Strolling along the river bank I saw this quirky little temple on the other side of the river.
It was afternoon, in the midst of a hot spell.
A group of young girls were playing on paddle boards, standing up and jumping in the water, shrieking. A small motor boat came from the island “Garrick’s Ait” and moored to the bank nearby to where I was sketching. They loaded the boat with lengths of wood, and went off again. I had offered to move, but they said no, they could manage. They were polite, I was polite, and we all wished each other a pleasant afternoon.
Later, my friend D kindly drove me over Hampton Court Bridge and dropped me off near the Temple so I could have a closer look.
There’s a lawn sloping to the river, and an information placard.
“Garrick’s Lawn is overlooked by the former home of the actor, manager and playwright David Garrick. The gardens were laid out by Capability Brown in the 1750s. The classical temple was built as a shrine to William Shakespeare.
This site is managed by the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and is covered by formal byelaws….”
According to the website of Garrick’s Temple (garrickstemple.org.uk) the building was commissioned by David Garrick in 1756 “to celebrate the genius of William Shakespeare”.
David Garrick (1716-1779) was an actor and theatre manager. The Garrick Theatre in London’s West End was named after David Garrick1. It opened in 1859, 80 years after Garrick’s death, and was financed by playwright W. S. Gilbert, of Gilbert and Sullivan operettas.
Garrick was a much acclaimed and successful actor, and owned a share of the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. He became wealthy, and had a villa constructed at Hampton. This is what it looks like now:
He built the “shrine to Shakespeare” nearer the river, and used it as a study, as a place to entertain friends and as a place to exhibit his collection of Shakespeare memorabilia.2
Now it is open to the public on Sundays from March to October, 2pm-5pm and houses an exhibition about Garrick. It is also used for arts and cultural events3
Here are some snapshots of my work on the sketch.
- History of the Garrick Theatre from the Garrick Theatre website: https://thegarricktheatre.co.uk/about-garrick-theatre/ ↩︎
- Information about the Temple is from their website: https://garrickstemple.org.uk/ There’s a great story about a guest of Garrick’s performing a trick golf shot by hitting a golf ball through a tunnel near the Temple. More on this golf story is here: https://www.scottishgolfhistory.org/news/molesey-hurst-and-first-golf-trick-shot/ ↩︎
- https://garrickstemple.org.uk/ ↩︎
Jane Sketching 