Romsey War Horse
News Flash!
ROMSEY WAR HORSE statue
attained the status of
Regional Finalist
in the Civic Trust Awards.
War Horse Memorial Unvieled at Romsey Hampshire
3rd July 2015
In glorious weather, HRH The Princess Royal unveiled Romsey's tribute to the war horses of the First World War. The statue of a horse and its rider now adorns Romsey's War Memorial Park and is attracting many visitors.
The visitors have been photographing the statue, stroking it and leaving flowers on the plinth. Romsey has taken the statue to its heart.
These are a few photographic highlights taken of the event.
The Plinth of the statue contains four horseshoes from the battlefields of Flanders, together with nail fragments, a Remount Service cap badge and two of the terracotta war horses made at King John's House
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Romsey War Horse and Trooper Statue, unveiled July 2015 by Princess Anne.
Amy Goodman the Hampshire artist who designed and created the Romsey 'War Horse and Trooper' Memorial.
This book is available from the Romsey Tourist office, Church Street, Romsey ot from the book page of this website.
Joey the War Horse Puppet from the London Play entertains the crowds at Romsey Market Place 2015.
Romsey War Horse unveiling event 2015. Major General Patrick Cordingley is seen discussing the timings for the War Horse event at Romsey Memorial Park.
Romsey War Horse unveiling event 2015. The Princess Royal is led into the Romsey Memorial Park by Mayor Dorothy Baverstock.
War Horse is lit by Spotlight during winter nights
A brief history
In World War I there was a massive Remount Camp on Pauncefoot Hill just outside Romsey. In little more than 3 years, it prepared 120,000 horses and mules for war service.
After the War the Remount Camp was completely demolished and largely forgotten, but hardcore from the camp was used to raise the ground level of the new War Memorial Park in Romsey.
Local people decided in 2013 to commemorate the horses and men who served at the Remount Camp and in their memory a statue was commissioned from local sculptor Amy Goodman who designed and cast a bronze-resin statue of a warhorse and soldier. This is probably the only statue in the world commemorating horses in the service of war. 2015 marks the centenary of the opening of Romsey Remount Depot.
A sum of £80,000 was raised by the public to cover the cost of statue and alterations to the park.
AMY GOODMAN
The sculptor
Amy Goodman, A.S.E.A. was born in Windsor in 1974 and started drawing and sculpting from a young age. Having ridden all her life, horses have always been a passion and feature frequently in her work.
She completed a Fine Art Degree in Southampton in 1997 and has been establishing herself as a Sculptor and Portrait Artist ever since.
After a five-year spell working in the South-West of France, Amy returned to the UK in 2008 to become a resident artist at the inspirational Project Workshops in Hampshire.
Amy loves working in different media and has developed her unique style of welded steel, bronze sculpture, and a variety of 2D work, including her distinctive equestrian ink and acrylic wash paintings.
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Romsey Memorial Park
For some years before the First World War, there had been demands for a public park in Romsey, but these were rejected by the town council as too expensive and unnecessary.
However, at the end of the War, the question of how to honour the dead was discussed and establishment of a memorial park was thought to be appropriate. The Council owned a field, called Street Mead, which lay between two braids of the River Test.
In summer it was used for grazing but in winter was often waterlogged. In order to prepare the ground.
Hardcore was brought from the demolished structures of the nearby Remount camp and used to raise the ground level.
Romsey Remount Depot
Preparatory Painting by Alan Langford
When World War I started in 1914, the country was covered by a network of railways, and the internal combustion engine had arrived. Nevertheless, horse-power was still the prime method of moving the Army and its supplies. Indeed, horse-power remained an essential part of every army until the mid-20th century.
Until the late 19th century every regiment provided for itself. Then the Army Remount Service was created, its objective being to procure horses, mules, donkeys and even camels for the whole Army. The Boer War proved that this new scheme was a success, and it was developed. The Service made surveys of the horse population, and also investigated the possibilities of purchasing animals from overseas.
'Joey' the Puppet from London's War Horse play, entertains the crowds in the Romsey Market Place.
Students from The Romsey School and Test Valley Park staff ready themselves to receive The Princess Royal.
CIVIC TRUST AWARD
Some of the following War Horse and Trooper photographs
have been used in an application for the 2016 Civic Trust Award.
Awards are given to projects that demonstrate high quality architecture or design, have demonstrated sustainability, are accessible to all users and have made a positive cultural, social or economic contribution to the local community.
News Flash! Dec 24th 2015
ROMSEY WAR HORSE attained REGIONAL FINALIST status in Civic Trust Awards.
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