53-524: The Stanley Spencer Gallery is an art museum in the South of England dedicated to the life and work of the artist Stanley Spencer . It was opened in 1962 and is located in the Thameside village of Cookham , Berkshire where the artist was born and spent much of his life. The gallery's collection comprises over 100 paintings and drawings, which includes a number of long-term loans. Exhibitions are mounted on
106-433: A blacksmith, a baker, a butcher, a chemist and a working farm. At some stage all these would feature in his work. The young Spencer was fascinated by everything he saw around him, from the cows in the barn across the road from his bedroom to the piles of rubbish mounting in the farmyard. (This was before regular rubbish collections arrived in the village.) A regular swimmer in the river, he claimed his early morning bathe, as
159-518: A cost of over £800,000 thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund and was reopened on 29 September 2007 [1] , creating a modern, light space which displays Spencer's works to their best advantage. A mezzanine floor was added and new state of the art equipment installed in a sympathetic renovation which reclaims the simple beauty of the building which Stanley Spencer so loved. Spencer was born at Fernlea on Cookham High Street on 30 June 1891,
212-713: A higher life expectancy than the North, however, regional differences do seem to be slowly narrowing: between 1991–1993 and 2012–2014, life expectancy in the North East increased by 6.0 years and in the North West by 5.8 years, the fastest increase in any region outside London, and the gap between life expectancy in the North East and South East is now 2.5 years, down from 2.9 in 1993. Furthermore, all such figures represent an average – affluent northern towns such as Harrogate have higher life expectancies than less affluent areas of
265-510: A larger Methodist Church was built in nearby Cookham Rise in 1904 and eventually closed, much to the chagrin of the Spencer family who fought hard to keep it open. Stanley's brother Gilbert Spencer recalled: On 17 April 1910 Stan and I saw the key turned in the door of Cookham Chapel for the last time after the evening service. And with this, I think an important and significant influence in my brother's life came to an end . The building
318-575: A larger settlement and trading centre. Later, Alfred the Great made Sashes Island one of his burhs to help defend against Viking invaders. There was a royal palace here where the Witan met in 997. Although the earliest stone church building may have existed from 750, the earliest identifiable part of the current Holy Trinity parish church is the Lady Chapel, built in the late 12th century on
371-574: A memorial to the artist. Those involved in the project included Joan George, who lived for a time in the artist's former house Fernlea and became the first honorary secretary; Gerard Shiel, a solicitor and local collector of Spencer's works; Donald Rademacher, a former director of the John Lewis Partnership ; and the Rev Michael Westropp, vicar of Cookham who had extended hospitality to Spencer in his last years. In 1962
424-411: A notable north–south divide of England. The sub-national area's official population is nearly 28 million and an area of 62,042 square kilometres (23,955 sq mi): roughly 40% of United Kingdom's population and approximately a quarter of its area. Influential, geographic and political divisions have created multiple internal identities to the sub-national area of England. The influential division
477-589: A part-time Parish Clerk, and Assistant Clerk. The local health services are managed by the East Berkshire PCT ( primary care trust ) – NHS Services . Cookham is in the Maidenhead parliamentary constituency , the seat has been held since its creation in 1997 by Theresa May (Conservative). Cookham village is on the A4094 between Maidenhead and Bourne End. The A404 from Maidenhead to High Wycombe
530-465: A regular basis and include loans from other public institutions and public collections. Cookham was very important to Stanley Spencer , he called it ‘a Village in Heaven’ and it was an endless source of artistic inspiration throughout his life. After his death in 1959 friends and patrons determined to find a permanent home within the village in which to display paintings and drawings that would serve as
583-411: A studio. She invited the steering committee of the newly founded Stanley Spencer Memorial Trust to visit her, at which point it was decided that the perfect venue for The Stanley Spencer Gallery had been found. A simple conversion took place; the side windows were blocked in to allow more hanging space and a new floor, doors and lights were installed. In 2006/7 the building was completely refurbished at
