J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1802-18 Academician and professor > West Country 1813 > Plymouth, Hamoaze Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Weston Mill Bridge, near Plymouth 1813

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Weston Mill Bridge, near Plymouth’ 1813
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 34 Recto:
Weston Mill Bridge, near Plymouth 1813
D09253
Turner Bequest CXXXI 34
Pencil on white wove paper, 95 x 157 mm
Inscribed by John Ruskin in blue ink ‘34’ bottom right, descending vertically, and ‘6’ bottom left, descending vertically
Stamped in black ‘CXXXI – 34’ bottom left, descending vertically
 
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
With the page turned horizontally, the bridge appears to be the one shown in an 1835 wood engraving of Weston Mill by G.P. Hearder (Westcountry Studies Library, Exeter), with its single arch and a wall strengthened by broad buttresses, while the buildings Turner lightly sketched beyond it also correspond quite closely. The site was in the countryside between St Budeaux and Ham, north of Plymouth Dock (later Devonport) and north-west of Plymouth itself.
The surrounding area it is now much developed, and although early twentieth century maps show a crossing at this point, modern roads have left the spot marooned, and the bridge over the stream leading running west to Weston Mill Creek and out into the Hamoaze (the Tamar Estuary) and the road it carried have gone. The bridge seems to have led north off Mowhay Road, south of the modern Weston Mill Drive and east of the Weston Mill Hill flyover. The drawing on folio 32 recto (D09251) may show the same bridge from the other side.
The subjects as far as folio 127 recto (D09358) are all identified or presumed sites within a few miles in and around Plymouth, suggesting a series of fairly short excursions.
Verso:
Blank

Matthew Imms
April 2014

How to cite

Matthew Imms, ‘Weston Mill Bridge, near Plymouth 1813 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, April 2014, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, September 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-weston-mill-bridge-near-plymouth-r1147980, accessed 20 September 2024.