HARLOW STREET ART

HARLOW STREET ART

     Yes, Harlow, Essex - not renowned as a hotbed of street art.

 

      Following my trip to Portsmouth, I was checking out Street Art Cities for some more murals to visit and spotted a recent glut of sightings in Harlow, just a 20-mile drive up the M11. It reminded me that my car service was due - in Harlow. It turns out there was a mural festival there in March. And most of the artworks are a short bus ride from my garage. There's also a Wetherspoons. Talk about getting all your ducks in a row.

     So, having dropped my car off early, I hopped on a bus to The William Aylmer for breakfast (the Aylmer family's home of Moor Hall was a grand classical-style house which was once Harlow's most important residence. It no longer exists).
     This spacious Spoons, which does a nice bacon sarnie and has bottomless coffee for just £1.33, must be one of the quietest I've visited. But then - with Harlow town centre undergoing a huge makeover - a lot of the nearby shops are temporarily closed.

 

    So, with builders' hoardings providing the blank canvases, and with the blessing of Harlow Council, a fine mural gallery has sprung up. And all within 500 metres of the pub.

     Once the repaving and landscaping of what was the UK's first pedestrian precinct is complete, almost all the artworks will vanish. But I think this one will remain - and maybe last longer than the bank underneath ... 

Sir Frederick Gibberd by MurWalls                                                                             

     Sir Frederick Gibberd was the master planner of Harlow New Town. The butterflies and moths reference a time when every pub in the area was named after a lepidopteran - which is no longer the case. Gibberd was also responsible for numerous other noteworthy projects, including Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. I was a student in Liverpool when “Paddy’s Wigwam” was consecrated in 1967 ...

     NB: Liverpool has a large population of Irish Catholics - hence "Paddy's Wigwam". Scouse legend has it that the Mersey Tunnel was built by Irish navvies trying to dig their way back home after discovering that Liverpool's streets were not paved with gold. Another nickname for the cathedral is the "Mersey Funnel".

     Harlow was formally designated a New Town on 25 March 1947. It was the fourth such new town to be designated, after Stevenage, Crawley, and Hemel Hempstead.

     Also, nearing completion, is what will likely be another permanent mural. The koi carp can be found at Harlow's Water Gardens. The artist at work is Gnasher.

   A Dandy Lion and Three Posh Birds Roo                      Samurai Panda Revs

Skyhigh

Harlow Nutty Faces 26 Zebra Pozer

                  Sound as Sanctuary created.by.billie                      Chunky Potato Scott Wright Art         

Newer and Karm newer, karmone

            Wolf Wolf Newton                                                  Hi-Fibre Kilo                                 

Our World Community Mural Cockney Green Community - Harlow

             RIP Chok DW Air                                              Dema's Dream Dema                  

 

Customised Unique Slayer                                   Spring Chicken Curtis Creationz

Mother's Day pad303

   

Brick Top John Culshaw                                           Team Rocket Stids          

(Not to be confused with Jon Culshaw the impressionist)                                                                              

Red Keo Match

The Decades of Dali Stoke

               Art Jazz Finch                                         Break into Harlow Spry Design

Entangled Doppel

 

    Be Kind to all Kinds Ollie Cooper Signs                   Eurydice Hero (UK)                                    

Watching Paint Dry 247

Murwalls Gnasher

Together We Endeavour Barny Zadoc

Magic Happens When Kids Have a Dream Mr Meana

       The Fox n' Cock                                               Charity Worker Abraham.O

                        Tiger Man Gnasher                                        Keep It Real Rob Hilken

Harlow Vision My Dog Sighs

The Sculpture Guardian Captain Kris, Murwalls

        Energizer Flow Humble Cherub                  Tase                               

HuMow Humor, Mowgli

Harmony Brave 1

Dream Adam Illes                                                                

Ribboned Rhino Otto Schade

The Art of Hope Benzi Brofman

                 Hermosa Danny Bench                    Through the Jungle Vlad                                

Starr Olivierr

The Bear Hesbarte                                                 Chrome Eagle Yakeism

Whistling in the Corelours lours, Core

Background Bob 909 Art                                 Chromatic Divide Mig29                 

Wings of the Dove Titlegraffiti

  Unite and Fight Oddhouse                                        Bustah Tech Moon            

X-Ray Swans Si Mitchell, Thisone

Raven JXC

Gnasher, later that day ....

Sam Deards

     The world’s first mechanical cricket scoreboard is generally credited to Sam Deards of Harlow. He devised the “revolving figures” mechanical scoreboard around 1902 while associated with Harlow Cricket Club. 

The Lawn

     In 1951, Harlow New Town unveiled the UK's first modern-style residential tower block - The Lawn - designed by Gibberd.

Harlow's Sports Centre

     Harlow Sports Centre is widely regarded as Britain’s first purpose-built sports centre. Opening in 1960, it became a model for modern multi-sport leisure centres across the country. It included facilities such as a sports hall, swimming pool, and indoor training areas - all on one site - a relatively new concept at the time.

Dame Sylvia Crowe

     Landscape architect Sylvia Crowe worked on Harlow New Town between 1948 and 1958.

 

Sir Charles Kao

    Shanghai-born Sir Charles Kuen Kao laid the groundwork for fibre-optic communications in 1966 at Standard Telephones and Cables (STC) in Harlow. Known as the "godfather of broadband", Kao was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2009.

Sir Charles Kao Gnasher

      Rik Mayall Gnasher                         Laura Trott Gold Post Box 

     Until I visited Harlow, comedian Rik Mayall's birthplace, I always imagined he came from Birmingham, given that Kevin Turvey, one of his earliest TV characters, had a thick Brummie accent. He is best remembered as Rick in The Young Ones and Alan B'stard in The New Statesman in which he was a Tory politician who was almost as immoral as Donald Trump. It was very funny (then).

     Champion cyclist Laura Trott was also born in Harlow. This post box was painted gold to celebrate her two gold medals in the 2012 London Olympics. Now Dame Laura Kenny, she and husband Jason Kenny share a record 12 Olympic cycling gold medals. Can't wait for their three young children to cast off their stabilisers.

     Harlow became the world's first Sculpture Town in 2010. The collection includes over 100 public sculptures, including works by Henry Moore, Auguste Rodin and Barbara Hepworth. 

   Upright Motive No.2 (1955) Henry Moore                     Eve Auguste Rodin                            

    Boar (1957) Elizabeth Frink                                 Bird (1983) Hebe Cumerford

Returning From Work (1850s) Carl Heinz Müller

     There's a good chance that - after a Wetherspoons breakfast - I'll be walking the 13-mile Harlow Sculpture Trail in May, 2027 (or 10,000 miles, whichever is the sooner).