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Forty rectangular stone blocks, taken from a dismantled local bridge, cut on one side to present an approximate triangular shape. They are arranged, either as single pieces or in pairs, in a series of three circles. Carved on the stones are the outlines of various natural and man-made objects including leaves, shells, cones, feathers and fish; and a bobbin, heald, spanner, nut and bolt. Some of the mason's marks carved when the stones were used to build a bridge can be identified.

The sculpture, sited on land that was the site of a cotton mill, draws its inspiration from the local textile industry especially during the early period of the industrial revolution when mills employed young children who were compelled to work long hours in often dangerous conditions. The sculpture is also influenced by the bobbins and shuttles used in the spinning and weaving machinery. Many of the young children who worked in such had short and miserable lives, and dying young were buried in unmarked or forgotten graves. The sculpture is thus “a memorial to this slavery, the symbols on the stones, layered messages of the past”. The title, Stone Cycle, is a direct reference to life of the people who were lived, worked and died in the surrounding district, as well as to the life of the stones. The sculpture was created during the artist’s eight-month residency at Burrs Country Park. The locally quarried gritstone came from a former railway bridge.(1)

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At risk

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Stone

200 cm high x 61 cm long x 45 cm wide approx

Copper

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Graffiti