The Goose Wing Entrance

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The Goose Wing Entrance, Cross Bones graveyard
Union Street, The Borough, Southwark
London, September 2016

“In John Constable's vision, The Goose is the spirit of Cross Bones, protecting her outcast children. Local artist-woodworker Arthur de Mowbray drew on this vision, and the Invisible Gardener's idea for ‘a cloister’, to create this stunning entrance structure, which symbolises The Goose protectively spreading her wing over visitors as they enter the garden. It serves both as a shelter and as a rainwater harvester; rain runs down through timber gutters into the pond. Carved into the beams, you can read one of the poems from The Southwark Mysteries - ‘Here lay your hearts, your flowers...’ - which is recited at all the vigils, as well as John's dedication to those buried at Crossbones. Arthur also created the timber seats built into the drystone wall beds, and our garden tool shed, known as The Clink, complete with a carving of a gargoyle of the Bishop of Winchester spitting water onto a goose's back. All the wood used in Arthur's creations was sustainably sourced personally by him.” (History, Crossbones)