Gerry’s Pompeii
Do you know where Gerry’s Pompeii is? It is buried in plain sight of the canal towpath, near Westbourne Park at the southern edge of Maida Hill – as it has been for 40 years. Gerry is part of local history and now, he is a local legend.
‘They’ll be astonished by what they’ll find in my garden in years to come. It’ll be like Pompeii or something…’ he once confided in a friend.
Gerry Dalton was a shy but very special Irishman who spent 40 years filling his tiny flat, and then his garden and then his neighbour’s canal side garden with a dazzling collection of hundreds of statues, full scale models of historic buildings and paintings.
One hot summer, he cut down the conifers shading them from sight and – there they all were. Royal mistresses jostling with heroes and soldiers, under the disapproving stares of several Greek goddesses and a Roman emperor. The garden wall glittering with brilliant tiles and cut-glass jewels and neat upright little flowers standing to attention along the astro-turf path.
Even when he was over 80, Gerry would climb down into the garden as soon as it was light and start work, tidying the garden, painting his statues, adding yet another jewel to the wall. Once he had finished at the back, he would stand in his front garden with his broom. Everyone liked him, and he would sweep the pavement outside the front doors of special friends until they were spotless. On rainy days, he would work indoors on his models of Westminster Abbey, Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace. Or he would increase his gallery of famous heroes from the past, or work on yet another statue.
This is only a guess, because the mystery is that no one ever saw him making his hundreds of statues, or his models or paintings. But everyone saw Gerry. He was part of the regular daily pattern of our street.
Sadly, in August 2019 he died and everyone gathered to mourn him. It was then that his neighbours were stunned at the scale of what he had created. Luckily, a couple of his friends decided to spread the word. Since then, institutions like the Museum of London, The National Trust and experts and artists from all over the world have lined up to praise him as a new and exciting face in visionary environment.
There are now plans to set up a centre to help and encourage other local artists to achieve their ambitions, and to celebrate and put on show the work of our local hero.
A most ordinary, extra-ordinary genius.
Look him up here: www.gerryspompeii.com
Stop Press! There are new developments to Gerry’s story. Look out for Pompeii Part 2 in the next newsletter.