| U3AC walks | U3AC walk - Public Art round Railway Station |
Route: Railway Station, Brookgate, Hills Road, Station Road, Tennison Road, Great Northern Road, Carter Bridge, Rustat Road, Aryle Street, Mill Road, Ironworks, Mill Road
Length: 2.1 miles (or 2.4 miles back to station) Start: Railway Station Finish: Mill Road
Introduction: A walk based on the public art around Cambridge Railway station
Click on photos for a larger version.
The railway first came to Cambridge quite late, in 1845. This building dates from then, with the shields of the colleges, plus some local dignatories. It is listed grade II. If you want to know more about the shields click here and scroll to the bottom of the page.
This whole area has been redeveloped, and is called CB1. The art closest to the railway station is described here. It was funded by the development.
Ariadne Wrapped was installed in 2022. Artist Gavin Turk explains: "She is this classical figure who gives Theseus the golden thread so he can kill the Minotaur; a surrealist mental image. Here she is reclining like in a classical painting, and wrapped; a blurred vision of an archetypal sculpture." It has been used as a picket line during the rail strikes!
Continental Drift: This is inside a building, round the back of the station cycle park, but inside a back entrance which I suspect most people don't know about. Start at the station, walk towards the carpark, and find a staircase straight ahead. It is marked as an entrance to the cycle park. The plaque nearby says "Continental Drift, Troika 2016, Aluminium, steel, LEDs and motor, Commissioned by Brookgate, CB1 estate". It is a two-dimensional world map projected onto the ceiling by a faceted globe. The original description said that the globe was rotating, but but that doesn't seem to be working
.
Bee memorial: This is outside the station, towards the bus stops. The plaque says that it is in memory of Amanda Battini, who did 2021.
Spiller's Mill (also known as Foster's Mill) was built in 1898. The Foster family owned three mills in the city but the University of Cambridge prevented them from constructing railway lines to them, so they built this mill immediately next to the railway station. On 27 March 2010, during extensive demolition work on the mill, a major fire "accidentally" broke out which damaged the mill buildings causing their partial collapse. (The quote marks come directly from a Wikipedia article!)
Wander is by Dryden Goodwin, 2014. It is a series of 100 etched portraits of people the artist encountered as he travelled around Cambridge. They are both sides of the line of bus stops south of the railway station.
Walk to the end of the bus stops, cross the road (carefully!) and return.
Translucent Drawing: This is a bit tricky to find. It is a set of glass rectangles attached to the side of a building on the non-railway side of the station bus stops. The first photo shows the building - you can just see the bits of glass if you look at the larger version (remember - click on a photo for the large version). The second photo shows a close-up. It is by Antoni Malinowski, dated 2012, and a plaque nearby says "Traqnsluscent Drawing comprises 2,500 glass elements embedded into the facade of the building which respond to changing light conditions creating a dialogue between architecture and the envioronment." OK - if you say so!
Ceres: Turn into the park to see this statue is by William Bloye (with her back to you!) It was commissioned as Demeter 1961-62. It is close to the old Spillers Mill building - see above. Spillers was a flour company, and Ceres (or Demeter) was the goddess of wheat and growing things.
Further on, there is also the base of an old crane lift - more a piece of industrial archaeology than an artwork.
Walk through the green area to Brookgate.
There is a group of public art round here, some of which mention W.J.Gredley as commissioning them. William.J.Gredley (Bill) and family were on Sunday Times Rich list of 2019 with a fortune of £241m. The family owns Cambridgeshire-based Unex Group, dealing mainly in property and to a lesser extent, bloodstock. This website interviews him at his home near Newmarket. He was born in the East End of London, evacuated during the war, and later moved to Essex to live with his grandmother when his home was bombed. This was where he learned to love horses. He has a reputation for being unconventional, and obviously has a love of art. Presumably that his company owns property round here. I assume that the artworks reflect his personal taste. Sometimes they get moved around!
Acrobats: These are on top of the building on the junction of Hills Road and Brookland Avenue, called City House. They appeared early 2020s. I know nothing about them.
Cross Hills Road, and walk to the elephant artwork.
Dunamis: The sculptor is Bushra Fakhoury, and the title is Dunamis. It was first unvieled on Park Lane in 2013. The artist's website says 'The Impossible is possible. [This work] symbolizes human struggle to achieve excellence, pushing boundaries to make the impossible possible. We need to prioritise, work positively, and relentlessly towards reaching our goals, and dreams.' Another commentory by the artist says 'Holding the elephant in a high position gives homage to the traits that we share and gradually forget, such as family ties, solidarity, compassion and cooperation. The 'pointy hat' represents the knowledge through the ages. We may not have the extraordinary memory of the elephant, but we need to remember to support the survival of the endangered species.'
