Aylesham Gateways
Mooch was commissioned by Sheppard Robson Architects in Manchester to work with them on a proposal for the regeneration of Aylesham, an ex mining village in Kent. The Aylesham commitment to public art is clear to any visitor and Mooch worked with Sheppard Robson to define the centre of the village and make connections to the village entrances, defining and improving the north/south axis route.
The village had grown substantially since Sir Patrick Abercrombie’s original vision for the new town in the 1920’s.
Mooch designed new village gateway signs as seams of coal rising above ground which makes their journey along the pavements into the heart of the village. The proposed sculpture on the market square symbolises the once fundamental interdependency of the community with the coal industry that created the village. The seams of bronze arms cast from local residents celebrate the strength of the community that worked the mines and whose families still live in Aylesham long after the mine’s closure in the 1980’s. The black granite seams of coal are rough hewn at the edges but polished on the surfaces facing the village green and reflecting the ongoing changes that come with regeneration.
