Artworks celebrating the history and landscapes of Morecambe Bay

Morecambe Bay is famous for its stunning landscapes, inspiring numerous books and artworks over the years. Thanks to the wonderful work of Morecambe Bay Partnership through their Landscape Art Commisions and the Headlands to Headspace project, the history and heritage of this unique area has been brought to life through diverse art installations. Whether it’s looking at the ever-changing conditions of the sea and coastline, exploring the area’s rich Viking heritage, or celebrating the variety of Morecambe Bay’s seabirds!

 

Anna Gillespie’s permanent sculpture for Morecambe Bay becomes simultaneously a welcoming beacon and a symbol of fond farewell at a traditional point of departure and arrival. Purposely crafted to be of no clear historic reference, yet making overt reference to the Viking longboats of former Bay dwellers, the evidently seafaring structure marks the boundary of land and sea. The two, accompanying ‘boatmen’ figures look forward and back, a reference to both the nature of any journey and the inevitable changes in Morecambe Bay’s landscape, population and industrial heritage, where fishing and shipping sit side-by-side with the contemporary influence of nuclear power. The sculpture will offer viewers the chance to stop and reflect, continuing the Bay’s ancient traditions as a place of retreat, spiritual reflection and pilgrimage.

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Internationally-renowned land artist Chris Drury brings Horizon Line Chamber to Sunderland Point. A conical stone chamber remade from hundreds of reclaimed building stones unearthed at the former port settlement of Sunderland Point, Horizon Line Chamber recalls an upturned boat and holds a surprise for visitors who venture inside. A self-contained projector inverts the outside world onto the chamber’s lime-plastered walls, capturing the sea and its changing conditions, our rich bird life and the unique light of the Bay in a transformed perspective and meditation on Morecambe Bay’s evolving environment.

As Sunderland Point sometimes becomes inaccessible due to the tides, please don’t forget to check tide times before visiting!

Horizon Line Chamber

Image courtesy of https://chrisdrury.co.uk

 

 

Morecambe Bay is one of the top three places in the UK for wintering birds. It’s vast shining sands are a rich larder for wading birds like lapwing, knot and curlew. Hundreds of thousands of birds use Morecambe Bay. With some birds favouring certain species – such as Potts Corner at Middleton being particularly good for murmurations of knot and dunlin. These seven sculptures of local coastal birds, designed by Ulverston-based artist and metalworker Chris Bramall of CB Arts, have been installed at sites around Morecambe Bay and hold beautiful panels which tell seven stories of our wonderful waders.

These sculptures can be found at the following locations:

  • Lapwing: Warton Sands, Warton
  • Curlew: Bolton-le-Sands
  • Shelduck: Hest Bank
  • Redshank: Half Moon Bay, Heysham
  • Dunlin: Potts Corner, Middleton
  • Ringed Plover: Plover Scar, near Cockerham
  • Oystercatcher: Fluke Hall / Pilling, Wyre

 

 

  • The TERN project
  • Morecambe Promenade (Stone Jetty area)

Celebrating the birds and other diverse wildlife of Morecambe Bay, the TERN project is a stunning series of various award-winning sculptures situated along Morecambe’s seafront and promenade. Steel cormorants, gannets and razorbills sit proudly on the roundabouts on Central Drive and on the top of bollards in the sea railings.
On the Stone Jetty, behind the Midland Hotel, you can find a huge compass, work out various wordy puzzles, and discover a strange mythical bird. The trail extends towards the Festival Market where you can follow a path made up of poems, jokes and quotes by famous authors, musicians, entertainers and artists.