Walk along Hills Road, away from the bridge. First we meet more acrobats.
Danse Gwenedour: The sculptor is Bushra Fakhoury, and the title is Danse-Gwenedour. The artist's website says "It depicts 'Celebration of Life'. "Danse Gwenedour" was inspired by the dance performed by French villagers in Bretagne (Danse Gwenedour Du Pays Pourlet, Guemene Bretagne)." It was created in 2017.
Chauvinist: This large sculpture is in front of a building called City House. It is by Helaine Blumenfeld, and is called Chauvinist. It was commissioned in 1990. Helaine Blumenfeld's website is here.
Walk back down Hills Road.
Royal Albert Homes is listed grade II. Built around 1861, in the Gothic style. It is still a registered almshouse charity.
Mile stone It is listed grade II. Erected in 1731 by Dr William Warren. Stone block inscribed with "1 mile from Great St Mary's Church Cambridge". This is the first of a series of milestones that were erected to mark the distances between Cambrige and Haverhill. Dr Warren was a Fellow of Trinity Hall, who was also responsible for erecting a series of 16 milestones on the old road to London. There is a plaque on Great St Marys to show the base point. The name "Cambridge" is recessed. I wonder if it was removed during WWII and recut afterwards? I know that signposts giving locations were removed, in case the Germans landed and needed directions. But a milestone seems a bit extreme!
Cambridge war memorial is at the end of Station Road. This was made by Canadian sculptor Robert Tait McKenzie, and is known as as "The Homecoming" or sometimes "Coming Home". It was unveiled in 1922. It is a Grade II listed building. The young soldier is marching towards the city centre, back home from the war. But he is looking up Station Road towards the railway station, thinking of his dead friends that he left behind on the battle field. On the other side, you can see the old county coat of arms, supported by Great Bustards. This memorial used to be in the centre of the road. Hills Road is very busy, and they wanted to improve the junction, so in 2012, they decided to move the memorial to the side of the road. This would also make it easier for Remembrance Day ceremonies. The most important point was that the memorial had to be positioned so the soldier would still be looking up Station Road.
Kett's Oak: The big building on the corner of Hills Road and Station Road is Kett's House. On the side of it is this sandstone bas-relief. It is called Kett's Oak, dated 1962-63 and is by Willi Soukop.
The Don: This sculpture used to be one of the group of artworks near the railway bridge, but got moved here. Here is a story in the Varsity about this artwork: "A statue entitled 'The Don' by Uruguayan sculptor Pablo Atchugarry has become a mystery after Atchugarry denied producing the work. The 13 foot-high statue, initially planned for an office development on Hills Road, is worth £150,000, but Cambridge City Council's public art officer has described it as "possibly the poorest quality work" that has ever been submitted to them. Speaking to Cambridge News, Atchugarry denied being the 'author' of the sculpture, and has called the accusation that it is his work 'an abuse'. Atchugarry also added that he is "really astonished, worried and disappointed" that his work is being misrepresented in this way. Unex, the development company which supposedly commissioned Atchugarry to produce the statue for the site, stand by their claim that the statue is his work. A spokesperson for the chairman of Unex and well-known patron of the arts, Bill Gredley, explained the origin of the statue: 'Pablo Atchugarry sculpted a model having spent a day in Cambridge researching academic clothing. He designed a model in marble and thereafter we had the model enlarged and cast by Bronze Age Sculpture Casting Foundry.'" There is a plaque in front, saying "HRH the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Artist Pablo Atchugarry, Commissioned by W.J.Gredley". I don't know whether they have decided that it is a statue of Prince Philip or not. It was moved to this position this year.
Bear and cub: I don't know anything about this! It appeared in 2022.
Cross over the road, and walk back to Station Road.
Highsett: This is listed grade II. It was built 1958-60.
We now return to some CB1 artworks.
Tree of Life: This is on Station Road, beyond the junction with Tenison Road, closer to the station. It seems to have several names: the Tree of Knowledge, or the Tree of Life. It is by Jyll Bradley, 2017, who calls it Span.
The website of Jyll Bradley is here
Turn round and walk back to the junction with Tenison Road.
