Ladywell and Some Retro Art

After spending the morning at home, reading (and finishing) my most recent book, I did get out and walk a bit yesterday in South London. I took the train to Catford Bridge and walked north through Ladywell Fields, a park positively carpeted in cow parsley at this time of year.

This is not a part of London I know well. But I became interested in visiting after reading an article in The Guardian about an artist named William Mitchell, and some of his mid-century murals. The main subject of the article was a mural located in a building in Blackheath that was being demolished, and the artwork was saved from demolition by the Heritage of London Trust. But it incidentally mentioned two more Mitchell murals that seemed more accessible, in the front entranceways of some council housing blocks near Ladywell.

So I thought I'd go see those.

Along the way I passed the historic Ladywell Water Tower, which was originally built to pump water for a Victorian workhouse for older poor people. (What a way to spend retirement!) The workhouse included a laundry so it probably needed a lot of water. Although most of the workhouse buildings are gone now, the tower still stands and has been converted into flats. You can take a video tour of one here.

Finally I reached Foxborough Gardens, where the two Mitchell murals are located. Above is one of them. Apparently the colorful paint job wasn't part of the original installation, and was added in the ensuing decades. There's an effort underway to preserve and restore these murals, both installed in 1960.

Here's the other one, which as you can see is very different. It's made of hundreds of pieces of wood taken from old furniture, banisters and other items. Over the years it has been badly weathered and parts have been damaged. A closer look reveals birds, a fountain, a castle, flowers and other decorative elements.

It's interesting that Mitchell chose to create such dramatically different murals for two adjacent buildings. I wonder if he did the wood one first and it took a lot of time, and he decided to do the second more expeditiously? Maybe he had a deadline to meet. Or maybe he simply wanted variety. Who knows.

After checking out the murals I made my way to Ladywell train station and back home again. It was a relatively short walk -- just two miles or so. But it felt good to get out and see something new. Apparently Mitchell created about 100 public artworks during his lifetime -- he died in 2020 -- and some of them have been given protected landmark status. So I'll have to keep an eye out for more!