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#1732793523388636-546: Is a historic Thames-side village and civil parish on the north-eastern edge of Berkshire , England, 2.9 miles (5 km) north-north-east of Maidenhead and opposite the village of Bourne End . Cookham forms the southernmost and most rural part of the High Wycombe urban area. With adjoining Cookham Rise and Cookham Dean , it had a combined population of 5,779 at the 2011 Census . In 2011, The Daily Telegraph deemed Cookham Britain 's second richest village. It
689-598: Is a strong distinction between natives of the south-west and south-east. The broadcaster Stuart Maconie has noted that culturally "there's a bottom half of England [...] but there isn't a south in the same way that there's a north". One major manifestation of the North–South divide is in health and life expectancy statistics. All three Northern England statistical regions have lower than average life expectancies and higher than average rates of cancer , circulatory disease and respiratory disease . The South of England has
742-540: Is defined by closeness to the capital; Greater London itself, the Home Counties and outer areas. The Home Counties identify in a similar way to the neighbouring English Midlands , in this case sharing culture with London and the outer areas yet identifying as separate from each. The geographic split is north-east ( fenlands ), south ( downlands and a coastal plain ) and west (following the River Thames to
795-476: Is in scale with the rest of the village and reflects the nature of Stanley; small, cheerful, very special and deeply loved. On show were many lent works, a number of which now form a part of the permanent collection, including the monumental painting Christ Preaching at Cookham Regatta , left unfinished at Spencer's death. The practical arrangements of the hanging were supervised by Spencer's former agent Dudley Tooth. The artist's daughters Shirin and Unity attended
848-478: Is just to the west of Cookham Dean. Cookham railway station , at Cookham Rise, is on the Marlow branch line . There are half-hourly services to Maidenhead and Bourne End, with peak services extended to Marlow. An hourly bus service to Maidenhead, Bourne End and High Wycombe is provided by Arriva Shires & Essex six days a week. The river Thames has a long stretch of moorings above Cookham Bridge . The village as
901-663: Is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Cocheham . The name may be from the Old English cōc + hām , meaning 'cook village', i.e. 'village noted for its cooks', although the first element may be derived from the Old English cōc(e) meaning 'hill'. The parish includes three settlements: The ancient parish of Cookham covered all of Maidenhead north of the Bath Road until this was severed in 1894, including
954-677: Is the largest city in the South of England and is the capital of the United Kingdom. The London Metropolitan Area has a population of 14.2 million (2019), making it the largest metropolitan area in Europe. English is the native language of the English people and the main language spoken in the South. The South of England has a dialect and accent distinct from that of other parts of the UK. Due to
1007-605: The Bristol channel and a peninsula ). The north-east fenlands for example have been affected by the London's expansion; the traditional Cockney dialect 's population of London's East End has moved out to the north and east Home Counties with a knock on effect to East Anglia 's population. The political divide is the International Territorial Level ; the regional level defines the south as London ,
1060-597: The Chartered Institute of Marketing , based in Moor Hall. The John Lewis Partnership , operator of John Lewis department stores and Waitrose supermarkets, has a subsidised hotel and conference centre based at Odney for partners and their guests. The Partnership has four other subsidised hotels, at Ambleside ( Lake District ), Bala (north Wales ), Brownsea Island ( Poole Harbour ) and Leckford ( Hampshire ). Cookham's municipal services are provided by
1113-489: The East of England , London , South East and South West . Ceremonial counties are: South West: South East: London: East: There is a network of local enterprise partnerships , some areas are further devolved: Catalyst South (strategic alliance): The historic counties ceased to be used for any administrative purpose in 1899 but remain important to some people, notably for county cricket . Cookham Cookham
