Sarah Mayhew Craddock talks to Ian Scott Massie about his work

The artist and author Ian Scott Massie has dedicated his visual art practice to portraying “the personality of landscapes” recently travelling to Britain to visiting Christian sites, areas associated with artists, poets and authors, and locations with ancient roots and legendary connections to produce his book, Places of Pilgrimage.

Places of Pilgrimage is the culmination of two year’s work: travelling, drawing, painting, printmaking and writing: “I’ve sought out the spirit of place in 70 locations around Britain and through words and paintings, explore the personality of these sites.”

“I had two lists, one a list of places I’d already been to that had affected me in some way. The other a list of places that I should go to. Some have already been interpreted by people such as A. E. Houseman, Vaughn Williams and Stanley Spencer, others are very personal choices: the landscapes painted by Paul Nash; the village where Laurie Lee wrote Cider with Rosie; the boathouse where Dylan Thomas composed Under Milk Wood, and the industrial landscape which inspired L. S. Lowry. Some are traditional pilgrimage sites, like Lindisfarne, Durham and Canterbury; or places which have other holds over the visitor – the stones of Avebury, the battlefield of Culloden, the tree where Robin Hood assembled his merry men.”

Scott Massie included Oxfordshire, where he grew up: “Oxford has so many exceptional places: St Mary’s Church where the Oxford martyrs were tried; the Botanic Garden where Will and Lyra meet at the close of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials stories; the Ashmolean Museum, the Radcliffe Camera, and so on. But for me, a little room in the Bird and Baby (Eagle and Child) trumps them all, the sort of place where a Hobbit would choose to drink.”

The medieval Great Coxwell Barn near the Uffington White Horse also has two pages dedicated to it and its imposing, geometric perfection. On another page, warm, ochre monastic tones depict Dorchester Abbey accompanied by the words: “The abbey is greater than the sum of its parts, in the rich, shadowed heart of this old church two worlds meet and divide, whether you’re a believer or not, you can feel the building striving to help you cross that line.”

But perhaps The Ridgeway is his favourite: “Few places made such an impression on my young mind as this prehistoric road… If the soul of this lovely country resides anywhere it is here.”

Places of Pilgrimage is a captivating read and offers a fascinating and fresh way of seeing the country.

Places of Pilgrimage is by Ian Scott Massie, priced £12.99 and available from Blackwells 
ianscottmassie.com