Developed through Arts&Heritage’s ongoing commissioning partnership with Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, King Herla responds to the regeneration of Bartonsham Meadows — a floodplain landscape currently being restored using traditional land-management practices to support biodiversity and ecological resilience.
The project comprises two interconnected artworks: a physical sculpture made from the land itself, and an immersive digital experience created in collaboration with local communities.
The first artwork is a temporary clay sculpture of the legendary figure King Herla, an ancient king whose band were said to have plunged into the River Wye, only to re-emerge two centuries later into a changed world. Created using soil excavated from Bartonsham Meadows as part of a new biodiversity “scrape”, the sculpture is embedded with wildflower seeds and designed to slowly dissolve back into the landscape. As rainfall and flooding break down the clay, seeds are released into the meadow, allowing the artwork to actively support the site’s ongoing regeneration.
Alongside the sculpture, a second artwork takes the form of a virtual reality experience, developed using sculptures made by local communities supported by students from Hereford College of Arts. In this digital work, a ghostly horde re-emerges from the river, combining game design, music and storytelling. The experience has been developed by game design students Lucius Talbott, Logan Newman-Whitworth and Dave Payne, and is accompanied by original sound and narrative by Jamie Fitzpatrick.
While the physical sculpture is designed to disappear in tune with the seasonal and ecological rhythms of the floodplain, the digital artwork creates a lasting digital legacy, allowing the story of King Herla to continue to be experienced on the meadows.
A key element of the project is the creation of a new “scrape” — a shallow depression or temporary pond designed to attract and support wetland wildlife such as wading birds, amphibians, dragonflies and specialist plants. These low-cost, small-scale interventions can significantly increase local biodiversity by mimicking natural, ephemeral wetlands.
King Herla launches on Saturday 21 March. The digital trail begins at the Scout’s Corner entrance to Bartonsham Meadows and leads visitors to the temporary sculpture. Visitors are encouraged to follow on-site signage.
The project is delivered as part of Arts & Heritage’s Common Lands programme, in partnership with Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, Hereford College of Arts, and CUP Ceramics. King Herla is kindly funded by Herefordshire Council’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund and the Henry Moore Foundation. Herefordshire Wildlife Trust’s restoration of Bartonsham Meadows is supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.