| |
| |
|
 |
We were living in Shobdon when our daughter was between 2 and three. My husband was working for Tim Seccombe on his turkey farm, way on the top of the hill. We had no transport so every week coming from shopping in Leominster I had to push her stroller up from the main road with the shopping as well. It was a long, tiring journey but never dull. We would stop, rest and look at the Arches and I would try and tell her about them. It became our special place. I am so glad to have had my time in Shobdon and seen these beautiful Arches and wish Canada was not so faraway.
- OLIVE FOWLER (Canada)
|
| |
|
|
The Shobdon Arches, at first sight, command a fine setting at the top of a shallow rise above the church. The ancient carving, however, is virtually indistinct. Visitors may reckon this to be the usual romantic fate of outdoor monuments, but it is not so in this case: the arches were meant to be under cover, not displayed in the open air, where their fate is the consequence of original institutional vandalism followed by tragic neglect. To appreciate how great is the loss of the carvings, visitors need to make a major detour - to the castings court at the Victoria and Albert museum in London. In that court are displayed castings of fine architecture and architectural detail made by artisans working across Europe in the 19th century: amongst many delights, Michaelangelo's David is there, and Trajan's Column. And, in all their original glory, the carvings from the Shobdon Arches, shown as they were before they were allowed to decay into insignificance. Should you go to the V&A, take with you your photographs of the Arches as they are now. And despair.
- John Eden
|
|
|
