John Frankland Untitled Boulder

John Frankland’s project for Compton Verney involved setting a vast climbing boulder within the 18th-century ‘Capability’ Brown landscape. The 70-tonne rock was quarried from Portland stone, and transported 150 miles from the Dorset coast to Warwickshire. Echoing the building material of the house, Untitled Boulder combines the fields of architecture, sculpture and climbing, exploring the conceptual and physical challenges between the disciplines. There are also strong references to the Land Art projects of the 1960s and 1970s.

During the summer, specialist climbers created a number of ‘routes’ over the boulder, with sessions open to visitors under supervision. The boulder is now unsuitable for visitors to climb, with the exception of occasional bouldering groups by special request.