David Nash – Grizedale Tarn Trail – 1978
Sketch ‘Sweeping Larch Enclosure with Ring Fence’ 1978
Material: Wood
Trail: Grizedale Tarn Trail
Theme: Nature
Form: Realism
Maps Featured on: 1981
Status: Unknown, presume, no remains
Photograph and Sketch from ‘Fletched Over Ash’ book by David Nash 1978
Quote from the artist: “Adjacent to the main footpath, planted nine larch trees at an angle on a slope which will eventually form an enclosure, each tree curving up out of the ground, giving the enclosed space a dynamic movement. Each tree fenced as protection against red deer. Fences can be moved in ten years time.”
Apparently this living sculpture failed to work as the wind would funnel through the site and ‘burned’ the trees and they died. It was listed on the 1981 map so must have survived in some sense for a few years. In the 1984 book Open Air Sculpture In Britain it states that “Sweeping Larch Enclosure (is) not yet mature enough to photograph successfully.” But it doesn’t appear on the 1984 map. It was positioned on the steep path up from the visitor centre towards Grizedale Tarn.
Still image from video David Nash Grizedale Residency made with Culture Colony
Nash has since completed an Ash Dome in Wales which he started in 1977, which was created in what I imagine to be a similar way to this Enclosure.
Artist’s other work in Grizedale –
Running Table – 1978
Horned Tripod – 1978
Willow Ladders – 1978
Wooden Waterway – 1978
Fork Ladders – 1978
A Meeting of Ways – 1981
Page last updated June 2021
Grizedale Forest Sculpture An Unofficial Archive 