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We start our Sculpture Trail from Church Street
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If you walk along to Middle Earth Tavern and cross the road to the Harbour side, as you walk back towards the swing bridge with the river on your left you will see a plaque for the Penny Hedge.
Look here for the sculpture 'Hornblower'. This is a depiction of the planting of the Penny Hedge on the eve of Ascension Day, a Whitby tradition dating back to 1159.
Take a leisurely stroll back along to the old swing bridge and on your right-hand side, outside Holland and Barrett, you will see the 'Bridge Ender' sculpture.
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'Bridge Ender' depicts a fisherman standing by the swing bridge looking out into the harbour.
Sculptor Emma Stothard said : "Even fishermen today do that, they look out to sea before they go out to sea to check the weather. It's like they are reading the weather before they make a decision to go out but they would stand and chat and gossip about the day's happenings."
The sculpture is accompanied by a barrel and crate for public seating.
Cross the swing bridge and on your left you will see 'Fisherwife' ------------------->
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'Fisherwife', the first sculpture to be installed, can be seen selling cod, dover sole, mackerel and crab.
If you now walk along towards the sea, you will be heading towards St Ann's Staith with the fishing boats on your right-hand side. Keep heading towards the west pier and just by the bandstand you will see the sculpture of the 'Herring Lassies'.
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'Herring Lassies' features two women gutting fish at a table and another packing them. This sculpture is inspired by the women who would follow the herring fleet as it worked its way down from Scotland to Lowestoft. These women would lodge in towns like Whitby and gut and pack the herring brought in from sea.
You can now head back along the way you came and just after Mountain Warehouse (which used to be Woolies) you come to Golden Lion Bank. If you go up there, slowly, you can stop at the 'Fisherman mending net' sculpture to get your breath back. ------------------------>
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'Fisherman Mending Net' used to be a common sight in Whitby. Fishermen still mend their nets but not all around the town as used to be the case.
Carry on up Flowergate to the top and you will see 'Gansey Knitter' outside the United Reform Church.
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'Gansey Knitter'. A fisherman's gansey is the kind of jumper worn by all the fishermen in the past. They are knitted on a round needle so that they don't have any seams and are very durable. A fine and sturdy wool was used to make them weatherproof. They have quite a high neck so fishermen often wore a scarf underneath so that the wool didn't rub and irritate. Each town has its own gansey pattern so it was known where each fisherman came from.
Look across the road and you'll see Skinner Street with The Resolution on the corner. Walk along Skinner Street and you'll find the 'Frank Meadow Sutcliffe' sculpture.
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'Frank Meadow Sutcliffe' lived in and photographed Whitby in Victorian times. His famous sepia pictures depict the everyday life of Whitby in clear, sharp images which provide us with an invaluable pictorial history of the town.
Now head towards the West Cliff and look fo rthe demolished WWII house.
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'Dora Walker' was the first woman to get a skipper's licence on the East Coast. Dora was from Yorkshire and bought a cottage in Whitby because her doctor advised that her bronchial problems would be improved if she lived on the coast. Wikipedia page on Dora's life.
If you continue along keeping the sea on your right you will come to The Spa and the last sculpture on our trail, 'Crow's nest with a lookout'.
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'Crow's nest with a lookout'. Whitby local captain William Scoresby was an arctic explorer and he reputedly invented the crow's nest.
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Whitby’s new heritage art trail
PUBLISHED: 11:34 02 September 2020 | UPDATED: 19:48 04 September 2020
In situ: Emma's Fishwife sculpture is quite at home by the harbour in Whitby
Whitby’s fishing heritage is brought to life in a new sculpture trail
Emma's workshop is a hive of activity as she creates her trademark large scale sculptures
Sculptures celebrating the rich fishing history of one of the Yorkshire Coast’s favourite resorts will greet visitors to the town this autumn.
The artworks on the new Whitby Sculpture Trail are being created by Whitby-based artist Emma Stothard, whose work can be found worldwide, including in the Royal Gardens at Highgrove, the private residence of Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, and at chef Raymond Blanc’s two-Michelin-starred Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxfordshire.
She is also a regular contributor to the annual RHS Chelsea Flower Show – her work has featured in several of the award-winning Welcome to Yorkshire gardens in recent years.
