Tower

From the Bradford City of Culture Website:  'Tower explores the building blocks of the Penistone Hill landscape and their relationship to the building of Bradford.

The 10m sculpture is clad in the raw fleece of Derbyshire Gritstone and Lonk, two sheep breeds common to the local area. This fleece cladding is inspired both by the role played by sheep in physically shaping and maintaining the surrounding landscape, and by the importance of wool in the industrial history of Bradford – not for nothing was it nicknamed the ‘Wool Capital of the World’.  


The structure itself is created from block forms drawn from the stone quarrying of Penistone Hill Country Park – another physical building block of the city, which can seen as a product of the wilder landscapes that surround its urban core.'  Created by environmental artist Steve Messam.

We have visited Penistone Hill this morning, just over the hill from our village.  Tony had been asked to review the permanent orienteering course, following concerns that some of the posts were missing, and I wanted to blip the art installations which have gone up as part of the City of Culture year.  As usual, it was pretty 'wild and windy' up there but it made for dramatic skies passing through.  I set off to visit Tower first which I had seen on last Sunday's Countryfile.  Presenter Anita Rani, a Bradfordian, was viewing the installations and looking at the role of wool in local history.  The bulk of the fleeces covering Tower are from a farm just out of sight.

As dramatic as it is from across the Moor, it's pretty dramatic up close to with most all the senses engaged; the towering archway; the touch of the lanolin and the smell of the fleeces, quite something.  As I was looking at it from all angles a woman appeared and we fell into conversation.  Do you know when you instantly click with someone?  Well we decided it would be good to tour the art together and we quickly determined where our husbands were (Tony was running around the moor somewhere and her husband was playing golf with friends in Scotland).  She was Durham born, now living in Guildford and having a break by herself.  I suggested she call in at Haworth and recommended Cobbles and Clay for lunch.  A number of topics followed, ranging from the real meaning of education to MrHe-who-shall-not-be-named in the US to how historic tv programmes  magically fool us with plyboard sets.  Helen was her name and we passed a very enjoyable hour walking through the '99 Butterflies' placed in a valley and made from marble with  inlays of birds, butterflies and flowers then onto 'Muamba Posy' which reminded me of the game children play where they have to avoid touching a wire puzzle with a sensor!  From there we viewed 'The Children of Smokeless Fire' high above Lower Laithe Reservoir with its stunning rural backdrop.  These were half human, half animal figures from myth and legend.

Helen and I completed our circuit, pausing to have several interactions with other groups of women out  doing the same as us and Helen commented how in the south it was unusual to speak to strangers in that way.  On returning to the carpark I showed her the location of the Parsonage parking and we went our separate ways.

Tony eventually returned from his review and we called in at Cobbles and Clay for lunch.  We also dropped in at one of my favourite bookshops next door 'Wave of Nostalgia'.  I always ask for a recommendation for a book when in there and received another one right up my street.

More of 'Wild Uplands' here.