Newtown Memorial Garden
"....This was Newtown, the Parish of St Paul's "(Tommy Walsh)
In March 1999 the Newtown Association, in association with Cardiff Bay Arts Trust, obtained a grant of £10,000 from the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation towards the development of a memorial on a plot of land in the area formerly known as Newtown - now on the fringe of Cardiff Bay). The primary function of the memorial is to commemerate the loss of a community,to record its history and to keep its memory alive. It will provide the people of Cardiff with a source of educational archive material about the Newtown community, with a permanent memorial to the significant part which the people of the community played in the development of the city.
Under the guidance of Cardiff Bay Arts Trust a selection of artists was drawn up and from a shortlist of three, interviewed by the Association's committee, the contract for the design was awarded to local artist David Mackie. Before taking the design to its first stage David met with many former residents at a public meeting at the end of 1999. The Committee were unanimous in their decision to approve the final design (see Model below ) - the general feeling being that the artist had managed to get right to the heart of what Newtown was, and what it meant to so many people . The garden will be readily accessible not only to the citizens of Cardiff but also to the many visitors to the city. It is not intended to be exclusively a place of memorial or rest. It will also be a place of instruction and education.
The outline proposal for the Memorial Garden is reproduced here with David's kind permission:
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Description:
The central intertwined wall refers firstly to Knotwork and suggests the physical link between Newtown and the Docks. The walls leap over each other creating a rhythm that draws the eye towards the canal. The Capping of the walls will incorporate text and relief carving. Sections of decorative paving mosaic are to be incorporated within a simplified floor treatment. Details derived from celtic art have been enlarged to form seats and are used as motifs to suggest the vibrancy of the Newtown Community. As a whole the design creates a number of different areas to sit, to remember and to meet.The entrance points are marked by unraveling spirals (mimicking the rounded corners of warehouses) and sign post the work and the garden itself. Planting is to be restricted to shrubs in beds adjacent to the fence. |
The Site
The site provides a challenging space which strikingly parallels Newtown’s Geography: "surrounded by railways and walls", unwanted land in the shadow of heavy industry, the site for the memorial garden is enclosed on all sides by the service industry.
This sense of enclosure should be emphasised in the design, as it lies at the heart of the distinct and strong community identity of Newtown.
The site lies on the edge of a busy thorough fare with considerable pedestrian traffic to the office buildings and residential area surrounding the remnants of the junction canal.
From the site one looks to Newtown, (of which there is little trace), in one direction and to the Canal (The Docks) in the other forming an important "Site Line".
Function: Memorial
The primary function of the Memorial Garden is to commemorate
the loss of the community.
The garden should accommodate both : Personal Ceremonies when people come to remember individually and communal ceremonial use, as a stopping point in the annual "Famine Walk,’
Public and Passing use should also be encouraged by creating an
attractive "pocket park" in busy urban surroundings.
Text:
An emphasis on text as a design element comes in response to Tommy Walsh’s Poem which includes the line: "...But you won’t find any Epitaph, or Plaque set in the walls....". The translation of texts into Welsh and Gaelic will point to the integration of the community.
There is scope for further text to be incorporated in the surrounding walls and paving through the: "Naming of Names" either from Census Information or by Subscription.
"It is right that today, 150 years after the famine began,
we should remember with pride and in deep humility these men,
women and children who came here in increasing numbers.
They were poor, starving and often despised.
When we began to forget, to choose not to remember these people
to whom we owe so much, we began to move away from our
origins and from the fullness of our faith.
People who forget those from whom they are sprung
quickly forget who they are."
("People who Forget" - Bishop Mullins)
"Now Newtown’s gone, demolished, to me a sinful pity
A part of Cardiff gone for good - we were a town within a city.
….this was Newtown, The Parish of St. Paul’s".
Tommy Walsh