Point of interest

The Point

Name: The Point
Address: 3B Bath Square, Old Portsmouth, England, GB

3 locals recommend

Tips from locals

Creydi

December 11, 2021

Portsmouth Public Art: The Stone Markers of John Maine RA. The Six (or 5) Stone Markers of John Maine line the Southsea shore. John Maine’s work is maybe best described by Cass Sculpture Foundation: “John Maine’s work is concerned with landscape, land forms, ancient sites, structures within nature, mathematical systems, solids, surface planes. He is particularly consumed with stone and works predominantly with Portland stone from Dorset where he lives. Drawing on traditional technique and echoing sculptures historical manipulation of stone Maine creates minimalist and formalist compositional works with recognisable architectural influences“. For the City Art Project in 1974 John Maine created six different hollow tetrahedron sculptures carved from Whitbed Portland stone. Each stone measures 687mm x 687mm x 687mm . The blocks were initially sawn by The Stone Firms Ltd and the carving done at their then Portland works over a period of six months by John Maine with advice from their stone masons. Portsmouth Markers was then installed at different points along the Portsmouth & Southsea shoreline. These pieces were unlike many of the other works in the project as they were clearly designed and made to last, created from hard wearing stone and set permanently in at their different points. The six markers form a sort of route along the seafront, starting off (going from west to east) at The Point in Old Portsmouth, overlooking Portsmouth Harbour. Back in 1974 this area would be difficult to recognise as it is now, with a working Camber, power station and no Spinnaker Tower. The second marker is located at The Round Tower and The Hotwalls and at the time of installation this would have been the old barracks by the arches. The third marker sits out at the southerly seaward point of the historic Spur Redoubt, the remains of a naval fort, from which Nelson left Portsmouth for the last time, and a fort that helped form the sea defences with Long Curtain and King’s Bastion. This is possibly the most striking (and most photographed) of all of the markers, with it standing proud in the sea view. The next marker can be found up on the hill behind the Bandstand. The last one can be found in Castle Field. This marker has at some point been moved from its original position up on the Outer Emplacement. Each of the markers has their own distinct views through their tetrahedron form. They are often though to be of a similar design to depth markers that also line the coastal edge of the Southsea seafront highlighting underwater obstructions or low water. ohn Maine talked about his ‘Portsmouth Markers’ sculpture project in a publication in 1986, reviewing his major projects up to that point, with the Portsmouth project the first on that list: “I didn’t want to put up monumental sculptures, I wanted the sculptures to have an interaction with the site, to use them as a kind of punctuation…I’d been interested in the tetrahedron as a sculptural form for some time. It was a collision between what had been a formal interest – I’d done a lot of work previously based on tetrahedrons – at this point the tetrahedron took on a kind of external reference, at a time when the sculpture stopped being hermetic and started to be a sort of sensor in a place: something that was changed because of the place it was in and also changed the place that it was in. The idea of having the pieces at some distance, often not visible from each other, was to restate the feeling I’d got from seeing military plans, the way fortresses are set out. There’s a ring of fortresses around Portsmouth and each has its own sphere of influence, its own arc of fire: when that sphere of influence wears out, there has to be another one to take on. I’d hoped that just at the point people were beginning to forget one they’d come in sight of another. There were certain puns that came in to it unintentionally. Southsea Castle is one of Henry VIII’s string of fortresses – there is another fortress from that series on the coast next to Portland – in the exhibition area of that castle I saw plans of all the castles: they all had concentric walls because of the state of warfare at that time, and they’re often rose-shaped with a central circle, and quite a lot of them had one centre circle with three circles on either side, so almost like one of the pieces in plan, quite extraordinary, – it was a pun, really, because I’d already made the piece, but I’d always liked these fortresses too…you find things in life – in architecture, in this case military architecture – that were a reflection of something I’d liked, and been drawn to in the piece…” The Missing Marker It is open to argument if public art should complement & settle in to the environment or if it should be loud & proud, impossible to miss. John Maine’s markers have watched the world and the city change for almost 50 years and as such maybe they have disappeared from view in a way, as people walk by them day by day. These clean, repeated and beautiful stone forms crafted by a hugely respected artist connect us with our city’s heritage but that by being weathered can age, can settle in to the city’s landscape & environment and subsequently become part of Portsmouth’s character, part of the heritage as the city moves forward. Few pieces of public art in Portsmouth can make that claim. Hold up, I thought there were 6 markers? Yep, you are right, there were. At some point over the years a marker has disappeared. The story goes that one of them was damaged by builders during some development work along the seafront and sadly it was lost. The exact original site of this missing marker is difficult to nail down but from photography taken when they were first placed it would be what is now the entrance to Blue Reef. When installed originally the Blue Reef building had not yet been built so maybe it was damaged at some point during the construction.

Wendy

September 26, 2019

The point is at the entrance to the Solent harbour where ships come in and out. A great scenic view with a couple of pubs that also offer food with a good view. literally a couple of minutes scenic walk from our location.

Location

3B Bath Square

Old Portsmouth, England

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