Marc Bolan car crash location

In the early hours of September 16, 1977, the Mini 1275 GT being driven by Marc Bolan's girlfriend Gloria Jones failed to make a bend on Queens Ride in Barnes, southwest London, skidded off the road, and hit a steel-reinforced fence post beside a sycamore tree. Jones survived with serious injuries; Bolan, in the passenger seat, was killed instantly. He was 29 years old -- just weeks short of his 30th birthday. He had been a passenger in his own car because he had never learned to drive.

Bolan had been one of the defining figures of early 1970s glam rock, the creator of T. Rex, the man who brought feather boas and electric fairy dust to rock music with songs like 'Get It On', 'Jeepster', 'Telegram Sam', and '20th Century Boy'. His commercial peak had passed by 1977, but he was in the middle of a genuine creative resurgence -- he had recently filmed a television show with David Bowie and was writing prolifically -- when the accident ended it. The sycamore tree that the car hit is still standing.

The Marc Bolan Rock Shrine has grown around the tree on Queens Ride over the subsequent decades, maintained by the Marc Bolan Fan Club. A bronze bust of Bolan is mounted on the fence beside the tree, along with plaques, photographs, drawings, and tributes left by fans from around the world. The shrine is accessible at all times; Queens Ride is a public road in Barnes, near the Thames. The tree itself has become a living memorial, its bark worn smooth by decades of touches from passing fans.