Reflective Editor: This is on the corner of Tenison Road and Station Road. It is dated 2011, and is described in the webpage about CB1 art here, where it says "This sculpture is one of a series of geometrical works entitled Reflective Editor by Doug Allsop. It forms a gateway to Station Square with a highly polished surface that reflects the architecture and movement surrounding it." The righthand photo shows it mostly reflecting the local punt touts (people selling trips on a punt) who seem to be using it as an office.
I have only just noticed a companion piece on the other side of the road (photo on right). That photo shows the original piece as well, other side of road, although a little hard to see. I don't know when this second piece arrived.
Turn down Tenison Road.
Ridgeons Centenary Park: with bench, commemorates Ridgeons' centenary in 2011 is close to the site of the company's original office. It is on the corner of Tenison Road and Great Eastern Road. The artworks include a sculptural oak seat and a carved roundel featuring a quotation by the founder Cyril Ridgeon. It is by Jim Partridge and Liz Walmsley, with letter carving by Tom Perkins. It was comminsioned by Ridgeons, a well-known Cambridge firm. The central roundel says "Ridgeons timber and builders merchants began business 50 feet from this site close to the railway sidings. A family business since 1911."
Turn down Great Eastern Road.
Bike park: Cambridge takes bikes seriously! The bike park at Cambridge Railway Station was opened in 2016. It is a multi-story park (the bikes have to be wheeled up ramps). The outside is decorated with what seems like circles, but look carefully, and you will see that two of the circles are bike wheels.
Cycle bridge: Walk through the carpark. There is also a cycle (and foot) bridge close-by, going from Devonshire Road to Rustat Road. The official name of this bridge is the Tony Carter bridge (after a former councillor), but it's usually called the railway cycle bridge. It was opened in 1989.
Cross over the railway line using the bridge. Turn left, and walk down Rustat Road, Charles Street, Stockwell Street, and cross Mill Road.
The rest of the artworks on this walk have been designed with more connection to the local community.
Romsey R This sculpture is by Harry Gray and Will Hill. It was unveiled at the 2018 Mill Road Winter fair. Romsey is this part of Cambridge. It was developed in the nineteenth century to provide homes for railway workers. The project has been commissioned to celebrate the people and history of Romsey and their relationship with the railway. The destinations on the sculpture are residents' significant railway journeys.
Back over Mill Road bridge. This has various murals.
The two benches are in memory of Allan Brigham and Suzy Oakes, two well-known, and greatly loved, local characters. Suzy Oakes helped to set up the Mill Road Winter Fair. Allan Brigham was a local historian with a particular interest in non-University Cambridge. He was also a street sweeper!
Between the benches is one of Cambridge's Dinky Doors. If this seems a little sparse, the original Dinky Door here (a photo booth) was vandalised, so the artists turned it into a crime scene!
This used to be Mill Road library, built in 1897. It is listed grade II.
This was in Cambridge Independent March 22-28 2023, describing the current plans for it. (Click for larger version):
Turn right, past the library, into the new Ironworks developement.
There is various art round this site. Click here for more about it. They are dated 2022.
Tom Pearson has done most of these. He is fascinated by knobs, switches and levers. The artworks also reference the Pye firm which used to make radios and televisions, and the Eagle Foundary, which used to be on the site. If you look carefully at the first one (near the entrance to Ironworks) you will see that he has also labelled the entrance intercom!
The black squiggle is by Jo Chapman, and is called Timekeeper. The local community members took part in the workshops and helped create this piece and the poem it contains.
The broom, above, is a memorial to Allan Brigham (see above). The plaque says "In memory of Allan Brigham 1951-2020. Road sweeper for Cambridge City Council, trade unionist, historian, tour guide and community enthusiast. Allan loved Mill Road and Mill Road loved him. Broom designed and made by Scott Bailey & Tas Claydon of Mackays, Cambridge. Concept: Mill Road History Society." This is wonderful! It looks as if Allan has just left his broom propped up against a wall while he investigated something more interesting. Also, the Council Depot where he worked from has been replaced by the Ironworks development.
This was in the Cambridge Independent March 22-28 2023 (click for larger version):
If you're interested in finding more public art in Cambridge, try my Public Art in Cambridge webpage, which has photos and a little information on all the public art (that I know about!)
For other interesting things in Cambridge, try my Walks round Cambridge website, which covers other subjects as well.
I have indexed all the walks that I have done for the U3AC (including this one) here.
© Jo Edkins 2023 - Return to Walks index