Writ in Water

Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area. It’s a kinda concrete monument with two concentric circular walls that blot out the sound and a pool in the centre with circular skylight. There’s a fountain but it wasn’t working when I visited. Popular place with kids who like running about and exploring the sculpture. The inscription around the pool is backwards and can be read in the reflection, hence the name.

Part of the Runneymede walk is this random piece of architecture.Writ in Water, a major architectural artwork by Mark Wallinger, in collaboration with Studio Octopi, provides a new immersive space for contemplation and reflection at Runnymede, Surrey. Writ in Water is open seven days a week and is free to enter.Over 800 years ago, Runnymede witnessed the feudal barons forcing King John to seal Magna Carta - a founding moment in shaping the basis of common law across the world.Writ in Water, commissioned by the National Trust in association with arts producers Situations, celebrates the enduring significance of Magna Carta.Set in the heart of this ancient landscape, Writ in Water reflects upon the founding principles of democracy, and through a meeting of water, sky and light, provides visitors with a space for reflection and contemplation.Mark Wallinger has drawn inspiration from Clause 39 of Magna Carta and the fundamental principles of justice it embodies.

Absolutely magical space, calm and quiet like entering a medieval castle, and then as you get to the centre a mirror pool with reflective text from the Magna Carta. Worth the walk !

Don't you wish your name was written in water? Well not exactly but the poet John Keats did whose gravestone doesn't bear his name and reads instead 'here lies one whose name was writ in water'.There's no obvious connection between this sculpture and Magna Carta nor John Keats had anything to do with it but the contemporary art is supposed to fly over an ordinary person's head. The artist in question here Mark Wallinger took the line from John Keats gravestone and created this round mud bath shaped artwork. Then he took the lines from Magna Carta's clause 39 and installed them upside down inside bath tub's rim so we can see in the reflection that no free man shall be seized or imprisoned.Personally I'm too thick to understand the modern art but this is an interesting approach and pretty creative idea.

It looks like a bunker of some sort from the outside.I enjoyed the raw concrete look of the building.The structure teases and add a sense of eagerness when approaching the central chamber.I would visit again to e experience it's simplistic design and contemplative central chamber.

Worth the stop, thoughtful sculpture that invites reflection. Lovely, accessible walk from the national trust car park. Their cafe is small so perhaps avoid in bad weather as it’s all exterior.

Well worth a visit - clever monument/art installation commemorating the foundation of our legal system.

A work of art commissioned by the National Trust and opened in 2018 by Mark Wallinger. The Writ in Water is situated in round concrete building a short walk from the Magna Carta memorial. In the centre there is a pond with an inscription of Clause 39 of the Magna Carta that can be read in the reflection on the water.