Emma, who was born in Hull and grew up in windswept Kilnsea at the northern end of Spurn Point in East Yorkshire, is currently hard at work creating the series of seven sculptures as part of a project created in partnership with and funded by Scarborough Borough Council.
The Whitby series reflcts some of the town's most famous people and scenes - many portrayed in the photography of Frank Meadow Sutcliffe
All the pieces will be sited on the town’s West Side – for the directionally challenged among us, that’s the side with the whalebone arch, not the one with the Abbey – and will guide visitors along the harbourside, up Flowergate and Skinner Street and back down to the bandstand.
Each piece is made from hot-dipped galvanised wire painstakingly woven by hand (the pain sometimes being quite literal as Emma twists the heavyweight wire) and can take up to four weeks to create.
Emma starts by welding a strong steel armature, or skeleton, to support the woven ‘skin’ – the Whitby sculptures will need to withstand some extreme weather in the winter and are made of galvanised mild steel wire, but she also uses willow and bronze wire in her work.
Then, using basic tools such as pliers and mallets, but mostly her hands – she confesses that nice hand cream is always gratefully received at Christmas and birthdays! – she twists and weaves the wire into finished sculptures that look as they could walk away from their static sites at any moment.
The new Whitby team includes a fishwife, a herring lass, a fisherman mending a net, a knitter at work on a gansey and a crow’s nest.
The lifesize fishwife is already at home near the picturesque Swing Bridge that straddles the mouth of the River Esk as it flows into Whitby Harbour, and is picking up fans on Instagram, where her thoughts and opinions on the world around her can be found at @whitby_fishwife.
The trail will also include sculpted portraits of two of Whitby’s most famous residents, Frank Meadow Sutcliffe and Dora Walker.
Less familiar is the extraordinary Dora Walker. Born in West Yorkshire and educated at Roedean, she suffered with serious bronchial problems and moved to Whitby on medical advice during World War II. But she was not a woman to let anything stand in her way: she bought her own boat, took up fishing and qualified and acted as a pilot for boats through the minefields. She was the only woman skipper to hold her licence in the North Sea throughout the Second World War.
Emma says: ‘I really wanted to celebrate Whitby’s rich fishing history and the people associated with it, like Sutcliffe, whose photos I love, and the brilliant and remarkable Dora Walker, a female pioneer whose story really should be more well-known.’
All the scultures should be in place by Christmas.
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Look North coverage of the Whitby Sculpture Trail from 13 October 2020
Tuesday, 8 September 2020 - Scarborough Council
A £55,000 arts and economic development project to create a walking sculpture trail around the picturesque streets and alleyways of Whitby has begun.
Our Walking with Heritage project will see seven life size sculptures depicting Whitby’s fishing heritage, created by local sculpture artist, Emma Stothard, installed throughout the west side of town by early spring next year.
The first sculpture in the trail, which depicts a fisherman’s wife and baskets full of fish has been installed on the west side of the swing bridge. It was officially unveiled by local fisherman, William Hall and Mayor of Whitby, Cllr Linda Wild.
Once finished, the trail will take people from Whitby Swing Bridge, up Golden Lion Bank and Flowergate, along Skinner Street and down Kyber Pass to finish at the band stand at the end of Pier Road.
The aim of the trail is to lead people to explore some of the lesser frequented areas of Whitby and support local businesses in those areas. It will be promoted as a family friendly activity for visitors and residents to enjoy.
An app is being developed to accompany the trail, which will feature a map and information relating to each sculpture, including old photos and audio clips from retired fishermen.
The project is being funded by the government’s Coastal Revival Fund with a contribution from us.
Matthew Joseph, our Community Regeneration Manager, said:
"We’re delighted that the first of the project’s sculptures is now in place and we look forward to seeing the others take up their positions in the coming months.
"Visually, the project is centred on arts and heritage, but there is also a very important economic development aspect that sits behind it. When the trail is complete, not only will it tell people more about Whitby’s rich history through sculpture, it will help to transfer some footfall to the less visited parts of the town, giving people the opportunity to explore the many high quality businesses in those areas."
We are working on developing plans for a second phase of the project to encompass the quieter parts of the east side of Whitby.
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Photographer Sutcliffe will be depicted alongside his vintage plate camera, which he used to create intimate and revealing photographs of the seaside town and its residents from the late Victorian era through to the early 20th century, making him internationally famous – his work is still much sought after today.
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Emma masters a host of techiques in her work
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