MOC: England 793

[Macsen Wledig]

Hi there

I'm here to bring you the latest Brick to the Past build, England 793.

793 is arguably one of the most important years in British history, for this is the year of the first recorded Viking raid on these lands. Of course we can’t discount the likelihood that earlier raids took place and nobody bothered to write about them; but at the very least, this is the year in which people really started to take notice. Our story is told through the sinuous waters of a tidal river, which weaves its way past Anglo-Saxon villages, riparian woodlands and estuarine bogs to the island dotted shores of the North Sea.

The model was created in 2016 by builders James Pegrum, Dan Harris, Simon Pickard, Jimmy Clinch, Steve Snasdell and Tim Goddard. The model is just over 17 square metres in size and reaches over 30 bricks in height.

As usual a great deal of research went into creating this model, which took the form of extensive reading and no small number of field trips. The model contains a number features based on these efforts and we have tried to incorporate as many iconic Anglo-Saxon sites and features as possible.

You can see more photos and info about the model over on our website at www.bricktothepast.com/england-793.html

 

I would have added more photos but there seems to be some sort of functionality problem when trying to link from a URL and I couldn't see any way of just writing the code myself. I assume this is a result of the recent update... Anyway, if someone could let me know how I can insert code, I'll add a few more. In the meantime, www.bricktothepast.com/england-793.html is where all the photos are.

 

[Slegengr]

That is one huge collab, Macsen Wledig!

The detailing is fantastic with such realistic landscaping and water with waves!  The efforts to make it historically accurate are much appreciated, at least by me.  The inclusion of so many different scenes from Viking history is a great idea, and all are well built.

So many details, it is impossible to comment on them all...   This collab suffers from the usual large collab problem: such a large build that the details get lost in the scale of the whole build. (This is a good problem to have, of course! )  I wish I could see it in person, as there can never be enough photos to portray all the details!

I really enjoy your historical dioramas and am always looking forward to more!

[soccerkid6]

Besides the size of BTTP displays, the incredible quality of landscaping always astounds me The buildings are always excellent too, but the landscapes have to be some of the best I've ever seen!

[The Architect]

This is huge! The foam on the waves is a really nice touch, it reminds me of Age of Empires lol, very nice!

[Littleworlds]

This looks really pretty awesome!  You can tell how much work went into this. Its a really flawless build with some of the most beautiful landscaping I have ever seen. Just a pity that the build as a whole got broken down. It would suit perfectly as a permanent exhibit for a museum and would really appeal to kids 

[KlodsBrik]

Crazy.
This is looking gorgeous. I really like the landscape moulding you've done, not to mention that the water effect on this scale works totally perfect.
Yeah, I love it ! 

[blackdeathgr]

As always, another fascinating trip to history! I wish i was closer to watch it live as it surely takes time for such a masterpiece to stare at

[Stelario]

This is really realistic build. I love the free space everywhere. It made me realize that 120 BP it's not enough to build anything from LEGO. :D

[MAB]

Lovely model. I'm not sure about it being the most important year though. The same could be said for 43, 843 (for those north of the border), 1066 (most English people would probably say then), 1215, 1485, 1588, 1659, 1707, 1815, 1918, 1945, 2016, ...

[Macsen Wledig]

Hello everyone

Apologies for the slow reply, the last few weeks have been ridiculously busy. Just wanted to thank everyone for their kind comments, especially about the landscape. This model was very landscape orientated so it's great to give positive feedback. For my part, days were spent building the cliff along the northern side of the island.

 

On 01/11/2016 at 5:44 PM, Littleworlds said:

This looks really pretty awesome!  You can tell how much work went into this. Its a really flawless build with some of the most beautiful landscaping I have ever seen. Just a pity that the build as a whole got broken down. It would suit perfectly as a permanent exhibit for a museum and would really appeal to kids 

Thanks very much, the model was actually on display as part of the Bricks in Time exhibition at the Rheged Centre over the summer. It got somewhere between 25 and 30K visitors. We're keeping the eastern section of the model, which includes the islands, longboats and coastline and this is available to rent.

On 08/11/2016 at 1:35 PM, MAB said:

Lovely model. I'm not sure about it being the most important year though. The same could be said for 43, 843 (for those north of the border), 1066 (most English people would probably say then), 1215, 1485, 1588, 1659, 1707, 1815, 1918, 1945, 2016, ...

Thanks very much. I actually wrote "...arguably one of the most important years in British history" which doesn't give it any sort of primacy and also leaves room for debate. I wouldn't like to say what is the most important year in British history but I sure hope it's not 2016! ...which I guess exposes me as a bit of a pessimist!

[Patgeo]

This is a stunning creation! Every part of this diorama is awesome! I love the details for the waves, as well as the ships, and the little houses here and there!

Congratulations to the creators for this amasing creation!

[kurigan]

Is it lame to come to the discussion this late and call this simply "epic"? It truly is though. I don't normally go in for builds that rely on scale to impress but this is so much more than that. The attention to detail I daunting. If you can immediately identify the event a diorama pictures without an explanation, than it's a success. This does exactly that. There is little chance to mistake the scene. As an avid ship builder I also give your long boats a heart "thumbs up".