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Inspirational Beck Hole |
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Home Birch Hall Inn Inspirational
Beck Hole |
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Did Algernon Newton stand here too. ??? Beck Hole must always have been a special place, attracting
those of an artistic temperament and bringing out the latent talent of those
who visited or lived here. On any day in summer you are likely to find someone engrossed in the singular pleasure of capturing the spirit of Beck Hole on paper or canvas, and few visitors leave without taking at least a photograph.
LOCAL GALLERIES.........................................
To find out how contemporary
artists see the area visit a few of our super galleries nearby ..
phone them for their
location, opening times and to find out about current exhibitions
A permanent exhibition of local interest including paintings of the esteemed Staithes Group,is at the Pannett Park Museum and Gallery ,Whitby A new Gallery is now open in
Staithes featuring well known artists who follow in the footsteps of the
original Staithes group in their fascination with capturing the light and
spirit of this wonderful coastline..
phone for more
information 01947 841840
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Perhaps the most famous connection to the artworld is
with a brief time in Cornwall between 1916 -- 1919. Indeed it was his grandfather who set up, in 1832, the firm of art materials suppliers that still survives as Windsor & Newton He painted townscapes and landscapes and was one of more than thirty artists who were chosen to produce murals and artefacts for the decoration of The Queen Mary. Elected to the Royal Academy in 1943. He was a good friend of Dame Laura Knight, a respected member of the famous Staithes Group of Artists who took particular pleasure in the people and places of our coastline. Could it have been she who introduced him to the beauty of North Yorkshire ? He came to live in Beck Hole in 1941, a good time to be out of war worn London, and stayed until 1948. Until 1940 there were two inns here, The Birch Hall Inn and The Black Bull later re-named The Lord Nelson. Algernon Newton lived in The Lord Nelson after it had closed and converted the upper floor into a studio. Whilst living at The Lord Nelson he painted an inn sign for the surviving public house, The Birch Hall Inn, and gave it to the landlady, Mrs Schofield, in gratitude for many happy hours spent there. She later passed into the care of the Parish.
The Lord Nelson
The painting still hangs outside and shows the view of the Murk Esk in its steep sided gorge as it flows past the pub and under the bridge ...look carefully and you can still recognise it if you spend a few minutes on the bridge today... tho' trees have grown and successive high rivers have shuffled the rocks around !
This is a
photo of his first picture, an impression of the inn as it may have looked
many years earlier. Unfortunately it succumbed to the rigours of the weather
and in 1944 was replaced by the one above, which he painted on a metal sheet.
Lord Leighton of Stretton
Successive
generations lived in Beck Hole until 1741 when they moved to Scarborough , and in later years,London. It's a descendant of theirs, one
Frederic Leighton, eventually First Baron Leighton, who became a very famous
painter, sculptor and exhibitor at The Royal Academy, and was elected president of the RA in 1896.
Douglas Reay
Hilary Davis of Norfolk recently came across this engraving of a different view of Beckhole in an auction and kindly sent me a copy
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