Honouring three individuals who helped make Wells : Volunteers help a Wells artist create a mural to celebrate the city

By Tim Lethaby

10th Jan 2022 | Local News

The artist Philippa Threlfall, centre, working on the clay template for the Bishop of Bath and Wells with the Mayor, Mayoress and some of her helpers
The artist Philippa Threlfall, centre, working on the clay template for the Bishop of Bath and Wells with the Mayor, Mayoress and some of her helpers

A dedicated team of 28 volunteers are helping a Wells artist create a huge ceramic mural she has designed.

It will be five feet high and 10 feet wide depicting three notable benefactors who made on impact on the city:

Bishop Bekynton who gave Wells the free supply of water that flows through the city centre. He also built the north side of the Market Place, Penniless Porch and the Chain Gate.

Dean William Turner, known as the Father of English Botany, who built the famous garden between Wells Museum and the Old Deanery.

Herbert Balch founded Wells Museum and provided many of the exhibits.

The artist is Philippa Threlfall who has been making relief murals in ceramic since the 1960s. Her studio is in a medieval cottage not far from Wells Cathedral. The property had been turned into a cider house in the early 17th century called Ye Blacke Dogge, so Philippa and her late husband Kennedy named their business Black Dog.

"The volunteers are wonderful," said Philippa. "Some started with great skill and some started with none at all.

"The finished mural will be brown, black and white, and outlast all our lives."

It will go on a blank wall in the gardens of Wells Museum with an inscription saying "Made in the year of The Queen's Jubilee 2022 by inhabitants of Wells."

A dedicated team of 28 volunteers are helping a Wells artist create a huge ceramic mural she has designed.

It will be five feet high and 10 feet wide depicting three notable benefactors who made on impact on the city:

Bishop Bekynton who gave Wells the free supply of water that flows through the city centre. He also built the north side of the Market Place, Penniless Porch and the Chain Gate.

Dean William Turner, known as the Father of English Botany, who built the famous garden between Wells Museum and the Old Deanery.

Herbert Balch founded Wells Museum and provided many of the exhibits.

The artist is Philippa Threlfall who has been making relief murals in ceramic since the 1960s. Her studio is in a medieval cottage not far from Wells Cathedral. The property had been turned into a cider house in the early 17th century called Ye Blacke Dogge, so Philippa and her late husband Kennedy named their business Black Dog.

"The volunteers are wonderful," said Philippa. "Some started with great skill and some started with none at all.

"The finished mural will be brown, black and white, and outlast all our lives."

It will go on a blank wall in the gardens of Wells Museum with an inscription saying "Made in the year of The Queen's Jubilee 2022 by inhabitants of Wells."

     

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