Forum Topic

Marc Bolan Shrine and Tree Clearing - second attempt

As discussed on another thread, some trees have been cut down by Network Rail on the corner of Gypsy Lane/Queen's Ride.The shrine looks undamaged and if anything the area looks brighter and possibly a bit more welcoming.I known there was some comments about the mess of the fallen trees but I think the policy now is to leave cut down trees to decompose. A lesson learnt from the mistakes following the hurricane.I have no idea if these trees were a hazard or just the wrong kind etc.Here are some pictures I took today just before sunset.(Embedded image seems to have not worked on previous post - link instead)https://www.amazon.co.uk/photos/share/QhAWUUX9Gq7u3J04jKDIlWwsOAqg49MdOEysuOZrFin?pageIndex=0

Ed Robinson ● 1857d31 Comments

Thanks for the snarky reply but you know very well that was not what was meant by not doing it lightly. Why don’t you call network rail and get it from the horse’s mouth if you’re so upset by what they’ve done? Wasting your time blowing hot air here.

Freddie Francis ● 1856d

I have no idea if they are going to plant some more trees etc.I remember there being bigger trees there years ago.It had been years since I have been down near that path. It would be interesting for anyone that takes that path how it compares.

Ed Robinson ● 1856d

It wasn't. It was done very heavy-handedly. If you look at the last picture from the link that Ed originally posted you can see that there is little left for wildlife to inhabit.

Carl Broadley ● 1856d

I’m sure it wasn’t done lightly.

Freddie Francis ● 1856d

Trees are more than that.  They are the home to countless insects, birds and other creatures.  They also absorb a lot of CO2. If a mature tree is cut down it would take years to replace even if several new trees were planted in its place.  There really ought to be far more protection for trees whether on public or private land.

Jonathan Callaway ● 1856d

no argument thereit's just the excessive way and poor workmanship. cutting back can be done in a way which is pleasing to the eye? or is that irrelevant?

Gregory Edelston ● 1856d

Trees are just big plants. Clearing and trimming is good for them in the same way pruning flowers is.

Freddie Francis ● 1856d

what they did to those trees is just savage. dreadful

Gregory Edelston ● 1856d

@matt - the house is indeed the one opposite the garden centre on the corner of Kings Road. I went there several times in the mid 80s when a friend was house-sitting it. I later met the couple who bought the house from his estate after his death. They told me they had had problems for some time with Marc’s family over a Rolls Royce that was left in the garage which they were falsely accused of perloining. It was eventually removed. The house had also been broken into and graffitied by fans with messsges and ‘tributes’. For some time there were also a lot of flowers and messages left on the wall outside as well, though these had stopped by this time.

Freddie Francis ● 1856d

On Marc-Bolan.net “Marc Bolan’s rock shrine — The End of an Era — The Felling of the Dead Bolan Tree, 11.5.2015”  There are lots of photos + a link as to why the tree was felled.

Martine Guy ● 1857d

Matt, I think you will find it was a house opposite the garden centre the garden centre has been there years, just changed it's name. My friend lived in Lewin and another up Park Drive. I went to the primary school and Hertford Avenue.

Barbara Stevens ● 1857d

Yes very sure it was Upper Rich Ed , Sheen. I come from off White Hart Lane, everybody was talking about it.

Barbara Stevens ● 1857d

I wasn’t a fan, but Marc Bolan is still very much loved.  According to an article in The Independent, 18.9.2012, “Mystery of Marc Bolan’s Death Solved”: “T.Rex Action Group, bought the land where the sycamore tree stands to stop it from being felled”.

Martine Guy ● 1857d

That's a good number of copies sold. You can pick it up in first edition on Ebay. Quite a few copies, ranging pricewise between the acceptable and the crazy.£30 paid for an "acceptable" copy in UK, and in the USA where it is doubtless a lot less common, £300 paid for a very good copy.By the look of the sales of printed material by and about Bolan on Ebay, he is still much loved.

