An installation of twelve 2m high sculptures carved from sandstone standing among newly planted woodland. Commissioned by the Woodland Trust for the First World War Centennial Wood for England, the installation commemorates the inspection of the troops by Lord Kitchener at Epsom Downs in 1915.
The sculptures are sited among a formal planting of a ‘regiment’ of trees. The installation will mature and change as the trees grow, as well as with the seasons, the time of day and the weather.
See the making of this project here
The Inspection of the Troops
Langley Vale Wood is the site of a First World War training ground. It is also within sight of Epsom Downs, where an inspection of the troops took place on 22nd January 1915 by Lord Kitchener and the French minister of war, Alexandre Millerand. It was a severely cold day and 20,000 men had travelled from far afield to take part. There was a blizzard when the inspection took place and events were over very quickly as the conditions were so appalling. Some men suffered badly, sadly one later died.
So many volunteers had recently signed up that there wasn’t enough equipment and uniform to go around. The men in the front row were fully equipped, the men in the rows behind had uniform but less kit, and the men at the back stood to attention in their civilian dress.
The Sculptures
The sculptures are arranged in four rows of three; the ones at the front have rifles, the second row have webbing but no rifles or bayonets, the third row are in uniform but no equipment, and the fourth row are in civilian dress. The sculptures stand in the formal rows of trees, which also represent soldiers standing in line.
The ranks of the soldiers are either sergeant, corporal, lance corporal or private. The cap badges refer to the two regiments that most of the men at the inspection served with: The 2nd London Division of Kitchener’s New Army and the Royal Fusiliers.
“One of the things that I like most about the sculptures as a body of work is how it changes so much with the seasons, the time of day and the weather. It will also change as the trees grow and as the stone mellows with time and lichen and moss start to establish themselves.
I wanted the faces to be all very much the same and to have very few features. This was partly to give the soldiers a haunting presence but also to make them completely anonymous, to represent everyone. I wanted the viewer to impart their own interpretation and to be able to relate to them as their own family members who had served.
The carving gets more detailed moving up the sculptures from the base to the heads. The legs aren’t defined, just roughed out with a punch chisel and I left the drill holes where I split off sections of stone at the sides. The punch marks gradually fade out into scutch chisel work. The details are carved with a small flat chisel and rubbed smooth with carborundum.
Someone described this as the stone is of the ground, and the sculptures emerge from the stone. I liked this idea.”
The Regiment of Trees was officially opened by Princess Anne on 21st June 2022.
