s currently an exhibition of Wakefield authors at the centre in the form of a timeline, starting with ‘the Wakefield Master’, author of the town’s Medieval Mystery Plays and finishing up with Joanne Harris, Lisa Bradley and I, so I’m in good company.
Black-headed gull feathers from St Aidan’s and a seabird feather of some kind -possibly a kittiwake or a juvenile gannet? – from Bempton. Freshwater snail shell from St Aidan’s.
Celebrating a golden wedding, Lin (my sister) and Dave’s, with their sons Richard, James and Tom plus grandson Dylan supplying the music.
Dylan and Tom (not the complete drum kit: in addition to the bongos he had a tambourine which he played with his right foot).
I already knew that my sister during her time at Cambridge had had two close encounters with Prince Charles, himself a student at there at the time: one when she nearly ran in to him on her bike and another when she was next in the queue to him in the bread shop and she bought the muffin that had been next to the one that His Royal Highness bought.
Lin takes Prince Charles home one weekend to meet our mum and Burke the black cat. This looks like a fake to me, but then surely my mum wouldn’t normally dress like that to take in the washing?
But according to a Golden Wedding ballad performed by the boys there was more to it than that. In their version it’s Charles that runs into Lin to get her attention and Dave – a student in Liverpool – has to leap on his scooter and drive to Cambridge for a dramatic face-off with the Prince on the college croquet lawn.
My brother Bill and I were the grooms at the wedding. Family friend Muriel was convinced that I’d get my hair cut.
More celebrations: happy birthday to Zoe on the Isle of Man.
Town pigeon taking great care to select the perfect twig at Pinderfields this morning.
Missing out on the line drawing stage and going straight to areas of tone and colour, using the Lasso Fill tool in Clip Studio Paint. Foot drawn from life. The man in the hat reminds me of a slim version of Alastair Sim.
This soft drawstring bag is for my dji Osmo Mobile 3, a kind of Steadicam device for filming with a mobile phone (even with my shaky hands!). I bought it immediately pre-pandemic for a short film I had in mind but two years later I haven’t picked up the pieces of that project.
The weight of apples and leafy summer growth proved too much of our Howgate Wonder double cordon and one of the main branches collapsed forwards on the patio. It wasn’t broken so we tied it back in, pruned back the majority of this year’s leafy growth and picked up the eight or so apples that fell off during the process. They’re not ripe but we can stew them with a bit of brown sugar and water.
