Choragic Monument

Choragic Monument

I was going to do 'columns' for ABC Wednesday but when I started to browse my photographs discovered I actually possessed something beginning with C - the Choragic Monument in Tatton Park.  The day we visited the park it was what could only be described as changeable, consequently this photo was rather dark, so I popped into Picasa and gave it the heat treatment to show off the classical architecture. Makes it look like the gods are about to descent. 

Tatton Park

The Choragic Monument of Lysicrates was designed by William Cole of Chester in 1820 and commissioned by Wilbraham Egerton to commemorate his travel through Europe. This was probably a Grand Tour, a traditional journey through Europe taken by wealthy young men to complete a cultural education of the Ancient World and the Renaissance. The monument's inspiration derives from that of the one in ancient Athens celebrating Lysicrates, wealthy patron and leader of the Greek chorus.  This piece of statuary was added to the gardens to give a note of finality to the garden tour and terminate the vista of  a long broad walk. The monument was a favourite picnicking site for the Egerton family with wonderful view of the parkland. 

 

If the weather was inclement their Neo-classical house would be a pleasant retreat set in the middle of 50 acres of garden.  The last in the Egerton line bequeathed it, parkland and gardens to the nation for us all to enjoy.

Lastly  here is the inspiration behind the Tatton Park monument, the original Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens.

 Choregia defrayed the cost to Ancient Athens of the expense of theatre choruses it was considered a duty to be undertaken by prosperous citizens of Athens.  (A Greek Chorus comments with a collective voice on the dramatic action in the play).  The choregos (theatre sponsor) was responsible for assembling the theatre chorus, train them, pay them a wage and costume them.  There were 15 members in a tragedy chorus, 24 in a comedy chorus and 50 in a dithyramb chorus.  I guess that could add up to a tidy sum of money.  Each time the choregos competed against the other choregos for first place. The winner was entitled to set up a choragic monument at his own expense to immortalise his name.  Not only does the  Choragic Monument of Lysicrates  of 334BC survive it is also  the first use of Corinthian columns.

An entry to ABC Wednesday - a journey through the alphabet.

ABC Wednesday - Merry-Go-Round

The Merry-Go-Round at Tatton Park, Cheshire covered and not an opening in sight but this rather more ornate one

 in Vannes, France has just been unwrapped ready for the Bastille Day celebration.  There is a menagerie of

 animals to choose from as well as a princess carriage whereas this one in my home town is whirling round

with a herd of horses ready to take you on a gallop. 

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet.

ABC Wednesday - Urns

The immaculate topiary of Tatton Park and one of the cast iron urns near the entrance to the Rose Garden with a relief showing Greek warriors.  The garden designers must have had a fondness for these receptacles because they are everywhere.

on top of the ornate seats

and  by the side of Verona marble bench whose ends are carved into winged lions.

But sometimes things are not what they seem. Stand here in the Pleasure Gardens and look at the wall (built in 1818 and behind which are the Orchard and Vegetable gardens) ] with ornamental urns stood on the top.  They are a disguise and are actually chimneys.  The south facing walls gain most of the sun but north facing walls are often in shade  and these were heated in spring and autumn by furnaces whose flues ran through the thickness of the wall and emerge as chimneys.  From the 18th to the mid 19th Century heated walls (also known as 'hot walls') were quite common in the north. Fires would have been lit in early Spring in order to protect the fruit blossom from frost.  

More words starting with the letter U can be found at ABC Wednesday, a journey from A to Z

ABC Wednesday - Scarecrows

Some scarecrows were dressed for relaxation, at the end of the year when the crops had been taken and only squash were left to guard.

Some were snappily dressed, perhaps ready for a night out.

Some were on their uppers, possibly the stress of guarding both cabbages and squash.

I met this quaint group of scarecrows in the walled vegetable gardens at Tatton Park last September. I wonder if they will have a new set of clothes this year as spring planting goes ahead.

 The Scarecrow by Walter De La Mare

All winter through I bow my head
beneath the driving rain;
the North Wind powders me with snow
and blows me black again;
at midnight 'neath a maze of stars
I flame with glittering rime,
and stand above the stubble, stiff
as mail at morning-prime.
But when that child called Spring, and all
his host of children come,
scattering their buds and dew upon
these acres of my home,
some rapture in my rags awakes;
I lift void eyes and scan
the sky for crows, those ravening foes,
of my strange master, Man.
I watch him striding lank behind
his clashing team, and know
soon will the wheat swish body high
where once lay a sterile snow;
soon I shall gaze across a sea
of sun-begotten grain,
which my unflinching watch hath sealed
for harvest once again. 

Stroll across to ABC Wednesday where there will be lots more words starting with S

ABC Wednesday - Tatton Biennial

Remodelled in the neoclassical style between 1780-1813 Tatton Park Mansion sits at the centre of gardens and a deer park and is viewed here from the Italian garden.  Owned by the Egerton family, when the last of the line, Maurice, died in 1958 he left the estate to the National Trust which means the lands and house can be enjoyed by all.

