““Where the Mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea…””
Percy French was a ‘giant spirit of the Victorian Age’, famed for his songwriting, performances and watercolour paintings. Amongst his most loved songs is The Mountains of Mourne, a tribute to the mountain range in County Down, Northern Ireland.
Slieve Donard Resort and Spa – part of the Hastings Hotels Group – sits within sight of the mountains, in the town of Newcastle. With it’s onsite pub named after the troubadour, the Hotel has had a long-standing connection to French.
To mark the centenary of French’s death in 1920, we were commissioned to design a new sculptural intervention – a celebration of the life, times and travels of Percy French – to be installed within the hotel grounds.
We worked with local foundry Metalcast NI to create curved patinated copper screens that incorporate lyrics from French’s famous song in a typographic design.
Mounted to a stone pedestal at a path intersection, the intervention is enhanced by paving and four granite seats, the latter inscribed with the names of French’s three daughters – Ettie, Mellie and Joan – and wife Helen.
The paving around the sculpture also features inset typography that makes reference to places of importance to French, along with their distance from the sculpture as the crow flies. These include London, Roscommon and Ballyjamesduff.
The sculpture was unveiled by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and
Percy French devotee Paul Muldoon in 2020.
“A monument to the memory of a man who blazed a trail in his own era and has left a huge cultural imprint on the country.”
— Paul Muldoon