Brantwood Seat

Antony Holloway – Near Lawson Park, Brantwood – 1995

Photograph courtesy of Antony Holloway

Material: Wood, Stone

Trail: Near Machells Coppice Trail

Theme: Seating

Form: Abstract

Maps Featured on: None

Status: Still in situ, very worn, won’t last much longer last seen June 2019

This sculptured bench was an absolute mystery for several years after I was first told about it. It is sited right at the boundary between Grizedale Forest and Brantwood, John Ruskin’s home. This is near Lawson Park where over the years a few sculptures had been placed. This bench however had not been listed on any maps. I only knew it existed as pictures mountain bikers had taken with it started appearing online in the 2010s.

Photograph Taken by Tom Richardson 2013. Original Photograph Location Here.

I had almost no information about the seat, who made it, when, where exactly was it. Was it a sculpture? Al I had to go off to find it was the fact it was on a track down to Coniston and there was a field with a barn near it. I did find it in 2019 not long after first hearing about it. I was immediately struck by the similarity to Antony Holloway’s Addison Seat. The wooden back, the stone plinth were almost identical. It also has a curve reminiscent of Spiral Growth.

By the time I reached it, it was in rather a bad way, having been left to the elements for 25 years that’s not surprising though. A surprising amount of the wooden uprights remained in place. In fact it looked like the ones that had fallen had only done so recently.

For a while I called it the Mystery Seat or Spiral Seat just so I could reference it. In 2021 I had confirmation it was indeed a sculpted work by Antony Holloway and now has it’s actual name of Brantwood Seat.

In around 1995, “Bill Grant lived virtually next door to Brantwood and was good friends with the people who were running the place.  As Grizedale forest ran into the grounds of Brantwood and as Bill was always keen to expand and develop as much as possible he proposed that Brantwood used some of the Grizedale artists to do some works in their grounds. “

“The design of the seat was based on the idea of a victorian lovers bench, apart from the fact that on this bench there wood be no kissing of the person on the other side. (How Ruskinian?) The shape of the seat backs is obviously eglisiastical, referring to Ruskins religious beliefs but the seat isn’t as simple or as obvious as it seems. Take the time to walk around and look closer and you find that one side is so much deeper, there are different levels.  The feel may be eglisiastical but the materials are earthy and natural as is the hand hewn, hand made construction.  I had also paid attention to the style of the ancient slate seat that has survived at Brantwood for many years.”

Photographs Taken June 2019

“I constructed the timber part of the seat at home in London with oak that I had driven down from Grizedale and then in the bleak midwinter I transported the seat to Brantwood and worked on site for a week installing and fitting all the boards together and building the stonework under the seats.  Halfway through the commissioning process a new Head Gardener was appointed at Brantwood who had very firm ideas about making the garden just as it was when Ruskin was alive.  Unfortunately my seat and Bill’s idea of artists working at Brantwood conflicted with her vision… (subsequently the sculpture’s location) was moved further from the house.” quotes by the artist.

Photograph courtesy of Antony Holloway

I had never heard of this collaboration with Brantwood. It’s a shame it was cut short. This does explain the strange location of the bench, very much on the periphery of both bits of land. It also goes some way to explain why it wasn’t featured on the Grizedale Maps. Though after it was moved more towards Grizedale I still believe it should have been listed.

As of mid 2019 the seat is almost completely fallen apart, sadly it won’t last much longer.

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Artist’s other work in Grizedale –

Living Wood – 1991

Water Wheel – 1993

The Turning Point, Slate Seat, Circle of Logs – 1990s

Spiral Growth – 1993

The Wheel of Seasons – 1996

Page last updated November 2021