'A fascinating jewel in the town' - Shrewsbury streetscape artist shares history of latest work
A two-metre panorama of one of a town's prettiest streets has been drawn as part of a big project to immortalise the area at a moment in time.
Shrewsbury Streetscape Project artist James St Clair Wade has been drawing the town centre for the last few years and now has done Milk Street - part of which appeared in the famous film A Christmas Carol - and Belmont.
James, who is also an architect and has worked on restoration projects on some of the town's most historically important buildings, uses his architectural drawing skills to create highly detailed pictures of Shrewsbury.
Some of his work can also be seen in a gallery at the Shrewsbury Cycle Hub in Smithfield Road.
James started the project almost four years ago with his very first drawing of Tanner's Wine Merchants. His latest work took around three months to draw.
"I've loved drawing this fascinating street," said James. "It certainly is one of the jewels of Shrewsbury's streetscapes."
Katriona, his wife, who shares the project on social media, has been charting the street's progress on Shrewsbury's local Facebook groups.
She said. "It's been fascinating to find out about the Shearman's Hall. It's now the Greenhouse Vegetarian and Vegan Cafe but originally 600 shearmen dressing the Welsh wool from Montgomeryshire would be working here. Then John Wesley preached here several times when it was a Methodist Chapel, it was an Assize court, assembly rooms and an auction house as well."
Also on the street is the old St David's Presbyterian Church of Wales built in 1936 by a Birmingham cinema architect Cecil Fillmore and the famous Judge's Lodgings which appeared in the 1984 film A Christmas Carol as Scrooge's House.
James has just taken the photos of the other side of Belmont and will start drawing the other side of the street in March, working along Princess Street and including the museum.
His work has captured the imagination of Salopians on social media who have enjoyed reminiscing about old buildings, shops and pubs in the town.
One of his pieces was used to decorate the window of the old Edinburgh Woollen Mill in the High Street.
And his artwork depicting Wyle Cop was drawn onto a giant 12-kilo easter egg made for Tanners' Wines to be auctioned off for charity. It was created by the well known Baravelli chocolatiers, and features on the Channel 5 TV show The Wonderful World of Chocolate.
All the buildings in James' latest panorama are available to buy as signed first edition giclee prints. See them all on the gallery on streetscapeproject.com or email James on stclairwade@gmail.com for further enquiries. To follow progress find Shrewsbury Streetscape Project on Facebook and Instagram.
Four of James' works are up in the cycle hub during February for anyone who would like to view them.
