Miranda - Dartmouth's Mermaid
Like her owner, Dartmouth’s striking mermaid Miranda has a dramatic view from her home, perched on a rocky peninsula on the banks of the River Dart.
And like her owner she sits looking wistfully out to sea, imagining the far flung lands that lie beyond the horizon. The difference is Heather Robinson, who commissioned Brixham-based sculptor Elisabeth Hadley to create the bronze masterpiece, is a seasoned traveller who has visited many distant nations from Alaska to Chile.
Miranda though is firmly rooted to her waterside perch, forever resting her gaze between the two castles that guard the estuary entrance.
‘At low tide she sits high and dry up on the rocks enjoying her earthly life looking out at the castles and thinking about life in general, but when the spring tide rises and washes around her tail she wonders if she should just slip into the water and swim home – that’s my imagination anyway,’ Heather laughs.
Thousands of people have marvelled at Dartmouth’s landmark fish-tailed beauty since Miranda became a permanent fixture at the bottom of Heather’s Castle Road garden in 2006.
The eyes of sailors, Castle Ferry trippers, fishermen and pleasure cruise passengers have all thrilled to catch sight of the mermaid, which is quite apt really as Miranda’s story began with a pair of unblinking eyes.
‘A while ago I was sweeping my sea wall when I turned around towards the river because I felt I was being watched,’ Heather explained. ‘Two, large round eyes were staring at me about eight-feet away. At first I thought it was a diver but it turned out to be a seal. We looked each other straight in the eyes and then he swam away.
‘That started me thinking about my little garden ornaments , which include tortoises, a concrete cat, a frog and a stone statue of Pandora and her box, and my thoughts led towards thinking about having something bigger, and so Miranda began to form in my mind.
‘I started thinking about Greek mythology, about the sirens that used to lure seafarers onto the rocks, although I wouldn’t want any seafarers to be lured onto my rocks, and I started thinking about mermaids.’
Miranda’s name is borrowed from the 1948 comedy film of the same name, starring Glynis Johns as a mermaid discovered by a young physician.
Heather said: ‘Because I was thinking of a mermaid the film came back to me. It always amused me as a teenager and it had always stuck in my mind, so the name Miranda seemed the perfect choice.’
It wasn’t until some years later when Heather discovered Elisabeth Hadley’s work that the prospect of turning the Miranda of her imagination into a reality seemed possible.
Heather worked closely with Elisabeth at her studio in Brixham as she had specific ideas of how she wanted her mermaid to look.
She said: ‘I was particular about the pose of her body and her hair. I almost threatened to get a hairdresser to help us. Elisabeth wanted it more windswept but in calm weather to have her hair all over the place wouldn’t have looked quite right. She tweaked here and there and it wasn’t right but then she got it.
‘I went to Elisabeth’s studio and took photographs of the terracotta mould in various stages. I was and am enormously impressed with Elisabeth’s skills and admiring of the very hard work needed to make something of this size. It is superbly executed and beautifully done.’
Elisabeth modelled Miranda’s face on her own by looking into a mirror, which could explain how she managed to achieve the reflective pose Heather sought.
‘She got the wistful look on Miranda’s face so well because her father had just died and she must have caught some of that expression when she looked in the mirror,’ Heather said.
Miranda is visible to any seafarer who cares to find her, but she hides a secret. Buried deep inside her hollow, reinforced frame is a time-capsule explaining how she came to be.
Approaching from Heather’s winding terraced pathways, it is Miranda’s back and long hair draped over one shoulder that is seen first. ‘She takes one’s breath away, she’s so very lifelike,’ Heather said.
With her long swishy tail Miranda is slightly bigger than lifesize and larger than the fairytale little mermaid perched on a rock in the harbour of Denmark’s capital city.
‘She wasn’t to look like the Copenhagen mermaid, I didn’t want to mimic that,’ Heather said. I wanted my mermaid to be what she has actually turned out to be. I wanted her to look wistful.’
Miranda rests leaning slightly back on her arms atop a rock where the river meets the land at the very bottom of Heather’s terraced garden. Much of the time she sits proud of the water but during the spring high tides her fin tail is awash in the salty brine. When the high springs bring stormy weather Miranda is battered by the waves.
But Miranda can withstand anything the sea and weather throws at her as she is firmly secured to the rock by a series of three-foot long bronze rods.
Miranda was delivered and fitted by local builder Brian Woodgate, Heather said, adding: ‘He brought her in a boat covered with a tarpaulin, it was most undignified.
‘He arrived during a storm at 8am when I was serving breakfast to my bed and breakfast guests. He used a crane to lift her onto land and came back at a later date to get her in situ.’
Heather threw a party to welcome Miranda to Dartmouth and hopes her mermaid will give pleasure to seafaring people for many years to come.
She said: ‘I feel very sad Dartmouth has lost so much since I came to live here. The pottery has closed down as has the wonderful old Gunfield Hotel. I wanted to give something back to the town as a thank you for the happy times my family and I have had here, as well as having a beautiful garden sculpture for myself.’
Heather added: ‘I love living here and I want to live here for as long as possible, although when I come back from holiday I immediately think where am I going to go next. Miranda looks out to the open sea and the unknown . . . perhaps I do see a little of myself in her.’
First Published December 2012 By The Dart
