Katherine Buchan Meadow interpretative panel
Case Study
The Katherine Buchan Meadow panel project
Over the last couple of months I’ve been working with the Katherine Buchan Meadow Trust. They wanted to design an interpretative panel for a small community green space near where I live. Working with the head of the trust, we developed the idea and exactly what they wanted on the panel.
The local newspaper covered the project here, when it was initially planned.
Almshouses and rest garden
The area was originally the site of 4 Almshouses. They were built by local resident Katherine Buchan in memory of her father. The cottages provided housing for the poor in the borough of Hanwell. The houses were later demolished and the site made into a rest garden. When Katherine died the area became part of the William Hobbayne charity. On his death in 1484 Hobbayne endowed this charity to help local residents.
Working with the local school children
We worked with the children from the nearby school. This is sited on one side of the meadow. They researched the history of the site. We also developed illustrations showing the flora and fauna of the site, to add to further panels. These will be designed soon. The main panel shows the history of the site, how it looked before the works and how the project obtained it’s funding.
The design
In the 1960s a local artist painted the Almshouses as part of a larger body of work showcasing Hanwell locations. His son let us use his father’s watercolours of the Almshouses as a key focus of the panel. To enhance the cohesive feel of the panel I colour picked tones from the original watercolours. I used these for the heading area behind the title and background. This also helped give the panel a heritage feel.
Searching online, we found the National Archive of Scotland map archive had an 18th century map of the area. We felt this would give the map historical resonance, as the Meadow is situated in the old part of Hanwell.
We purchased a high resolution copy to ensure it would print correctly as the panel is A1 size. As I dropped the map into the artwork file, the word HANWELL on the map lined almost exactly with the heading of the panel. Very fortuitous and I tweaked it only a little to ensure it lined up properly. 🙂
Black and white photos
The children from the school discovered black and white photos of the Almshouses in the Local History section of the library. To ensure these printed properly at full resolution, I had to photograph the black and white photos, rather than use the library copy facilities.
Discovery of the stag beetles
In one of the early versions of the design, I incorporated several photos of the progress of the project. These ranged from the landscaping, when the earlier rest garden elements were removed, throughout the discovery of stag beetles on the site and the creation of the staggery, and the unveiling early last year. In the end it was decided to only show two photos of how the rest garden had previously looked and one of the team who worked on the project.
I also created a basic logo for the Trust to brand it. This may change at a later date.
The finished panel
The job went to print in November 2018. It was installed on 16 December 2018 at a community Christmas party and carol singing on the Meadow. The site has won a green flag award. The other signs, showing the flora and fauna, as well as the staggery, will be designed later this year.
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