David Ainsworth ● 1857d

Thanks David, I didn't know he was a poet too.Regarding his book 'The Warlock of Love', looks like out of print but this is interesting:"Yet, according to London booksellers Sotheran’s of Sackville Street, it did quite well, selling some forty-thousand-odd copies and becoming Britain’s best-selling poetry book of the year. "https://www.thelondonmagazine.org/essay-the-warlock-of-love-revisiting-marc-bolans-forgotten-poetry-book-fifty-years-on-by-joobin-bekhrad/

Ed Robinson ● 1857d

More in detail re Marc Bolan and Summerstown:_https://summerstown182.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/

David Ainsworth ● 1857d

And also in Wandsworth there is:-https://www.wandsworthguardian.co.uk/news/19076830.plans-plaque-place-summerstown-star-marc-bolan/

David Ainsworth ● 1857d

No Matt, it’s still there.  It’s a large Victorian house with a walled garden.  It’s unassuming and I hadn’t noticed it, until I read it was Marc Bolan’s house.  The fans says Marc Bolan chose it because it was easy for him to get to his parent’s home. I could be wrong though, Matt, and I am sure someone will know if I am.

Martine Guy ● 1857d

Yes Whitnell Way is what they seem to call the little Ashburton these days. It's always used to be Ashburton chartfield and the big estste was Ashburton south.

Andy Pike ● 1857d

I think they demolished his house because of all the fans and the garden centre is on the exact site of his house?

Matt Palmer ● 1857d

Thanks, Andy and Barbara, for the input about the Ashburton, I believe Marc Bolan’s parents lived on Whitnell Way? I was surprised to learn that Marc Bolan’s house was on URR in East Sheen.  I always thought he must have lived on URR Putney close to the shrine.  The house is close to the garden centre.

Martine Guy ● 1857d

He was one of two caretakers on Ashburton Chartfield when I lived there. Think he lived in Wharncliffe house.Did have a mop of ginger hair and sometimes could be seen driving round in a white rolls royce that Marc gave him after he had a premonition of a car accident. !!

Andy Pike ● 1857d

Just had a look at Collinsdictionary.com and it would seem they define a shrine as “a place that people visit and treat with respect because it is connected with a dead person or with dead people that they want to remember”. Maybe it’s time for Richard to throw away his out of date edition of Collins Dictionary, and use the modern on line version.   

Martine Guy ● 1857d

A shrine is a place for people to visit, Wimbledon is a shrine who love Tennis. It isn't for just a Holy person, it's a place people can go to remember somebody.

Barbara Stevens ● 1857d

My other half said his father was the Caretaker of the Ashburton Estate. Had ginger hair. As for shrine's we also have benches for long term resident's with a plate on to remember them by. I don't see the problem if they have done something for society.

Barbara Stevens ● 1857d

I was interested to learn recently that Marc Bolan’s parents lived on the Ashburton Estate.  

Martine Guy ● 1857d

Well said Ed.  The first sentence is particularly apt ...

Sue Hammond ● 1857d

I believe the site is known as Marc Bolan’s Rock Shrine, and is not just a memorial but a tourist attraction. Also, a roadside memorial such as this, is a “modern practice of roadside shrines to commemorate the last place a person was alive before receiving fatal injuries”.

Martine Guy ● 1857d

Another definition: "any place or object hallowed by its history or associations".

Sue Hammond ● 1857d

A very rigid and dated definition Richard that perhaps misses the point."A shrine is a place that people visit and treat with respect because it is connected with a dead person or with dead people that they want to remember."It doesn't matter to me what the person occupation was, it is the thoughts of the people that want to remember that are important. As long as those intentions are not negative then I see no reason why not to be respectful.

Ed Robinson ● 1857d

Shrine?? The Collins dictionary defines shrine as "a place of worship which is associated with a particular holy person or object." A bit OTT even for a dead pop singer?

Richard Carter ● 1857d