Oxford

Stop number six on our tour of the concrete murals of Henry and Joyce Collins takes us to Oxford. Although this is Templars Square shopping centre in Cowley, which is the grittier industrial part of the city rather than the dreaming spires.

Like Surbiton, the Templars Square shopping centre is somewhere I had visited before without seeing the mural. But here it is a case of several different entrances to the centre, and one that is not the most obvious to the casual visitor. The mural is the least referenced on web image searches, which maybe a reflection on its location both within the centre and its distance from the city centre.

The Templars Square shopping centre was opened in 1965 as the Cowley Centre, changing its name in 1989. It is located on Between Towns Road. The current names derives from the Knights Templar, whose Temple Cowley was founded in 1139.

The mural was commissioned for Sainsbury's and was installed in 1976/77. As per usual, it depicts the history of the area, although not quite in the same ancient to modern and all points in between as seen on many of the others. In fairness, it would have to be a very long mural to encapsulate all of Oxford's history.

The plaque sets out what can be seen. I am trying to work out if this is original or whether it is covering some original feature, as the other murals seen so far have not included a plaque on the work itself.

The plague says that the legend reads from left to right, but it doesn't quite pan out that way. It says that the elements are:

• Ancient names of Oxford and Cowley;
• Dreaming spires and towers of Oxford colleges;
• Oxford University Press;
• Agriculture represented by: Oxfordshire farm wagon, traction engine (Oxfordshire Steam Ploughing Co.), old and modern ploughs, tractors, combine harvester, beet harvester, sheep farming, poultry and cattle;
• Modern Grove Allen hydraulic crane;
• History relating to influence of William Morris on car production in Cowley;
• Modern car production;
• Early Sainsbury's van made by Leyland;
• Sainsbury's tricycle delivery;
• Oxford marmalade.

Well, clearly there are some old place names at the top left:

The big green traction engine (this sounds like the start of a children's book) was built by the Oxfordshire Steam Ploughing Company founded in 1874. The company was taken over by John Allen in 1897, which in turn was taken over by the US company Grove. Hence the "modern Grove Allen hydraulic crane", otherwise known as the big yellow machine. Production of the cranes was moved from Cowley to Sunderland in 1984, but before then the factory stood opposite the Templars Square shopping centre, on a site now occupied by the John Allen retail park.

We now have the dreaming spires and the Oxford University Press. Or in an alternative universe, the Oxford University towers and the dreaming quires.

The coats of arms are those of Oxford University and the City of Oxford (an ox fording a body of water - no point in getting too clever).

The right hand end of the mural is dominated by motor vehicles. Car production started in Cowley in 1912, and still continues today with BMW producing the latest Mini.

Yes there really was a car produced in the shape depicted below, and yes it really was made in a horrible brown colour. This was the Austin Princess, produced between 1975 and 1981.

The Mini is a much more famous car...

The "Early Sainsbury's van made by Leyland" has been amended in a rather unsubtle manner by Wilko, who are the current occupiers of the Sainsbury store site. I hope that this tacky addition is something that can easily be removed (I think I am referring to the sign rather than the store, but I could be wrong) without damaging the mural. If you look closely at the plaque you can also see that the black lettering of the name Sainsbury has been scraped off. Do Wilko really think that Sainsbury's is a competitor? Surely Sainsbury's is in a much higher league.

And the Oxford Marmalade? I think there is a jar lurking in the bottom right corner of the mural. Oxford Marmalade, as opposed to the much earlier stuff made in Dundee, was first made by Sarah Cooper in 1874. As well as Seville oranges, there are various different recipes containing items such as brown sugar, black treacle and root of ginger. I will let others argue what the "authentic" recipe is.

Next stop on our magical mural tour is Bexhill.

Photographs taken on 4 May 2019.

Hitchin

The hunt for the Henry and Joyce Collins mural in Hitchin wasn't initially promising. My first lead was to Sainsbury's in Brand Street (quite an appropriate name), but the reality on the ground was a change in use and not a mural in sight. Not to be daunted, Google maps showed that there was a Sainsbury's on the edge of the town centre, which, given that Hitchin is only a medium-sized town, was not very far away. Alas, the result of the short walk was only to confirm that the mural had not been transferred to the new store. Ho hum.

Back home, a bit of further research showed that the concrete mural had been transferred to the library, a fact confirmed by checking on Streetview. Moral - do your homework in full before venturing out.

And so the following pictures are the result of my second visit to Hitchin.


And here is the library wall, with its splendid mural (dating from 1972/73).

Because of its new location, you can step back to get all of the mural in the picture, and without the risk of getting run over. I was also fortunate in that there were no cycles parked in front of it to obscure the view.

It is clearly in the style of the other Henry and Joyce Collins murals that we have looked at so far.

And helpfully it has a plaque which says where the mural came from and when it was moved.....

…..and another one which identifies who the work is by and a summary of what it shows.

And what does it show? Why, a history of Hitchin of course. Starting from the left, we have the phrase Rex tenet Hiz, or the King holds Hitchin, which is a reference from the Domesday Book of 1086. "z" is of course pronounced as "tch".

The Hitchin coat of arms granted in 1936 includes a lion (which references links to the monarchy), a fleshing knife (tanning industry) and a sheaf of barley (malting and brewing).

We then move on to three figures above a carriage.

The three figures being Offa, Tovi and John de Balliol. Offa was King of Mercia (757 - 796). Although better remembered for Offa's Dyke, a defensive earthwork built between Mercia and the Welsh kingdoms, his connection with Hitchin is that he founded a Bendictine religious house on the grounds which became St Mary's church. Tovi was the first Lord of the Manor, and John de Balliol was a member of the family which owned the land for generations (and more famous for founding Balliol College in Oxford).

The vehicle which sits below these gentlemen is Kershaw's Coach, a stagecoach which started in the early 1800's and run the 36 mile London - Barnet - Hitchin route in 4.5 hours. The coming of the railway to Hitchin in the 1850s was of course the death knell for this service.

Hicce is another old name for Hitchin. We then have the Carmelites and the Quakers, and silver pennies and a plough, and all the little bits of local history and Henry and Joyce put into their murals.

"Hycchyn" sits above a representation of St Mary's church, and then there are a host of agricultural references.

Icknield Way is a prehistoric route which passes just to the north of Hitchin, and is sometimes claimed to be the oldest road in Britain.

The historical story telling of the mural has been recognised by others. There is a delightful video telling the history of Hitchin using old slides, including many of the different aspects of the mural, which can be found at https://northhertsmuseum.org/tag/hitchin/

Photographs taken on 19 April 2019.