A VILLAGE is set to mark the 200th anniversary of a visit by one of Britain’s most celebrated painters, who went on to immortalise the area in artworks, by staging a festival.
West Tanfield, known for its hosting of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry during the 2014 Yorkshire Tour de France Grand Depart, will mark the visit of JMW Turner in August 1816 with a series of events from July 28.
The artist, who went on to paint watercolours of Upper and Lower Wensleydale, including one of Hackfall, three miles upstream on the River Ure from West Tanfield, which was renowned as one of the finest and largest wild gardens in Britain at the time.
He also sketched the West Tanfield’s red-roofed cottages, 15th century Marmion Tower and church and revisited Fountains Abbey, near Ripon.
During the grand tour, Turner stopped in Masham to make illustrations for A General History of the County of York, by Thomas Dunham Whitaker and at Jervaulx Abbey while searching for a view that would show its tranquil setting in Wensleydale.
Turner, who also visited dozens of places across the Dales, from Hawdraw Force to Ravensworth Castle, to sketch during the tour, is said to have been most impressed by Middleham.
A festival spokesman said: “The local people are particularly proud of the fact that he captured West Tanfield.
“Villages in this part of the world have not changed, they remain more or less what Turner would have seen.”
The festival will feature a concert of songs, poems, organ music and anthems, painting contests and events, a screening of Mike Leigh’s film Mr Turner and a talk by Turner expert Professor David Hill. Another highlight will be an early 19th century meal that Turner may have eaten during his visit, featuring butter hams, green pease soup, savoury eggs, stewed pease, mock caviar and yoghurt-style dessert Koumiss, with a talk by Peter Brears, one of Britian’s leading food historians.
For details, visit turnerontheure2016.com or call 01677-470325.
Tourism body Welcome to Yorkshire has created trails to enable visitors to retrace Turner’s tour, while the Dales Countryside Museum, in Hawes will stage exhibition In The Footsteps Of Turner until September 28.
For details, visit turner.yorkshire.com and dalescountrysidemuseum.org.uk
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