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#17327935233881166-593: The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead and forms part of the Bisham and Cookham ward. Since May 2019 the village has two borough councillors, Mandy Brar ( Lib Dem ) and Gerry Clark ( Conservative ). Cookham also has a parish council with 15 councillors in three wards, Cookham (2 councillors), Cookham Rise (9 councillors) and Cookham Dean (4 councillors). Since May 2019 there have been four Conservative, nine Lib Dems and two independent councillors. The Council has
1219-868: The South East , the South West and the East For official purposes, the UK government does not refer to Southern England as a single entity, but the Office for National Statistics divides UK into twelve regions . In England, the North West, North East and Yorkshire and the Humber make up the North ("centre-north"); the West Midlands and East Midlands (as well as Wales) make up the Midlands ("centre-south") and
1272-573: The hamlets of Furze Platt and Pinkneys Green . There were several manors: Cookham, Lullebrook, Elington, Pinkneys, Great Bradley , Bullocks, White Place and Cannon Court. The neighbouring communities are Maidenhead to the south, Bourne End to the north, Marlow and Bisham to the west and Taplow to the east. The River Thames flows past Cookham on its way between Marlow and Taplow. Several Thames islands belong to Cookham, such as Odney Island , Formosa Island and Sashes Island , which separates Cookham Lock from Hedsor Water . The Lulle Brook and
1325-537: The spicery to Henry VI , (died 1517), and his wife; a tablet by Flaxman , to mariner Sir Isaac Pocock, uncle of dramatist Isaac Pocock , who drowned in the Thames in 1810; and a mural tablet to Arthur Babham (died 1560) with an entablature and a shield. Cookham Wesleyan Methodist chapel was built in 1846 and extended in 1911. It now houses the Stanley Spencer Gallery . Cookham is home to
1378-643: The 19th century and the largest stone axe ever found in Britain was one of 10,000 that has been dug up in nearby Furze Platt. The Roman road called the Camlet Way is reckoned to have crossed the Thames at Sashes Island, now cut by Cookham Lock, on its way from St. Albans to Silchester . By the 8th century there was an Anglo-Saxon abbey in Cookham, under the patronage of the Kingdom of Mercia , and one of
1431-663: The First World War (2 April – 2 November 2014); the theme of which, timed to coincide with the centenary of the First World War , was to examine the effect this momentous event had upon Stanley Spencer's art. On display were key paintings from the period through which the artist sought to regain the artistic vision he feared lost as a result of the trauma of war. Also exhibited were works and supplementary material about Spencer's wartime experiences in Macedonia and
1484-572: The Gallery opened within the former Wesleyan Chapel in the High Street which Spencer had attended as a child with his mother. In the catalogue for the opening exhibition, Lord Astor, a patron of Spencer and founder of the Gallery wrote: This Gallery is in its nature modest. It can only show a selection of Stanley Spencer’s pictures though they will vary each year. But perhaps a great edifice would be less typical of Stanley than this Gallery which
1537-413: The Gallery. Of particular interest are the pram that Stanley Spencer famously used to transport his painting equipment around the village and the delicate brushes he used for the fine detail in his later works. Exhibitions are changed every six months; the summer exhibition including loaned works on a theme with the winter exhibition usually comprising a selection from the Gallery's own collection. Over
1590-470: The Heavenly Visitors (1933), and eight drawings which included some of his earliest drawings. The complete collection may be accessed online at the Gallery's website. All aspects of the Spencer works are covered in the collection, from preparatory drawings and studies to final paintings. For example: Preparatory Drawings and Studies Paintings Portraits Gardens and Landscapes On
1643-620: The Premier League, with some media outlets marketing fixtures against them as a South Coast derby; Other major derbies in Southern England are West Country derbies and London derbies . Rugby union is the dominant code played in the south with a minor rugby league presence. One of the biggest derbies is the West Country derby ( Bath v Gloucester ). Southern England consists of four regions and 22 counties:
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1696-796: The South or Midlands. The South has land borders with Wales and the English Midlands and a sea border with France , Belgium and the Netherlands . The South is generally more low-lying than the North. There are a number of hill ranges, such as the Cotswolds and the Chilterns . The highest point in the South is High Willhays 2,037 ft (621 m), located in Devon within Dartmoor National Park . London
