Heads up for a new sculpture at Heysham

The location for a startling new artwork for Morecambe Bay has been revealed.
Half Moon Bay, in sight of Heysham Port, has been confirmed as the location for a large-scale sculpture, Ship by renowned artist, Anna GillespieHalf Moon Bay, in sight of Heysham Port, has been confirmed as the location for a large-scale sculpture, Ship by renowned artist, Anna Gillespie
Half Moon Bay, in sight of Heysham Port, has been confirmed as the location for a large-scale sculpture, Ship by renowned artist, Anna Gillespie

The sculpture, called Ship, will be sited at Half Moon Bay, so it will be clearly visible to travellers coming and going from the ferry port at Heysham.

Anna Gillespie’s artwork is the latest in a run of Headlands To Headspace artworks and cultural event commissions, led by the Morecambe Bay Partnership, and will be cast in durable bronze and steel.

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Travelling from a Welsh foundry to arrive on the Barrow Lane site next month, residents and visitors will encounter the outline of a ship’s hull mounted with two opposing figures at each end, one facing ‘the new’ of Heysham Nuclear Power Station and the other facing ‘the old’ of the ancient monument of St Patrick’s Chapel.

According to a statement: “As ferries sail out towards the Isle of Man from Heysham’s ferry terminal, they and Ship will remain clearly visible to each other in clear weather, making the artwork both a figurative and literal symbol of arrival and departure”.

Anna said: “Morecambe Bay and Heysham are in a perpetual tug-of-war between the splendour of the sea and its sense of danger, the beauty of the landscape and the fierceness of the climate that has shaped it, modernity and tradition and the ebb and flow of its population as industries have come and gone.

“‘Ship’ marks those contradictions and opposing forces as essential to the area’s identity, heritage and environment, pointing to the past as well as the future and offering a welcome to new arrivals and a farewell to anyone starting a new journey from here.”

For information about all of the events connected with the Headlands to Headspace programme visit www.morecambebay.org.uk/news/landscape-art-commissions.