Henrhyd Falls

     This last week's jaunt took us to Henrhyd falls on the eastern side of the Tawe valley where the Nant Llech has cut a deep, tree-filled gorge in the hillside as it spills down from the southern edge of the Brecon Beacons to join the Tawe opposite Ynyswen.  I wasn't at all prepared for what we saw - there simply is no sign in the rather bleak landscape of either gorge or falls.  It wasn't until we left the car and entered what appeared to be simply a wood and the path began to steeply descend that we found ourselves in what I can only now describe as an enchanted place - the faint at first but growing sound of the falls, the increasing coolness and dappled, deepening shade, the glimpses of falling water through the still bare trees, the luxuriant vibrant green moss carpeting the ground.  

     It was a long and at times steep path down to the valley floor and a further path snaking up the gorge through a tangle of fallen trees to the falls - neither paths, it has to be said, are advisable for some.  It is only then, after all that walking, did the falls truly reveal themselves, and as I've said I wasn't really prepared for it, and I'm still not sure how to describe my experience. It's easy to give the odd fact; the silvery rush and tumble of the water as it drops some ninety feet (the highest in south Wales) into a curved pool, the contrast to the dark welsh stone that forms a sort of amphitheatre like a pair of welcoming arms; but to describe that deep, almost tangible spiritual presence of the place another. In Japan this would be sacred place with a rope of rice straw or hemp - a shimenawa - hung between trees and festooned with shide (paper streamers) to demarcate the spiritual, the pure, from the secular; and indeed standing there in the presence of something quite awesome it felt a long way from the 'external world of telegrams and anger' of the political events in Westminster.  And, to be frank, a certainly more spiritual place than many churches visited for this blog.  I shan't name them!

All Saints, Oystermouth

     Last week's jaunt was to the parish church of All Saints, Oystermouth, one of the communities that make up The Mumbles on the south east tip of Gower. This church has a long history, dating perhaps to the very earliest Middle Ages, and a Roman structure, possibly a villa, stood there in Antiquity. Tempting to see some sort of continuity there.

     However to look at it from some angles you would be forgiven for not believing any of this at all.  From the north and east all that can be really seen is the very large extension - essentially a new church - designed by W L Barnard of Cheltenham and dating from 1915. However the tower, in good plain welsh style, is late Medieval and the s aisle is earlier still.  Except that the south aisle isn't really that at all but the much handled old nave of the church, and the e chapel (older still) is the former chancel. All of this old work is constructed of rubble masonry, grey and black and hoary. Barnard's extension is built of browner quarry faced masonry and limestone dressings, possibly Bath stone, and is somewhat staid for though designed in a full, luxuriant (and English) Perp style that particular masonry finish almost gives the design a hint of muscular High Victorian Gothic, of solid (if not stolid) Victorian Middle Class comfort. Earth bound. If not downright dull.  All that said there some interesting architectural moments on the outside; the gargoyles are on the n aisle rather fine, as is the door to the n vestry. And then there is the contemporary w porch - the least said about that car crash the better.
     The interior continues with the late Victorian common sense and produces something that decidedly lacks the numinous.  The first thing that strikes the visitor is the breadth - the nave is unusually wide, horizontal when one would expect it, being Gothic, to be vertical.  The other features that some would take exception to, the unequal height of the arcades and narrow n aisle I really like and add a little necessary piquancy.  I do find however the interior. which is really quite complex both spatially and historically, lacks integration, perhaps a dose of whitewash would help integrate the whole and add some of the numinous quality that is lacking.  Barnard's details though are rather good, screen and woodwork especially.  The reredos of the High Altar is a rather curious design, sub SSPP, that dates from 1951 and was made by The Faith Craft-Works.

  Actually this visit was not a little unpleasant. I arrived just after a service and was treated with suspicion, if not hostility by a member of the congregation who suspected me of taking photographs for financial gain. I won't be returning.

Heroic Materialism

     Tucked away behind the stuccoed Victorian terraces of Uplands in Swansea is this mighty industrial structure, built by, and for what purpose, I don't know. I've checked and it isn't listed. My first suspicions were that it is the work of  E M Bruce Vaughan the architect of the elegant, Bodleyesque church of St Paul, Plasmarl - redundant now and beginning to look very parlous, and that it may have been built in connection with the Swansea tram system.  However I'm no longer so sure about the former; Bruce Vaughan was mainly a church architect, and my guess was based on the presence of the large thermal, or Diocletian, window in the e wall and there being a Gothic paraphrase of a thermal window lighting the crypt of St John's.  A tenuous connection, I suppose.

     That being said it is, as you can see, a remarkable building, skilfully and sensitively designed of rubble and smart limestone (?) dressings, an heroic projection, manifestation, and celebration of the industrial power of Swansea in her pomp, lifting it beyond the merely utilitarian. The influences are various, Late Antiquity, English Baroque and French Neoclassicism of the Ledoux and Boullee type.  A touch too of the Arts and Crafts.  As for date, I'm not entirely sure about that either.  It could date from anywhere between late Victorian and the eve of World War II, but a building with considerable heft and presence, that makes for a profound contrast to the jolly Victorian suburbia around it.

Own work: collage

     My latest finished collage, as yet without a title: 16.9 x 14.4 cms on 300 gsm watercolour paper, mixed media including hard-marbled paper.

Own work: Llandeilo church

     Ahead of my next exhibition I have returned to topographical painting. Here's the first in a while; Llandeilo church.  Mixed media on 300 gsm watercolour paper.  I'm not at all sure whether I'm satisfied with what I've created!  Looks a bit overworked to my eyes.