Appendices A - D

Appendix A.

About the Charter Stone - Gary Breeze describes the work as follows:

“The inspiration for the form of this monument comes from the Romanesque device for telling a continuous story on a single column.

These names (including some historical names) are carved to flow down a column of stone and, although it is purely decorative, the relative positions of the streams, bridges and mills have been carefully considered to create a SCULPTURAL MAP.”

Michael Johnson, Senior Arts Officer TVBC has this to say:

“I am very much drawn to this work of art. Executed with a level of skill and fine art application to the highest degree. Gary must be most pleased with his labour of love. I find the work a pleasure to look at. I feel that it's one of those that intrigue and delight over a period of time. Not having to absorb the immediate effect at the very first glance.

The sculpture also has a very fine position, placed delicately within a town that will no doubt benefit from its unique appeal and aplomb. A work of art that can be embraced by the people as an heirloom for the future; for all to appreciate today and with the standing of time, for many years to come.”

Pictured below is a section of the initial design for the Charter Stone.

About Gary Breeze who created The Stone

Ceramicist Edmund de Waal, writing in THINKTANK 2005, describes Gary's work as follows: "... Breeze works as an ethnographer as much as a carver... his work is immersed in the particularities of words and voice and culture. He restores language to us through his lettering."

On his website (www.garybreeze.co.uk) Gary is described as being “…first and foremost a letter cutter of stone and wood. Drawing letterforms for carving is a hard-won skill that requires a particular attention to detail; useful to design in general. Established in 1993 in London after eight years as a design student, apprentice and assistant, Gary quickly gained a reputation, not just for technically accomplished lettering and robust design, but for the innovative content of his work, which subsequently won him a number of major public commissions. In more recent years his work has caught the attention of the broader art world culminating in his first major solo exhibition at the New Art Centre Sculpture Park and Gallery in 2004.”

Only six months or so before installation of the Charter Stone in Romsey, The Prince of Wales had unveiled Gary’s Bali memorial stone in St James’ Park which remembers the dead of that tragic event by a flight of 202 doves carved into a large spherical stone. He is also no stranger to Romsey, having carved the large tablets bearing names of trees and surrounded by moving water at the new reception centre in the Sir Harold Hillier gardens and Arboretum.

About Rod Hoyle who designed and carved the Plaque to accompany the Charter Stone

Rod, a Yorkshireman, came to Hampshire in 1956, where his studies culminated in Fine Art at Winchester and Bristol Schools of Art. A love of lettering engendered in youth by railway liveries and ‘printed ephemera’ ran through his career in art teaching whilst the respect for vernacular architecture stimulated him to found a civic society whilst living in Lincolnshire. Domesticity with Diana in Romsey as director of Art at Stroud School prompted him to create a living as a freelance lettering artist - a move influenced by his admiration of the careers of Eric Gill and William Morris. Rod's approach to his craft echoes the tradition of "hand, eye and heart", and that through being local, one's work can become universal.

His skills have taken him on commissions throughout England. Besides painting, he has carved letters in wood, slate, Carrara marble and stone together with some notable engraving on glass. For example he designed and executed the numbers for 10 Downing Street and worked for the Cathedral Scribes on the Book of Remembrance at Winchester Cathedral. Much of his work is to be found in Romsey such as the incised slate plaques about Sir William Petty (Church Street) and Bartram Waller Attlee (Cornmarket). In the chancel of Romsey Abbey his commemorative quatercentenary stone records the town's debt to the four burghers who arranged purchase of the Abbey Church with Thomas Cromwell.

Insurance and maintenance - Romsey Town Council

At an early stage in the project it had been recognised that insurance to cover public liability and damage to the Charter Stone together with ongoing maintenance would be required. Romsey Town Council had been approached and had kindly agreed to cover both these items, so from the moment the Stone was installed, it was covered for all risks.

A maintenance schedule will be agreed with the Town Council when a study of the drainage situation around the stone is complete. Some brown stains have appeared in the base stone in the three months since it was installed but this is quite common in Portland stone and usually disappears after a few years. However, the Stone is located in an exceptionally wet area and currently this is being studied to see if drainage can be improved.