A project to link a town centre with its heritage past has been unveiled in Denbighshire to support local businesses and help develop the local economy.
As part of the Denbigh Town – Castle Link project, a series of artworks linking Denbigh with its historic past and heritage have been commissioned to transform the route between the castle and the town.
The project focuses on Broomhill Lane to transform it into an interesting and exciting route between the town centre, the castle and the town walls, another of Denbigh’s best kept secrets. By making the lane more appealing it will encourage visitors to use the route to make their way between the town centre, the castle and the town walls. Research shows that currently not all visitors to the castle visit the town centre and not all visitors to the town centre even know about the castle and the town walls.
Five artists have been appointed in total to create different types of artwork to interpret the study of Broomhill Lane which was carried out before the start of this project. All of the artwork has been carefully thought out to make people want to see what’s next and thereby walk up or down the lane making the journey between the castle and the town centre easier, interesting and exciting. The artwork will be installed towards the end of September.
The project builds on the great work recently undertaken by Cadw to build a new visitor centre at the castle; renewing one of Denbigh’s main historic tourist attractions with a £610,000 investment. Both projects form part of Cadw’s £19 million Heritage Tourism Project which is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Welsh Government.
Two Welsh artists, Ann Catrin Evans from Caernarfon and Dyfed Wyn Jones from Denbigh, will be making attractive new window grilles, new decorative overhead lights and a striking new sign to point the way up Broomhill Lane from the town centre. Ann and Dyfed will be using designs based on some of the history of Denbigh as well as the broom flower which was favoured heavily by local residents in a study at the start of the project.
Rebecca Gouldson, based in Bristol and with family still living in Ruthin, will be designing new utility covers. There are so many utility covers along the footpath of Broomhill Lane that the steering group thought it would be exciting to make the covers part of the overall experience. Rebecca has used historic maps of Denbigh to influence her designs and has incorporated important historical details such as the railway, the glove making industry and well known historical figures such as the author Kate Roberts.
Welsh poet Rhys Trimble, from Bethesda, has been commissioned to write a bilingual poem that will be stencilled along the wall of the lane.
Finally sculptor, Joss Smith, from London, will produce an eye catching sculpture to be placed at the turn in the lane at Temple Bar Gardens which will be seen from the High Street. He will also produce two smaller sculptures that will be attached to the wall part way up the lane. Joss’s work depicts the nine flowers of Blodeuwedd, an important Welsh mythological figure in the Mabinogion. One of the nine flowers is the broom.
The project so far has also included providing better signage to the castle and between the castle and the town centre for both pedestrians and vehicles. Some basic environmental works have also been carried out.
Councillor Gwyneth Kensler said, ‘This is a very exciting project and is just what Denbigh needs to help showcase its important history and attractive town centre. We need to promote Denbigh as a tourist destination to bring more visitors to the town to support the local economy. I’m sure this project will help to do just that.’
