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Christine and Geoffrey Lewis
Almost the last thing Edwin Smith did was to help us to make a home from a derelict old farmhouse, Wenden Hall, near Saffron Walden. We went to see him in his studio at the Coach House and asked him diffidently if he would practice his old profession for us. He agreed without hesitation.
The house had started life as an aisled hall house of about 1400 and had become a farmhouse in the seventeenth century. It was in an unspeakable condition. But Edwin was not intimidated. For the most taciturn bricklayer his sparkle could always raise a smile; for us, his understanding and kindness never varied. He produced, as well as elegant plans, a stream of charming sketches prophesying minor aspects of life in the house; usually a child was peering round a baluster or disappearing through a doorway.
He never saw his work completed. Of his many monuments we are lucky enough to have one around us.
From the catalogue produced
to accompany the exhibition
'Aspects of the Art of Edwin Smith' at The
Minories,
Colchester in 1974.
