The Percy Kelly Trail (Workington & Harrington)


Workington & Harrington 

I completed the trails round Workington and Harrington over two days. I stayed in a bed and breakfast. 


Workington
The trail round Workington was interesting because it was the place Kelly was born and crew up to the age of ten.

The trail starts at the train station and goes past different places including the docks, churches and Kelly's home etc.



The trail takes you over a viaduct and down to the quayside. From here you can see a view that Percy Kelly painted many different times using different media. It was interesting to compare his different styles; I liked the bold, simple one painted in yellow's and oranges.



The trail continues down to the docks. I thought it was odd that there was still some old sheds there which Kelly had painting many years ago. I thought this was odd because lots of bigger solid stone building had gone or changed over the years but the sheds, which looked rotten even in Kelly's painting, were still there.




The trail continues to No 113 Corporation rd.
Kelly was born in number No. 113 Corporation Rd and lived there with his mother father six sibling and his grandfather. I walked from Kelly’s birthplace to the school he went to on Victoria Rd I tried to imaging Kelly walking to school with his twin brother. 


Apparently, the headmaster recognised that Kelly had artistic talent and recommended that he should go to grammar school unfortunately, Kelly parents could not afford this.


When Kelly was ten his grandfather died and the family moved to Salterbek near Harrington. At the school there the art master also noticed Kelly's talent and recommended that he went to art college; again his father said he could not afford it. At the age of fourteen Kelly won a handwriting competition and was given a job as a telegraph boy with the Royal Mail.

During this trail I noticed for the first time that although all the trails are of seaside locations Kelly never painted the sea. I thought that this was strange as a lot of artists paint seascapes and sunsets whereas Kelly preferred to paint/sketch buildings and industry.

Kelly seemed to enjoy painting buildings and heavy industry


Kelly never seemed to paint seascapes



Harrington
The trail at Harrington started at the train station.  

Kelly moved from Workington to the Oval in Salterbeck when he was ten and would have probably been drawn to the harbour area of Harrington. Apparently Kelly was also fond of the countryside and would sometimes walk the long distance to Loweswater where he would sketch and paint.


Almost straight away it is possible to see that Harrington has changed a little since Kelly's time. This made finding locations in the guide a little difficult.







 It was stated that not a lot of Kelly's early work exists today. A theory for this may be because Kelly shared a small home with his parents and six siblings and there would not have been much room.

Kelly painted Ellenbank Methodist Church perhaps because this was his family's church. 




I found it interesting that some of the view I liked were not painted by Kelly. The guide states that the area would not have been cleared of wartime mortar shells and that because of this Kelly may have been restricted in where he could go.


A view that was never painted by Kelly perhaps because unexploded bombs made it was unsafe.



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