This is the fifth Henry and Joyce Collins' mural commissioned for Sainsburys that we have looked at, having previously toured those in Gloucester, Surbiton, Hitchin and Oxford.
The mural is on the wall facing Buckhurst Place, and was installed in 1976. It consists of 17 pieces in three arched bays.
The arrangement of panels is somewhat different to those we have previously seen. Clearly the elements could not be arranged into one mural, but the strange background setting makes me wonder whether it has been moved during a store refurbishment.
So let's look at the three bays in turn. The first one consists of five elements.
The central element has a nautical theme (as do many of the others across the mural). It also shows a penny which includes the inscription Pillemus Rex - King William.
We then have the standard Sainsbury's element, followed by some more fishing-based motifs.
I have no idea what this next element is all about. Are there rope coils? Is there some form of horse in the middle?
The second bay has seven individual elements.
We see again the Norman penny, but also King Offa, who granted Bexhill a charter in 772 AD.
The bottom right panel shows a ship underneath the inscription Hic Willelm Dux In Magno Navigo, which is taken from the Bayeux Tapestry where it continues Mare Transivit Et Venit Ad Pevensae - translating as here Duke William crossed the sea in a great ship and came to Pevensey. This of course references the Norman conquest, with Pevensey just along the coast from Bexhill.
And look, there's Halley's comet, which looks like its approaching William's ship in the manner of Exocet missile.
Is this a geographic feature or a giant musical note? And what I didn't notice at the time is that this panel has the signature of Henry and Joyce Collins under the blue waves at bottom left.
We end with a boat, which provides a link to our next port of call.
Photographs taken on 18 May 2019.
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