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Mow Cop
Okay, are you ready? Then settle in, be comfortable, and be patient. This will all make sense.
In 1754, Horace Walpole wrote a letter to Horace Mann. About a month ago ago a student of mine recommended a fantasy novel entitled Red Shift, written by Alan Garner and published in 1973. A few days ago Debra shot this photograph of the folly at Mow Crop, on the Cheshire–Staffordshire border.
You may be asking what that letter, that novel, and Debra’s photo have in common? Again, be patient.
In his letter, Walpole coined the term serendipity. He stated he created the term based on an old Person fairy tale — the Three Princes of Serendip. The tale, Walpole wrote, was about three young men who “were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of.” The novel Red Shift features characters existing in three different time periods, but who are somehow linked together in part by their location: Mow Cop. I’d never heard of Mow Cop until I read the novel.
Here we see Debra’s photograph of the folly at Mow Crop. A folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance to have some other purpose. This folly, for example, appears to be the ruins of a medieval castle — but it’s not. In fact, it’s a summer house built by Randle Wilbraham in 1754.
So I read a novel about communication across space and time which features a location I’d never heard of, then saw a photograph shot at that location which highlights a structure that’s not what it appears to be — a structure built in the same year Horace Walpole coined the term serendipity. These unlinked events can only be described as serendipitous — a discovery by accident of something I wasn’t searching for.
But wait, there’s more. Today, although I’d already decided to use this photograph on the Front Page, I still reviewed the group photo pool — and found a photograph taken by Matt Burke four days later. The folly at Mow Cop.
I’m afraid I lied to you. I told you if you were patient this would all make sense. I’m not sure it does.
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, greg fallis and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