In 2010 Tatton Park staged its second Biennial of contemporary art commissioning 20 artists to create new works on the theme 'Framing Identity'.

and Marcia Farquhar located 'The Horse is a Noble Animal' on the Big Lawn.  On 5 days she rode this

thoroughbred life size rocking horse, talking about the role of the horse in the English psyche.  To continue the mammal theme

part of Helen Master inversion of monumental sculpture with the Egerton lion facing a meaningless billboard (not in view), the shifting ownership of Tatton Park. Whatever the philosophical idea it was a popular place for having a picture taken, and maybe possibly proved the artists concept of change and hierarchy.

Jem Finer's Spiegelei which was a camera obscura, inside the hut a 360° upside-down vision of the Japanese Garden. I preferred the view from the outside, almost like an alien observer or perhaps the ball from The Prisoner (if you are old enough to go back to the Patrick McGoohan series). The two people sitting outside make the view complete. Are they being taken over by rays pulsating out.

Look out its by the Golden Brook.

Wonder if its been here an exploded tree house.. Fiona Curran's 'This time next year things are going to be different', an abstract collapsing tree house which explored the idea of sustainability 

Plastique Fantastique, this part had not collapsed, other bits had.   Ring or should I say toll the bell, time to go.

Topic of the day - words starting with T. See more over at ABC Wednesday.

Tower Window

The Tower Garden, named after, yes the tower, in its corner of which this is one of the windows.  When it was built (sometime just before 1750) it was at at the boundary of Tatton Hall, its purpose, to watch for sheep stealing in the park, now it is just part of a peaceful yew hedged garden.

The statue is of Fame, the hundred tongued Roman goddess of news and rumour.

Participating in 'Window Views...and Doors Too' photo meme.

ABC Wednesday - Japanese Garden

The start of the entrance path to the Japanese Garden at Tatton Park, Cheshire. 

This garden was the result of a visit to the Anglo-Japanese exhibition at White City, London in 1910 which enthused many for this garden art.  A team of Japanese workers were employed and arrived at Tatton Park with, it is said, Shinto shrines and artefacts from Japan.

There are three main types of Japanese gardens, Hill, Dry (sometimes known as Zen) and Tea. This one is built in the style of a Tea Garden which do not tend to the strict discipline of other two Japanese Gardens but this one of course also has western influences

such as Acers/Maples which possibly do not appear in this type of garden in Japan. The first signs of Autumn had just appeared when we visited on Friday.

Lanterns come in all shapes and sizes and have different functions

some are built to trap as much snow as possible so the scene looks beautiful in the winter. I would imagine the juxtaposition of  lantern and bridge covered in snow, perhaps the water iced over, would be wonderful.

A pond in a Japanese Garden of course always reminds of Basho's famous haiku:

The old pond

A frog jumps in

Sound of Water 

(Basho)

my mind was still

till Basho's frog

made it ripple

(Wm Flygare)

But where does this bridge lead?  In a traditional Tea Garden there would be stepping stones, and it would take you to

 the Tea House.  A stone lantern and a stone basin were placed where guests would purify themselves before participating in the  tea ceremony.  The aim of the Chaniwa (tea garden) designer is to create a feeling of solitude and detachment from the world, the latter being an element of Zen Buddhism.  These type of gardens in Japan are not typically open to the public

which by coincidence is similar to this one. I'm standing at the perimeter, on a rock, on tip toes here.  If we had arrived on a Wednesday or Sunday then there are organised visits and maybe I could have walked over the bridge to the Tea House.

or gazed at the cranes. A bird of happiness and in legend they live to be a 1000 years old, possibly why Japanese poems about them seem to be mainly set in the spring

Shower of white

plum blossoms -

where are the cranes?

(Basho)

But Kobayshi Issa plays on legendary longevity in his haiku

Even tortoise and cranes

meet their fate

autumn evening.

We are having some lovely warm weather at the moment, perfect for visiting gardens and taking walks in the countryside as it turns colour, but despite this I could not resist ending with another of Basho's haiku

Lips too chilled

for prattle -

autumn wind.

Jump over to ABC Wednesday and just see how many words start with J

Golden Tatton Park

The winds of Autumn and the turning of the leaves start slowly.  A single golden tree stands surrounded by green. Its top branches are bare for there have been strong winds this week.  Today at Tatton Park there was only an intermittent breeze.

Deer keeping a wary eye on photographers as they enjoy the early evening sun.  There has been a deer park here since 1290, created by Royal Charter.  The herds roam the 1,000 acre park and later in the Autumn the stags with their impressive antlers will begin to round up the females and so begins the rutting season.  The stag announces his superiority over other males by bellowing and roaring. If this does not keep away his rivals then there will be clashes of antlers.  However all that will not start until October so all is quiet.