Drive towards Liverpool on the M62 motorway and, just before the exit for St Helens, you might get a tantalising glimpse on your right of something large and white on a hill-top, which then disappears behind trees. It's an astonishing piece of work by the Spanish sculptor, Jaume Plensa, whose creations are on display all over the world, in places including London, Chicago, Nice, Antibes... and now St Helens.
The Merseyside town is best-known for two things – it's the home of Pilkington Glass, and of one of the greatest rugby league teams in the world. And now it has something else to be proud of - a huge work by a sculptor of international renown, which commemorates another part of the history of St Helens: the coal mines.
Sutton Manor Colliery
The Sutton Manor Colliery dates back to 1906, when the first mine shaft was sunk, and by the 1960s about 1500 men worked at the pit. When it closed in 1991 (the last mine in St Helens to close down) it was still employing 450 men and had recently broken its record for coal produced in one week, with 12,000 tonnes hauled out of the earth.
There then began a transformation of the colliery site, as it was given to the Forestry Commission and over 50,000 trees were planted to create a wooded park for local people to enjoy. Some of those people, including miners who had spent all their working lives beneath the ground here, wanted something more solid, a lasting monument to remember the mine and those who lived and who died in order to dig out the black gold from the earth.
Jaume Plensa
Jaume Plensa was born in Barcelona in 1955, and one of his most famous works is the Crown Fountain in Chicago. He has also created art works for the Baltic Centre in Gateshead, the BBC's Broadcasting House in London, on the waterfront in Antibes and in Place Masséna in Nice in the South of France.
Jaume Plensa's Dream
For Dream in St Helens Plensa began with a base which was inspired by the circular tallies that miners took with them when they entered the pit, as a means of identification. Above this he put 500 tons of white Spanish dolomite, which looks like marble and is in stark contrast to the black coal which is still abundant under the ground. The 66-foot sculpture is of a girl's head, her eyes closed, dreaming. 'In our dreams anything is possible,' Plensa has said, and his words and his creation were also inspired by the motto of the town of St Helens, Ex terra lucem (From the earth comes light.)
And from the earth of the Sutton Manor Colliery in St Helens has come a work of hope – dreaming of the past, dreaming of the future.
Related Articles
Visit Durham for the Miners Gala
Mike Gerrard - Mike is an award-winning travel writer who has worked for National Geographic, the London Times, and many other clients. ...
