DENBIGHSHIRE

Carpets of snowdrops and a fallen tree left to rot away naturally.

‘Vanishing Dream’ – with downcast gaze and hands bound behind the back, this is reminiscent of John Bell’s ‘Andromeda’ shown at the 1851 Great Exhibition.

This Luccesi nymph is titled ‘Vanishing Dream’. Andrea Carlo Lucchesi (1860 – 1924) was an Anglo-Italian sculptor born in London, whose father, from Tuscany, was a sculptor before him. Lucchesi trained at the West London School of Art and then at the Royal Academy. He started exhibiting in 1881. Lucchesi was an exponent of the late 19th-century British New Sculpture movement, a school based on naturalism and symbolism. His work, often mysterious and provocative, featured many female nudes; he considered the female figure to be “nature’s masterpiece”. There are four bronze nymphs by Lucchesi in the grounds of Chirk Castle. The statues were installed in the gardens by Lord and Lady Howard de Walden, who leased the castle from the Myddelton family from 1911 to 1946. Courtesy of: geotopoi.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/lucchesi-bronze-nymphs-chirk-castle

Shropshire Union Canal, Llangollen branch. The aqueduct was designed by civil engineer Thomas Telford. It is a 70-foot (21 m) high and 710-foot (220 m) long navigable aqueduct that carries what is now the Llangollen Canal across the Ceiriog Valley near Chirk, on the England-Wales border, spanning the two countries, and it was briefly the tallest navigable one ever built, and it now is Grade II* listed in both England and Wales. It forms part of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct World Heritage Site. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chirk_Aqueduct To the right of the aqueduct can be seen the railway viaduct which was built later alongside the aqueduct. It is slightly higher than the aqueduct.

Andrea Carlo Lucchesi (1860 – 1924) was an Anglo-Italian sculptor born in London, whose father, from Tuscany, was a sculptor before him. Lucchesi trained at the West London School of Art and then at the Royal Academy. He started exhibiting in 1881. Lucchesi was an exponent of the late 19th-century British New Sculpture movement, a school based on naturalism and symbolism. His work, often mysterious and provocative, featured many female nudes; he considered the female figure to be “nature’s masterpiece”. There are four bronze nymphs by Lucchesi in the grounds of Chirk Castle. The statues were installed in the gardens by Lord and Lady Howard de Walden, who leased the castle from the Myddelton family from 1911 to 1946. Thomas Scott-Ellis, 8th Baron Howard de Walden, was a writer and patron of the arts and spent vast sums repairing and re-fitting the castle. Courtesy of: geotopoi.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/lucchesi-bronze-nymphs-chirk-castle

In the background it is possible to see the Chirk aqueduct designed by civil engineer Thomas Telford. It was completed in 1801, and forms part of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct World Heritage Site. I am standing in Denbighshire Wales and looking towards Shropshire in England.

These are garden escapees growing under the hedge at the entrance to Caffi Wylfa in Chirk. We quite often stop to have a (very nice) coffee here when we are out walking. The garden next door to the cafe is covered in these little beauties.