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Pingle Brook
(2012/13)
Location : Kingsmere, Bicester, Oxfordshire
Materials : European Oak
Funding : Countryside Properties (Section 106)
A series of nine sculptural seats connect us with Pingle Brook and the landscape it runs through. Each seat embodies an aspect of the natural and social history of the site and is located close by the source of its inspiration.
Entering the Pingle Brook green space from the west the first seat you will find is Myosotis scorpioides - the latin name for Water Forget-Me-Not. This plant is found growing in the brook running parallel to the seat. The two vertical elements reflect the leaf forms of the plant. Further down the path you can see Plecotus auritus.
Myosotis scorpioides with Plecotus auritus seen in the distance
Myosotis scorpioides (detail)
Plecotus auretus (detail)
The next seat, Plecotus auritus references the Long Eared Bat recorded in the copse at that particular location during the ecological survey of the site prior to building.
Plecotus auritus
Continue, take a left turn and just before a bridge you will find, Festuca ovina sitting on the edge of a large meadow area. Three great seed heads of the Sheep's Fescue grass rise up into the sky.
Festuca ovina
Festuca ovina (detail)
Double back and continue eastwards to the next seat Polyommatus icarus. This seat references the Common Blue butterfly recorded at that particular location during the ecological survey of the site prior to building. The seat looks over one of the two attenuation ponds. This pond has been designed to encourage Great Crested Newts to breed on the site.
Polyommatus icarus
Continue over the bridge and you arrive at Vita nova, situated at the centre of the site it has two seats, offering views both east and west.
Vita nova is latin for 'new life'. The two ascending vertical forms hold the seed of the future between them.
Vita nova
Vita nova
Vita nova (detail)
Continue along and around overlooking the main attenuation pond to find Tryst. This seat is close to a nearby spot where an ancient Elm tree was once situated – a place where lovers would meet at night. The central design element references the elm seed, but might also be seen as the meeting of two lovers. The arcing forms of the two outer leg uprights are ambiguous - perhaps phases of the crescent moon?
Tryst
Continue along until you meet another path. This is the public footpath connecting Bicester with the village of Chesterton. White Cross is situated here and acts as a waymarker between the two parish churches of Bicester (St Edburg's) and Chesterton (St Mary's). The seat back evokes a gothic arch containing a cross. There was a ‘White Cross’ situated on this parcel of land in the middle ages. It was a destination for the friars from the nearby priory on their meditative walks.
White Cross
White Cross with the sign for St Edburg's carved into the oak. (Lettering carved by Georgia Wright)
Cross over the path and continue to find Lathyrus pratensis or Meadow Vetchling, a member of the pea family, again found growing nearby in the ecological survey.
Lathyrus pratensis
Backtrack again, continue past White Cross and over the next bridge to find Sparganium erectum, the last of the nine seats. The design of this seat is inspired by the forms found in the Branched Bur Reed, found growing in Pingle Brook, running nearby.
Sparganium erectum
At the design stage of this project I explored a number of possibilities and alternative ideas to the seating were put forward, including a wind sculpture and bridge railing designs. (see below)
Will Glanfield A r t i s t
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