The Angel Of The North, Gateshead
By: Antony Gormley
Erected In: 1998
About: Sitting on top of a former colliery pithead close to the A1, the 54m wide and 20m high Angel of the North is believed to be the largest angel sculpture in the world. Gormley chose an angel to recognise the sacrifice of the miners who had worked beneath the site of its construction centuries before. The awe-inspiring piece of public art is visited by 150,000 people a year and is one of the most famous sculptures in the UK. It is seen by more than one person every second. That’s 90,000 every day or 33 million every year. The Angel of the North is easy to reach by both public transport and car.
Postcode: NE9 7TY
Beamish Shorthorns, Durham
By: Sally Matthews
Erected In: 1990
About: The Beamish Shorthorns, constructed from scrap metal and tractor parts, contentedly graze by the side of the Consett and Sunderland railway path (part of the C2C cycle route). The artist’s workshop was an old train shed overlooking a field of rust-coloured shorthorns, which became her muse.
Postcode: DH9
Brick Train, Darlington
By: David Mach
Erected In: 1997
About: Built to celebrate Darlington’s rich railway heritage, the train is made up of over 185,000 bricks and 170 cubic meters of concrete. It is of hollow construction and measures 23ft high by 130ft long. It took a team of 34 brick layers, labourers and apprentices 21 weeks to build. There are 20 special ‘bat’ bricks built in at various places to encourage the nocturnal creatures to use it as their home. Local schools donated time capsules which were put inside the train.
Postcode: DL1 4PH
Conversation Piece, South Shields
By: Juan Munoz
Erected In: 2001
About: Affectionately known as the ‘weebles’, the 22 mysterious figures stand in various poses – some deep in conversation with each other, others simply gazing out to sea. Situated next to Littlehaven Beach at the mouth of the Tyne in South Shields, they are a fitting tribute to South Tyneside’s glorious coast.
Postcode: NE33 1LH
The Couple, Newbiggin-By-The-Sea
By: Sean Henry
Erected In: 2007
About: The UK’s first permanent off-shore sculpture sits 300m off the Northumberland Coast. The sculpture is 20m long and 12m high and depicts a woman and man looking out to sea.
Postcode: NE64
Eat For England, Cramlington
By: Bob Budd
Erected In: 2006
About: Locally known as Crammy’s Big Spoon, the 15ft metal spoon was installed to entice people in to the countryside.
Postcode: NE23 7TL
Emily Wilding Davison, Morpeth
By: Ray Lonsdale
Erected In: 2018
About: Installed to commemorate 100 years since woman were first allowed to vote in the UK, the statue shows Emily Davison while on hunger strike in prison. Emily Davison, from Morpeth, was a suffragette who was knocked unconscious by the kings horse while trying to draw attention to the Votes For Women campaign.
Postcode: NE61 1YD
Fiddlers Green, North Shields
By: Ray Lonsdale
Erected In: 2017
About: Fiddler’s Green sits overlooking the River Tyne on North Shields Fish Quay. It is a permanent memorial to the North Shields fishermen lost at sea. There is a plaque on the base which reads: “To the fishermen lost in the cold North Sea, and the ones who will be so, I’ll be seeing you all on Fiddler’s Green, be steady as you go. For Fiddler’s Green is a place I’ve heard tell, though no one really knows, where the fishermen go if they don’t go to hell, and no Arctic wind will blow.”
Postcode: NE30 1JE
The Journey, Durham
By: Fenwick Lawson
Erected In: 2008
About: The bronze cast statue tells the important and epic story of monks carrying the body of St Cuthbert from Holy Island to Durham Cathedral.
Postcode: DH1
Market Woman, Wallsend
By: Hans Schwarz
Erected In: 1966
About: This rough bronze sculpture of a Roman peasant woman was designed for a shopping centre in Wallsend at the east end of Hadrian’s Wall. The artist depicted a woman in a stoic pose with a basket of hens balanced on her head. She was, he said, a “tough, hardworking peasant, not a graceful girl”. The idea was to highlight the reality of life for common people in this area under the rule of Emperor Hadrian.
Postcode: NE28
The Old Transformers, Stanley
By: David Kemp
Erected In: 1992
About: ‘The Miner’ and ‘The Ironmaster’ are a pair of sculptures created from discarded transformers and other scrap metal salvaged from the old Consett Steel Works. The statues stand 6 metres high and are a visual reminder of the area’s industrial past, particularly the coal, iron and steel industries which shaped the area so dramatically.
Postcode: DH9 8PJ
The Response, Newcastle
By: Sir W. Goscombe
Erected In: 1923
About: The War Memorial depicts the Northumberland Fusiliers marching off to fight in the First World War.
Postcode: NE1 7RS
River God Tyne, Newcastle
By: David Wynne
Erected In: 1968
About: The bronze statue is mounted on the outer wall of Newcastle Civic Centre.
Postcode: NE1 3DX
Silvas Capitalis, Hexham
By: Simparch
Erected In: 2009
About: The giant timber head is located on Kielder’s Lakeside Way. The head was conceived as a watcher; a presence that has observed the dramatically changing landscape around it.
Postcode: NE48 1QZ
Spirit Of Jarrow, Jarrow
By: Graham Ibbeson
Erected In: 2001
About: A life-sized bronze statue that was commissioned to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the Jarrow March For Jobs that took place in 1936.
Postcode: NE32
Spirit Of South Shields
By: Irene Brown
Erected In: 2000
About: Installed on the banks of the River Tyne, the Spirit is seen as the protector of Shileds, guiding ships through the seas safely. She stands strong and optimistic, unafraid of the winds of change. Harbouring a ship safely in one arm whilst raising her other arm in greeting, she is seen as the prow, the figurehead for South Shields’ future.
Postcode: NE33
Terris Novalis, Consett
By: Tony Cragg
Erected In: 1996
About: Built on the site of the oldest commercial railway line in Britain, this sculpture marks the location of what was once Europe’s largest steelworks and was commissioned to be a lasting memorial to the steelworkers of Co. Durham. The sculptures are 20 times the size of the tools they represent. The theodolite and engineers level stand on top of a small hill and are visible for miles around.
Postcode: DH8 7NU
Tommy, Seaham
By: Ray Lonsdale
Erected In: 2014
About: Officially called 1101 (referring to the first minute of peace as the armistice came in to force at 11am on 11th November 1918), the statue shows a First World War soldier wearing boots, puttees, greatcoat and tin hat, sitting on an ammunition box, with downcast eyes holding the barrel of his rifle.
Postcode: SR7 7EU
How many of the above have you visited? Which is your favourite? Let me know in the comments
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