1749-799: The South such as Southampton or Plymouth. The South of England has a number of world-renowned universities, such as the ancient universities of Oxford and Cambridge , and many Russell Group universities, such as Imperial College London , University of Exeter and the London School of Economics . The South Coast Derby is used to describe football matches played mainly between Portsmouth Football Club and Southampton Football Club . However, in Portsmouth's absence from top flight football, AFC Bournemouth and Brighton and Hove Albion – based about 30 miles (48 km) and 60 miles (97 km) from Southampton respectively – gained promotion to
1802-586: The Spencer-Chute correspondence; a full set of letters written during the First World War from Stanley Spencer to his friend the artist and poet Desmond Chute , the originals of which are in the Gallery archive). Further archive material is available to view by appointment including sound recordings of those who knew Spencer, the research papers of Spencer's biographer Kenneth Pople and a comprehensive photograph archive. Various items of memorabilia that were owned by Stanley Spencer are on permanent display in
1855-591: The White Brook are tributaries of the Thames that flow through the parish. Much common land remains in the parish, such as Widbrook Common, Cookham Dean Common and Cock Marsh . Winter Hill affords views over the Thames Valley and Chiltern Hills . Cock Marsh is a site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) just to the north of the village. The area has been inhabited for thousands of years. Several prehistoric burial mounds on Cock Marsh were excavated in
1908-404: The chapel with his mother whose brother had been a local preacher there. The services made a deep impression upon the young artist and he felt a great spiritual significance within the little building, so much so that over thirty years later he was able to recall it in great detail when drawing Ecstasy in a Wesleyan Chapel which is now in the Gallery's collection. The chapel became underused once
1961-624: The estate at Cookham was the subject of the first ever country house poem , Emilia Lanier 's "Description of Cookham", which pays tribute to her patroness, Margaret Clifford . The townspeople resisted many attempts to enclose parts of the common land, including those by the Rev. Thomas Whateley in 1799, Miss Isabella Fleming in 1869, who wanted to stop nude bathing at Odney, and the Odney Estates in 1928, which wanted to enclose Odney Common. The Maidenhead and Cookham Commons Preservation Committee
2014-419: The exhibition and have been great supporters of the Gallery over the years. The Gallery was then opened to the public, at first run by a full-time paid custodian but latterly run at every level very successfully by a team of volunteers. The Wesleyan chapel on Cookham High Street was built in 1846. A simple structure of brick and slate, it could accommodate a congregation of up to 107. Stanley Spencer attended
2067-524: The later abbesses was Cynethryth , widow of Offa of Mercia . It became the centre of a power struggle between Mercia and Wessex , with the Thames forming a boundary between the two. In 2021 archaeological excavations by a team from the University of Reading discovered the site of the abbey, adjacent to Cookham's parish church, and items associated with it, while the following year additional excavations revealed extensive ancient infrastructure suggesting
2120-575: The mezzanine floor level of the gallery is a small study area which houses library and archive material and a computer presentation about the artist and his work. A comprehensive selection of books and articles on Stanley Spencer and related topics is available to be consulted on the premises during opening hours. Archive material on open access includes reference files of press cuttings (1920s – present day), student theses and essays, written memories of Spencer, exhibition catalogues and copies and transcripts of letters written by Stanley Spencer (including
2173-587: The planning of the Burghclere Chapel. 51°33′35″N 0°42′26″W / 51.5597°N 0.7073°W / 51.5597; -0.7073 South of England Southern England , also known as the South of England or the South , is a sub-national part of England with cultural, economic and political differences from both the Midlands and the North . The Midlands form a dialect chain in
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2226-534: The prominence of the South in media and politics, Standard British English is largely based on the English spoken in the South. For example, the standard British accent, Received Pronunciation , is very similar to the educated speech of London, Oxford and Cambridge. Cornish is a revived language spoken in Cornwall and is an important part of the identity and culture of the Cornish people . People often apply
