Sherlockian Sojourns #14: Dorsington

For my next sojourn, I made my way to an area connected with a different literary figure, Shakespeare’s Stratford-Upon-Avon. There are not any canonical links to Stratford that I am aware of, but Holmes did delight in quoting from the Bard (quoting from ‘Twelfth Night’ so often that 6th January has been decided on for his birthday by scholars). However, it was in relation to yet another literary figure that I made another pilgrimage.

Felix Dennis (27th May 1947 – 22nd June 2014) was an English publisher, poet, spoken-word performer and philanthropist, who was also one of the defendants in the ‘Schoolkids OZ’ obscenity trial. However, as well as this he also had one of the largest private collections of original bronze sculptures held in his purpose-built Garden of Heroes and Villains in Dorsington on the outskirts of Stratford. It contains more than 50 sculptures, life and a quarter in size, which include the dawn of man attacking a woolly mammoth, Galileo, Einstein, Winston Churchill, and more recent "heroes" such as Stephen Hawking. The Garden is open to the public once a year as part of the National Gardens Scheme, as well as for fundraising events for The Heart of England Forest of which it is a part (such as the Open Day that I attended). However, it was for one particular Sherlockian sculpture that I made the trip.

Catching a bus at just before 7am, I made my way to Marylebone Station, arriving in plenty of time for my train. Changing once, I found myself at Stratford-Upon-Avon Station, and spent an enjoyable two hours in central Stratford before catching a bus, which after the driver had finally found the stop I had requested, dropped me 2 miles from the Garden. Striding off in what luckily proved to be the right direction, about 40 minutes later I found myself in Dorsington and following signs until finally I reached the entrance to the Garden. I decided to eat my lunch in the picnic area outside before going in, signs indicating that there was no picnicking in the gardens.

Entering the Garden, I was given a map showing the locations of all the statues, and made my way immediately to the one that most interested me – ‘Arthur Conan Doyle (with the Shade of Sherlock Holmes)’. This statue comprised a seated ACD writing, with the figure of Holmes looming over him from behind, and represents one of only two statues in this country of Doyle (the other being in Crowborough) and the only one of creator and creation together. The sculpture was sculpted for Dennis by Irena Sedlecka in 2001. I then spent several minutes trying to take photos of it from all angles, the fact that it was located under a canopy of trees making it difficult to get a clear photo.

 

 

I was amused to see that Conan Doyle was located between Yuri Gagarin (and Laika) and Muhammad Ali, and then slowly made my way around the other statues. On my travels I came across Watson, but it was James (not John) Watson who was depicted with his partner, Francis Crick, discovering DNA. I was also impressed by the sculptures of ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’ and ‘Alice in Wonderland’.

Next, I stumbled on a Minotaur, who was gesturing to a hedge maze. Having made my way to the centre, I found a sculpture of the three OZ defendants, including Felix Dennis.

Having wandered around the statues again, I had a brief break for a can of Coke, and then made my way to the exit, via a Gift Shop where I purchased a guide to all the statues.

I initially strode off in the wrong direction, but soon corrected my mistake, and was back in the centre of Dorsington, and making my way to a different bus stop for the bus home. As I walked along, it began drizzling, but luckily it never came to anything. Finally, I reached where the bus stop must be, being opposite a named road. However, I was not clear which side the bus would stop on. Eventually the bus came into view, and I crossed the road and hailed it. However, on speaking to the driver it seemed that I had not read the timetable correctly, and that this bus was going to a nearby village before returning back along the same road to Stratford. It would therefore be stopping at the other side of the road ten minutes later, and if I boarded now the fare would be increased. I therefore made my back to the other side of the road to wait.

10 minutes later and the bus returned, and I paid the fare back into Stratford. On arrival back in the City Centre, I had just enough time to buy some food to eat on the journey, before making my way back to the station. The train was already in the platform so I took a seat, and settled back for the first part of my journey, to Leamington Spa, and then onwards to London and eventually home. It had been a long and tiring day !