Poets urged to pen prose for Ludlow toposcope
Budding poets can leave a long-lasting mark on Ludlow's Town Walls by writing their own words to be inscribed on a toposcope as part of a £400,000 regeneration project.
Shropshire Council planned to use poetry by AE Housman but has now launched a public competition. Repairs to the 800-year-old walls include construction of the toposcope – a marker showing the direction and distances to landmarks.
Philip Belchere, principal conservation architect at the council, said the toposcope would include a tactile surface for the visually impaired to pick out the scenery and a steel plate on which a poem would be laser cut.
Mr Belchere said the council had originally planned to use prose penned by AE Housman, who wrote A Shropshire Lad, but had now decided to offer local people the chance to write the poem themselves.
He said: "At the back of the toposcope will be a 1m x 1m steel plate that we want to laser cut prose or a poem.
"We had thought of A Shropshire Lad initially but we decided this had been overdone and it would be far more of the now to include something from a local Shropshire person, lad or otherwise."
Work on the Town Walls is due to be completed by the end of September with the toposcope being unveiled by mid-October.
Mr Belchere added submissions by people wishing to have their poem inscribed on the plate should be two paragraphs of four lines and be sent to historic.environment@shropshire.gov.uk
"This will be a chance for local people to engage with the project and leave an indelible mark on history," said Mr Belchere.
"It's more about the people here and now than an old poet.
"The toposcope will be built on a raised plinth and the winner of the poetry contest would unveil the toposcope to huge applause."