2279-519: The rest of England make up the South. Culturally speaking, the majority of people think that the South consists of the South East (92%), Greater London (88%), South West (87%), and to lesser extent the East of England (57%). However, 35% of people surveyed placed the East of England as part of the Midlands. Generally people in the North tend to put the East of England in the South more than people in
2332-464: The river bank up to Cockmarsh and Winter Hill. The Stanley Spencer Gallery has one of the largest collections of Stanley Spencer works in the world. It comprises 24 paintings, 66 drawings, 8 lithographs and 3 very early works in pen and ink. The heart of the collection is the Barbara Karmel bequest of 1995 which consisted of four oil paintings including one of his masterpieces, Sarah Tubb and
2385-577: The site of the cell of a female anchorite who lived next to the church and was paid a halfpenny a day by Henry II . In the Middle Ages , most of Cookham was owned by Cirencester Abbey and the timber-framed Churchgate House was apparently the Abbot 's residence when in town. The Tarry Stone – still to be seen on the boundary wall of the Dower House – marked the extent of their lands. In 1611
2438-402: The sunlight would hit the water ‘"was the time for visitations". His early rudimentary education, at the hands of his two sisters in a small shed in his grandmother's garden, developed his love of nature as long walks through the woods and meadows were a regular routine. Time and again he would return to the visual images of his village childhood, just one example being his 1958 Crucifixion which
2491-415: The tenth of 11 children in the family. The house had been built by his grandfather, Master Builder Julius, who was also responsible for the local school and many other houses around the village. Cookham , prior to the First World War , was a rural community somewhat cut off from the outside world, the curve of the River Thames giving it an almost island-like isolation. The village high street contained
2544-465: The terms "southern" and "south" loosely, without deeper consideration of the geographical identities of Southern England. This can cause confusion over the depth of affiliation between its areas. As in much of the rest of England, people tend to have a deeper affiliation to their county or city. Thus, residents of Essex are unlikely to feel much affinity with people in Oxfordshire . Similarly, there
2597-407: The years since the gallery was founded many aspects of Spencer's art have been explored; portraits, landscapes, visionary works, places both far and near and particular periods in the artist's life. Work by his family and contemporaries have also been exhibited. (Catalogues of all previous exhibitions are available to view on the library shelves in the gallery.) A particular highlight in recent years
2650-582: Was The Art of Shipbuilding on the Clyde in 2011 during which the whole of the Gallery was dedicated to the large scale canvases Spencer produced during the Second World War when sent to Lithgows Shipyard, Port Glasgow as an official World War II artist. Exhibitions have included Stanley Spencer in Cookham (7 November 2013 – 30 March 2014) and Paradise Regained. Spencer in the Aftermath of
2703-463: Was formed and raised £2,738 to buy the manorial rights and the commons which were then donated to the National Trust by 1937. These included Widbrook, Cock Marsh, Winter Hill, Cookham Dean Commons, Pinkneys Green Common and Maidenhead Thicket. Holy Trinity parish church is a Grade II* listed building containing several monuments, including a Purbeck marble tomb for Robert Peeke, clerk of
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#17327935233882756-413: Was inspired by seeing piles of rubble in the High Street created by the laying of the mains drainage pipes. Cookham has altered greatly since Spencer's early days but it is still possible to see many settings of his paintings and even the views he recorded so well. Some of the village atmosphere he so enjoyed can be found walking through the churchyard of Holy Trinity or following Spencer's footsteps along
2809-474: Was then converted by local benefactor Colonel Ricardo into the "King's Hall", a reading and recreation room for village residents, and continued as such until the Second World War , after which it was used for various activities, including a life drawing class suggested by Stanley Spencer . After Spencer's death in 1959 Faith Gibbon, a young artist whom he had befriended, was using the former chapel as
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