The Percy Kelly Trail (Maryport)

 Maryport

We followed the Percy Kelly trail in Maryport. Maryport was originally a Roman fort and joined onto the Roman wall. It used to be called Ellenport but was renamed Maryport after a sea traders wife. 

Kelly liked Maryport because of the straight shaped buildings. When Kelly used to take his son to sea cadets he would spend his time painting the area. 

We started our walk from Mill street car park and stopped to take some pictures of the harbour area and compared them to the paintings of Percy Kelly's

As I walked the trail I could see that there had been many changes to Maryport since Kelly's time.   Some buildings were knocked down or burnt down so it was difficult to find some of the places that Kelly had painted.


It was clear that some things had stayed the same and ...

Maryport harbour in Kelly's time

Maryport harbour today

...others had changed over time (e.g. in this picture the slipway is no longer there).

The slipway, Ritson Wharf and Ellenborough Place

Ellenborough Place is still evident but
the wharf has gone

 Ellenborough Place

I liked this waterpaint painting of Kelly's. I like the bold colours and way he's used pencil and find brush strokes to sharped up the edges. It's messy in the background especially the sky.

I tried to see things from the same angle as Percy Kelly.

Sometimes I found it hard to find the right angle to match the paintings by Percy Kelly. I wondered if Kelly was absolutely true in his perspective.

The new bridge at Maryport

Kelly's sketch of the old bridge.

I like this drawing of the old bridge which is no longer there. I like the bold lines that Kelly has used  and how he has shaded the picture . There is a big feeling of depth between the fore and background. I think Kelly achieved this by drawing the post very much in the foreground. 

Sometimes I had to look hard for the details to help match my photos to the the paintings. 

There are quite a few differences between Maryport now (above), and in Kelly's
time below

On some of Kelly's paintings the perspective was obviously different. His paintings were simplified (e.g. the shape of buildings and the number of steps in this painting). 

He also sometimes painted in bold colours.

Note the 'many' steps down to the harbour floor.

Note lack of stairs in comparison to above image.

Some of the buildings that Kelly painted were no longer there.

This building burnt down in the 70s...

Sometimes rows of building like these on Brow Street were demolished. Kelly often painted these buildings and his typical simple style is clear here. Kelly once stated that "...simplification (in his painting), is my idea because just to put down in accurate detail all the various pieces would require an enormous board resulting in a monotonous exercise in realism....nothing is more boring than reality....

These Bow street building were demolished

These zig-zag steps were painted many times by Kelly. The trail guide states that L S Lowry stated his intention to paint them. Kelly was unhappy about this because he felt that Lowry was arrogant and had no right to paint 'his' stairs

'Kelly's' stairway

I enjoyed the the tail around Maryport. I liked to see how things had changed over the years. It was interesting that Kelly never drew or painted the main square in Maryport which has a cobbled street and some interesting buildings.

Nice sunset on the top