A Roundabout Way Of Embracing Sculpture
Today's image is of an archway-shaped sculpture at Peters Village, a nearby new-build estate, that is intended to reflect both the industrial and natural heritage of the area.
It sits upon a mounded roundabout on the east bank of the River Medway between a new road bridge, a road leading to the neighbouring village of Wouldham and the main entrance to the estate.
The six metre wide and four metre high artwork comprises of two concentric lager-cut steel arches that mirror the logo of the former Peter Cement Works with the overall design featuring the chimneys of the now demolished works, the railway wagons used to transport chalk from the quarries to the riverside kilns fused with other natural 'motifs' including buzzards, herons, butterflies, moths and bullrushes. I wanted to give it a bit of drama so I shot it in silhouette with the line of electricity pylons looking like they are passing through and beyond it.
The developers declared "our pride in ins transforming a brownfield site into a desirable new community that embraces its industrial past...a premium look for Peters village reflected in high standards we set in planning applications for the housing design and layout of the site". Unfortunately, this really is utter self-promotional guff as in my opinion it's a completely wasted opportunity for its glorious valley, know as the Medway Gap, setting. It's a bog standard housing estate (so many of which are despoiling our local environment) with very little architectural merit whatsoever - it could literally be anywheresville. The sculpture is by far the best thing about it.
The residents themselves are far from happy too as they have had to combine forces to fight what they say are extortionate services charges which are pricing them out of their homes, with homeowners claiming their "management" fees (another evil of modern housing developments) have more than doubled over the past three years and that they appear to be being charged for services for which they also pay their council tax.
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