Brixham set to receive stunning new murals

Brixham is set to receive a splash of colour after new murals were designed to showcase and celebrate the town and the local community.

Over the last few years, the walls, gable ends and alleyways of Brixham that may usually go unnoticed have been transformed into enormous painted murals, depicting various parts of the Brixham's rich cultural heritage. 

Brixham Future, a community interest company that works on ‘micro-regeneration projects’, is the organisation behind many of the murals around town. With funding from Brixham Future's lottery and a recent National Lottery grant, the streets of the town have become a treasure chest of hidden art pieces.

“The idea of the murals came from the chairman, John Brennan. It was just an idea for a small way that we could improve Brixham,” said Sasha Rakonersty, one of the volunteers from Brixham Future.

“Everywhere in the UK, high streets are suffering. The murals help to invigorate the dark spaces. John hoped that brightening up these little parts of the town would improve the place, bring the community together and make people proud of the town centre.”

The first mural that Brixham Futures commissioned was on Fore Street, showing a treasure map taken from original documents in 1615. Just down the road, a second mural depicts a stormy sailing scene in the style of David Deakins, a local artist from the Strand Art Gallery.

All murals are created by artists local to Devon.

Sasha said: “You don’t have to spend an awful lot of money to make a big difference. John Brennan calls it nudge theory. Once a mural goes up, other people want to do something. They paint their own pieces and it goes on.

“Brixham Future likes to go for projects that are low cost, high impact. We want to invigorate the economy, bring the community together and make it a nicer place to live. Every project that we do is based around those principles.”

A mural that best shows this philosophy is the piece on Middle Street. Several years ago, all the traders got together and decided that they wanted to invigorate the street. With a high concentration of artists and galleries, it was the perfect spot for a mural that celebrated Middle Street’s unique culture.

Lyn Peets from the Colours of Brixham gallery painted the mural over four days alongside fellow artist Stella Isaac. Lyn said: “Middle Street is a street full of creators and painters, it’s a beautiful corner of Brixham and we wanted to show that off.

“The inspiration for the mural was to celebrate all the independent traders in this area and all the hard work and passion that’s put into what they do.

“Painting the mural was quite a task, I had never done one before. It’s such a tall building, I couldn’t see the full piece until the scaffolding came down.”

Now, Brixham Future is in the process of commissioning another set of murals, this time linked to the Poetry and Literature Trail. Three have already got funding in place.

“They are all still very much linked to the local area,” Sasha explained.

“One celebrates Fish Town and Cow Town, one is just to show how difficult and dangerous it can be to be a fisherman, and another commemorates Horatio Nelson, who was stationed here in 1801 when the fleet used Brixham as a base to prepare for the Battle of Copenhagen. He wrote a letter to his lover Lady Hamilton from Brixham on the birth of their lovechild.”

After the recent consultation is reviewed, it’s hoped that all the new murals will be ready for the summer. See the new designs below.