Saturday 27 June 2020

THE HARDY TREE

After I was trawling through the ArtPix Photo Library today, I've chosen a random photo for the day ...



The Hardy Tree, in the churchyard of St Pancras Old Church, near King's Cross in London.

So called because these gravestones were placed there by, non-other than, the author Thomas Hardy.

The story goes, that in the 1860s St Pancras station needed to be enlarged, as London was expanding at an alarming rate. 
This meant removing and exhuming nearby grave sites to put down the wider tracks. 
The firm of architects where Hardy was working were given this lovely job!

When all was done, they were left with the spare gravestones. Hardy then had the idea of laying them all around an ash tree in the churchyard.

Over time they have blended in with the tree, creating an atmospheric bark and stone, 'life and death' sculpture.

Hardy later toddled off to Dorset to become a world-famous author.

I myself led a similar path (apart from the world-famous bit!), as I used to work near this churchyard, and then I also toddled off to Dorset!!!

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