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| Rigby Graham's Packhorse Bridges |
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by Peter Boreas
(27 Apr 2003) |
Graham’s Packhorse Bridges
Two or three years after Graham’s Leicestershire was published (Gadsby Gallery, 1980) Trevor Hickman and Rigby Graham discussed the idea of producing a volume of similar format The Packhorse Bridges in Leicestershire, and at that time Rutland formed part of Leicestershire. Graham would produce watercolours, and Hickman would dig up what he could of historical background information about these bridges, and brief texts, it was hoped, would accompany colour reproductions of the watercolours in one large volume, to be published by the Brewhouse Press, Wymondham and the book would be launched to synchronize with an exhibition of Graham’s paintings.
Years passed. It took a long time to discover some of the bridges. A few, like Aylestone, Rearsby and the two at Anstey, were free-standing, accessible and widely known. But there were others which had been widened, strengthened, altered and in some instances, like Belgrave, completely built over, and it took time and effort to find and to paint them.
The pattern of things changed, Rutland became independent once again, Hickman had amassed his notes and Graham had painted thirty five watercolours. The text had been rewritten in the light of what had been discovered and it was rejigged and edited by Eleonora Graham ready for publication.
The Brewhouse Press decided it could no longer sustain the idea of a topographical book of the scale it originally envisaged. Without success Hickman tried to interest other publishers in producing a smaller, much more modest book with monochrome illustrations. When a year or two ago it became obvious that the projected volume, now to be called Some Packhorse (and other) Bridges in Leicestershire and Rutland was no longer to be published by Brewhouse or anyone else, the paintings began to be dispersed. The text eventually passed to The Rutland Magazine which is presently publishing an abridged version in three issues, accompanied by photographs and a few reproductions. Some of Rigby Graham’s watercolours have come into the possession of the Goldmark Gallery and are now offered for sale. |
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