A Statue to Piscator

 

Dear Simon, I read this terrific review in The Spectator for a newly published book More Than A Game: A History of How Sport Made Britain by David Horspool, a journalist who covers history, archaeology and sport. I am probably knackering any chance of any future good review for any future book of mine in the Times Literary Supplement of which Horspool is an editor, by saying his book is a hard read. To start with the woke-police have clearly got to the marketing, the blurb on the fly leaf trying to whip up the angry furies of race, class, empire and wealth in the evolution of British sport. It is also not, as I discovered, a book to read cover to cover. It is just a bit too detailed, with the history often too granular, perhaps reflecting the inner archaeologist of Horspool. But all that aside if you have an interest in horse racing, cricket, boxing, rugby, golf, tennis, cycling or football each has a dedicated chapter with, more or less, equal coverage given to each. Obviously, the omission of angling is a clear black mark against Horspool (!) though I suspect he might argue ours a pastime rather than a sport though I think in return that we could readily counter argue that fishing, which predates each and every one of those listed above, has a cultural importance within the British sporting tradition.

Winchester Cathedral

In the tennis section I came across a reference to the Sporting Statues Project which, in case you were unaware, lists all 324 public sculptures in display in Britain of sportsmen, sportswomen and animals (Frankel has four listings) dating from 500BC (the discus thrower in British Museum in case you ask) up to statues due to be unveiled next year. Football, unsurprisingly, dominates with 131 sculptures with nearly every other sport represented, to a greater or lesser degree except you will not be surprised, anything for angling. Which had me thinking, if we were to have a statue, who or what should it be of? Halford in his deckchair outside the Oakley Hut? Skues scowling into the Itchen at a trout that had the temerity to ignore his nymph. Walton in his 17th century garb studying to be quiet? Frank Sawyer with his bare hook? A leaping salmon? Dame Julia Berners in her nun outfit? Glaucus the Greek God of fishing? Mr Crabtree? The late Queen Mother, probably the most prolific royal catcher of salmon? Or maybe we go all reflective with the unknown angler, a hunched figure on a stool with a rod and float lost in the perfect reverie that is sometimes fishing? Of course, choosing the subject matter would almost be the easy bit compared to choosing the location. Nowhere comes easily to my mind. However, us anglers do not have to feel too hard done by because we have what few disciplines have, namely a chapel to our sport. And not just in any minor religious building but rather one in a grand and revered cathedral, the resting place of kings and once the crowning capital of Britain. I am, of course, talking of the Izaak Walton chapel in Winchester Cathedral, more properly known as the Chapel of St John & Fishermen Apostles but also sometimes going by the name the Silkstede Chapel.

l: Izaak Walton River Itchen r: Izaak Walton & Charles Cotton River Dove.

It is hard to ascertain how, in 1683, Walton came to be buried in Winchester Cathedral. Yes, The Compleat Angler was a best seller of its time but its fame as a seminal work is largely posthumous. He was not a cleric and only came to live in Hampshire in his latter years, having spent most of his life in Staffordshire and London, his early profession being that of an ironmonger. It seems his final resting place was determined by family connections – his son-in-law was the Canon of Winchester Cathedral at the time of his death at the pretty remarkable 90 years of age.  The place of the chapel in piscatorial lore was most likely cemented when, in 1914, a group of British and American fly fishers paid for the current stained glass window that features, in addition to the four Apostles, details showing Walton in quiet contemplation by the River Itchen with St Catherine’s Hill in the background plus Walton and Cotton communing at Beresford Dale in Derbyshire, where the pair built the Fishing Temple beside the River Dove. Postscript I was doing a final fact check for this article when, lo and behold, I came across a statue of none other than Izaak Walton by the sculptor Peter Walker that was erected beside the River Sow in Walton’s native Stafford in 2000. The original piece featured Walton holding a rod but that appears to have disappeared if you visit today. I feel a stiff email coming on to Sheffield University, custodians of the Sporting Statues Project. Izaak Walton aka Piscator at home on the banks of the River Sow

Office hours, 2024 bookings & Gift voucher redemptions  The office is closed today and for all the regular holiday days over the coming week or so. However, Jamie will be here 9am-5pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (December 27/28/29) to answer your queries and I will answer emails, on an irregular basis, in between. The 2024 diaries will go online for day rod and all other bookings on 27 December. The only exceptions are Broadlands House, Fisherton de la Mere, Shawford Park and Wrackleford Estate which will remain on request until we have the diaries in mid-January. To check dates and book use this link …….. You may, of course, email and phone as we haven’t entirely retreated behind an internet wall. For online gift voucher redemption you will need your Voucher number, a five digit number and also your Account number, a combination of letters and numbers, both of which are located on the bottom righthand side of the voucher. Use this link ……. View or print 2024 price list Merry Christmas Well, that is almost it for another year. From all of us at Fishing Breaks, plus the fish as well, all the very best for a fun Christmas. We really appreciate your custom and friendship so hope, wherever you are and wherever you fish, all your 2024 river wishes may come true. I sign off with this Private Eye Christmas card kindly sent to me; I think it sums the state of our rivers in a way that only a cartoonist could capture.

Quiz The normal random collection of questions inspired by the date, events or topics in the Newsletter. It is just for fun with answers at the bottom of the page. 1)     Private Eye magazine was first published in a) 1951 b) 1961 or c) 1971? 2)     If you had christougenniatikophobia what would you be scared of? 3)     Who wrote or sang White Christmas for the 1942 musical Holiday Inn?

Have a great break and I'll be back shortly after Christmas with 2023 in photos.  Best wishes,

Simon Cooper simon@fishingbreaks.co.uk Founder & Managing Directorwww.fishingbreaks.co.uk

Quiz answers: 1)     1961 2)     Christmas 3)     Irving Berlin wrote the song and Bing Crosby sung it, for which they won an Oscar.