During our visit to see John Doman Turner’s scroll in Southwold in 2012, with permission, we were lucky enough to take some photos and video footage of the works, which we have compiled into the following video for others to see.
This scroll is known as The Trinity Fair, and presented alongside this wonderful work of art was an article written about the scroll as published in the East Anglian Daily Times on Monday 4 June 1934.
Here is a transcript of what was written:
Southwold Trinity Fair – Walberswick Artist’s Panaoramic Record
If the hundreds of visitors to this year’s Trinity Fair at Southwold found little that differed from the showman’s attractions of recent years, many of them have, at least had the opportunity to view a remarkable panoramic record of last year’s fair. A record which already bears the signatures of some hundreds who have admired it. A really outstanding record, it has actually been in the making almost continuously since last year’s Trinity Fair. It is the work of Mr. J. Doman Turner, a London man, who has a Summer residence at Southwold Harbour. Mr Turner learned drawing when on the Stock Exchange, and took evening classes at the New English Art Club. In recent years he has found scope for his youthful hobby when in residence at the artists’ colony of Walberswick. The hundreds of sketches he made of Walberswick were transferred to his panorama, which today is 25 yards long by 2 feet wide, and is actually a record in colours of the whole village.
The success of his unique effort tempted the artist to put the Trinity Fair on record. The three days it was at Southwold did not give him anything like sufficient time to complete his rough sketches, so he scoured the countryside, finding the various exhibits that were at Southwold. This work is 22 yards in depth and, like that of Walberswick, 3 feet wide. Already on the margins left for signatures, several hundreds notably of showmen and their families, have been appended. Tracings from the original display bills and Press cuttings of the 1933 fair help to make the record even more complete. Besides the steam-horses, dodge-em engines, caravans etc. every stall – some even with their personalities – are depicted.
Source: Video footage taken during our trip to view John Doman Turner’s Trinity Fair scroll, currently displayed at The Swan Hotel, Southwold in 2012.