Each week I send out a short, fresh reflection from the road – photographs, sketches, and observations from old places that still have something to teach us. What follows is a moment from those travels.
The Imposter.
Once again I’m stood in an ancient place amongst people that I regard as friends, and I have imposter syndrome.
I’ve been commissioned by Marta Sledz from Chroma Conservation to photograph Marta and her team conserving a C17th monument at St. Helen’s in Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire.
I feel so guilty because being here doesn’t feel like work. It’s a joy to be in such a special place watching dedicated and talented people take care of something that means so much to the local community.
The Garrard Monument is an exceptional piece of craftsmanship which has suffered the ravages of time.
Photos courtesy of Marta Sledz
It is a memorial to John and Elizabeth Garrard. Below them are depictions of their fourteen children. Those who died whilst their parents were alive are holding skulls.
These monuments are telling, reflecting the privilege and societal norms of their day. Their survival is key, for they provide the yardstick by which we assess our collective journey, measure our progress, and confront contemporary challenges. I am reminded of the words of Lemn Sissay:
Hold me while spirits of the past
& Rivers of blood run through me
All this past feeds this present
And brings the truth into me
As well as the Garrard family, I see another memorial hidden in plain sight. This is also a monument to the artists who made it - from those behind the pattern books that influenced the design, to the artisans that brought about, through their skill and guile, a majestic whole. In spite of their hardship - they created a work of art that lights up our emotions: from the angelic spandrels to the poor little mites in the frieze.
I’ve photographed hundreds of monuments over my career, and the accumulative imbibing of their epithets and styles has impacted me enormously. For me, there’s nothing macabre or sad about them. They reveal generations of people who are actively re-imagining who they are and what they represent. As time moves on, the memorials reveal a constant desire for change through the latest styles, colours and typography.
The Garrard monument tells us of the iconography and fashions of the early C17th - and reminds us of the striking changes that the Northern Renaissance brought about, through the pattern books that were so prevalent.
This and the other church monuments at St. Helen’s, including the building and its churchyard, are part of the local communities history and cohesive identity. Conservation of the monument is helping keep all of this alive.
And then there’s Marta herself, and Ryan and Deb. At times, when I was photographing them, I lowered my lens and forgot my work for a while, in awe at the respect, reverence and devotion they had for the monument; for they know, that it is far greater than the sum of its parts.
These conservators, these minimal interventionists, aren’t simply curators of the paint pot and infill, but also guardians of a rich cultural tapestry that teaches us what it means to be human.
I once believed that we possessed our heritage, only to realise that it possesses us in more ways than we realise. We are but stewards and our legacy will be measured, and our offspring nourished, by the treasures we cherish and the stories we pass on.
Alongside blood banks and seed banks we also have monuments that are memory banks - just as critical to our future and wellbeing.
I made a short film of Marta and Ryan and Deb conserving the Garrard Monument.
If you know of a monument that needs help and conservation, do it now, raise the funds, shout it from the rooftops - as if your life depends upon it, because, far more than we realise, it probably does.
Readers of the Genius Loci Digest
What stays with readers
That aura, those echoes - the muted light is transporting. What a space to feel rooted in history. I'd love to make that journey myself; you've stirred the opera lover and architectural dreamer in me.
From the heritage portfolio
Choose how to join, share or support Andy Marshall's work
Connect with me on: Bluesky / Instagram / Facebook / X / Tumblr / Flickr / Vimeo / Pixelfed / Pinterest
Member discussion