Reflecting the past

I was taken with the pictures of an installation at Heysham that lynnfot posted a day or two ago and thought I would like to go and see for myself. It is only there for a very short time and so we went today. We found the sculpture, but we also found a lot else besides. 

Settlement 
The sculpture by Rob Mulholland stands on Heysham Head, above Morecambe Bay. The figures and ‘dwellings’ are mirrored and reflect everything around them, including the people wandering amongst them. I am not too sure about the prism type ‘dwellings’ and could not quite see what they added to the whole, except that they encouraged people to interact with the sculpture, as they saw themselves reflected and took photos of the reflections. I was, on the other hand, very impressed with the figures and could see how they conveyed the idea of people in the past living in the same place. They reflected the sea, the clouds, the grass and became a part of the landscape. Fascinating. 

The siting is significant, as close by are the remains of St Patrick’s Chapel (see extra), which dates back to Anglo Saxon times. And the very place where the figures stand is called The Barrows, indicating that it was probably the site of some Iron Age burial ground. People have trod this ground for many, many years. 

Prior to this visit we had only been to Heysham once and that was a brief visit to walk by the sea. We were therefore surprised to find:

- a charming village with a long history
- ruins of a Chapel with astonishing sea views and some stone graves
- a lovely little church with a lot of history, including a hogback stone
- a nicely kept heritage centre
- several delightfully friendly people, who were willing to chat about the
  place, including a guy at the church who told us all the stories connected
  with the carvings on the hogback stone
- and a well, another St Patrick's Well
 
And we saw the sea and had fish and chips in Morecambe.
 
A super day – thanks Lynn.
 
More info on the installation here.