Chalk Stones on the South Downs
Moonlit Path in Petworth Park

Two new commissons
by Andy Goldworthy
in West Sussex
2002
Project partners: West Sussex County Council, Chichester District Council, Sussex Downs Conservation Board, National Trust, Pallant House Gallery, Footpints
and funded by Arts Council England.
Project management
by Frances Lord

Andy Goldsworthy made fourteen chalk stones of approximately 6 foot diameter, with chalk taken from local Duncton Quarry, and placed them in chosen locations along a five mile trail on the South Downs between West Dean Gardens and Cocking Hill.

“Chalk is a huge mass of material in the Downs and yet is largely hidden. Where it does make an appearance…it looks strange and unreal, as if it didn’t belong”
Andy Goldsworthy

Moonlit Path was a winding chalk trail created by Goldsworthy through Petworth Park and the Leconsfield Estate and intended to be enjoyed by moonlight. It was open for three nights only around the full moon each month for a year from June 2002 and visited and enjoyed by over 3,000 people during the moonlit openings. Each visitor experienced the private pleasure of an agreed personal time slot.

“A place is so different at night it is like being somewhere else. If chalk represents another side and way of looking at the land, so does the night.” Andy Goldsworthy