We owe a lot to Sir John Betjeman, whose foresight and appreciation of Victorian architecture at a time when it wasn't considered important helped to protect many great buildings, and most notably to save the buildings of St Pancras Station - including the Midland Grand Hotel by George Gilbert Scott and the 1868 train shed designed by William Henry Barlow - from destruction. It is fitting, then, that Sir John still stands on the upper terrace of the station, in the form of a statue by Martin Jennings unveiled in 2007.
The former poet laureate is captured larger than life size gazing up at the grand roof of the train shed, on a slate base featuring words from his poetry, whilst other pieces of Cumbrian slate feature other lines of poetry, and if you're thirsty afterward there's a pretty-average-but-not-completely-awful-for-a-station
pub named after him too.
For more, see
http://www.martinjennings.com/Betjeman.html
Posts
I had not seen/noticed sculptures at railway stations before, until I saw Nicholas Winton's at Maidenhead.
ReplyDeleteAs long as the connection to trains or railway architecture is relevant to the life of the person being honoured, I think the idea is brilliant. Betjeman looks like an absolutely normal commuter :)