Take a stroll down Hereford’s Riverside Walk and spot the wood sculptures along the way. One of the most popular is “Dan”, a carving of the dog which commemorates Sir Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations. While Elgar lived in Hereford from 1904 to 1911, he wrote many of his major works. He regularly walked along the river with his friend, George Robertson Sinclair, the cathedral organist and Sinclair’s dog, Dan. Elgar was observing Dan retrieving sticks from the River Wye and it is said the image inspired the Enigma Variations.
