List of public art in Somerset
Districts of Somerset County council area Unitary |
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1 South Somerset |
2 Somerset West and Taunton |
3 Sedgemoor |
4 Mendip |
5 Bath and North East Somerset |
6 North Somerset |
This is a list of public art in the Somerset county of England. This list applies only to works of public art on permanent display in an outdoor public space. For example, this does not include artworks in museums.
The ceremonial county of Somerset consists of a non-metropolitan county, administered by Somerset County Council, which is divided into four districts, and two unitary authorities. The districts of Somerset are Somerset West and Taunton, South Somerset, Mendip and Sedgemoor. The two administratively independent unitary authorities, which were established on 1 April 1996 following the breakup of the county of Avon, are North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset. These unitary authorities include areas that were once part of Somerset before the creation of Avon in 1974.[1]
Public art is art in any media that has been planned and executed with the intention of being staged in the physical public domain, usually outside and accessible to all. Public art is significant within the art world, amongst curators, commissioning bodies and practitioners of public art, to whom it signifies a working practice of site specificity, community involvement and collaboration. Public art may include any art which is exhibited in a public space including publicly accessible buildings, but often it is not that simple. Rather, the relationship between the content and audience, what the art is saying and to whom, is just as important if not more important than its physical location.[2]
Bath and North East Somerset[edit]
Bath and North East Somerset (commonly referred to as BANES or B&NES) is a unitary authority created on 1 April 1996, following the abolition of the County of Avon.[3] It occupies an area of 220 square miles (570 km2), two-thirds of which is green belt.[4] BANES stretches from the outskirts of Bristol, south into the Mendip Hills and east to the southern Cotswold Hills and Wiltshire border.[4] The city of Bath is the principal settlement in the district, but BANES also covers Keynsham, Midsomer Norton, Radstock and the Chew Valley. BANES has a population of 170,000, about half of whom live in Bath, making it 12 times more densely populated than the rest of the district.[4]
Mendip[edit]
Mendip is a local government district which covers a largely rural area of 285 square miles (738 km2)[15] ranging from the Mendip Hills through on to the Somerset Levels. It has a population of approximately 11,000.[15] The administrative centre of the district is Shepton Mallet.
Image | Title / subject | Location and coordinates |
Date | Artist / designer | Type | Material | Dimensions | Designation | Owner / administrator | Wikidata | Notes |
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War memorial | St. Cuthberts Parish Church, Wells | c.1920 | Lantern cross with plaques | Stone & bronze | 4m tall | Grade II listed building | Q26663082 | [16][17] | ||
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Adam and Eve | Bishop's Palace, Wells 51°12′33″N 2°38′32″W / 51.209111°N 2.642105°W |
E. J. Clack | Sculpture | Wood | [18] | |||||
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The Weight of Our Sins | Bishop's Palace, Wells 51°12′33″N 2°38′32″W / 51.209111°N 2.642105°W |
2010 | Josefina de Vasconcellos | Sculpture group | Bronze | [19] | ||||
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Four Symbols of the Evangelists | Approach to the North Porch of Wells Cathedral | 1992-93 | Mary Spencer Watson | Four sculptures | Purbeck stone | [20] | ||||
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Admiral Hood Monument | Compton Dundon 51°06′05″N 2°43′17″W / 51.101356°N 2.721306°W |
1831 | Henry Goodridge | Tuscan column | Ashlar | 110 feet (33.5 m) high | Grade II* listed building | Q4683688 | ||
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Romulus and Remus | 51°14′20″N 2°37′00″W / 51.2390°N 2.6166°W |
1945 | Gaetano Celestra | Bonded cast concrete | Created by Gaetano Celestra, an Italian prisoner of war at a nearby camp.[21][22] | |||||
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Celebration | Site of West Mendip Hospital, Horrington 51°09′32″N 2°42′02″W / 51.1589°N 2.7006°W |
2005 | James Blunt | Sculpture group | ||||||
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Mells War Memorial | Mells 51°14′26″N 2°23′22″W / 51.240429°N 2.389446°W |
1921 | Sir Edwin Lutyens | War memorial | Purbeck marble | Grade II* listed building | Q17552180 |
North Somerset[edit]
North Somerset is a unitary authority which is administered independently of the non-metropolitan county of Somerset.[23] Its administrative headquarters are located in the town hall of Weston-super-Mare, and has a resident population of 193,000 living in 85,000 households.[24]
Image | Title / subject | Location and coordinates |
Date | Artist / designer | Type | Material | Dimensions | Designation | Owner / administrator | Wikidata | Notes |
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War memorial | Grove Park, Weston-super-Mare | 1922 | Alfred Drury | Statue on pedestal | Bronze and stone | Grade II | Q26677665 | [25][26] | ||
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Silica | Big Lamp Junction, Weston-super-Mare 51°20′50″N 2°58′34″W / 51.3471°N 2.9761°W |
2006 | Wolfgang Buttress | 4 metres (13 ft) wide at the base. 30 metres (98 ft) high.[27][28] | North Somerset Council | Lit by LEDs at night[29] | ||||
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The Glassblower | Nailsea 51°26′03″N 2°45′14″W / 51.4342°N 2.7540°W |
2008[30] | Vanessa Marston | Bronze | Nailsea Town Council | |||||
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Seafarer's Memorial | Portishead 51°29′41″N 2°46′24″W / 51.4947°N 2.7733°W |
2005 | Stone | |||||||
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Carved head | Leigh Woods 51°26′47″N 2°39′18″W / 51.4464°N 2.6549°W |
Stone | ||||||||
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Full Fathom Five | Portishead 51°29′29″N 2°45′15″W / 51.4915°N 2.7543°W |
Michael Dan Archer | Stone | 108 granite columns[31]
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Sedgemoor[edit]
Sedgemoor district is a low-lying area of land close to sea level between the Quantock and Mendip hills, historically largely marsh (or moor). It contains the bulk of the area also known as the Somerset Levels, including Europe's oldest known engineered roadway, the Sweet Track.[32]
South Somerset[edit]
The South Somerset district occupies an area of 370 square miles (958 km2),[39] stretching from its borders with Devon and Dorset to the edge of the Somerset Levels. The district has a population of about 158,000,[40] and has Yeovil as its administrative centre.
Image | Title / subject | Location and coordinates |
Date | Artist / designer | Type | Material | Dimensions | Designation | Owner / administrator | Wikidata | Notes |
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Industria Virtute Et Labore | Yeovil | |||||||||
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Burton Pynsent Monument | Curry Rivel 51°01′18″N 2°53′21″W / 51.021667°N 2.889167°W |
1767 | Capability Brown | Portland Stone | 140 feet (43 m) high | Grade I listed building[41] | Q5000900 | |||
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Dillington House | ||||||||||
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King Alfred's Tower | Brewham 51°06′54″N 2°21′54″W / 51.115°N 2.365°W |
1769-1772 | 49 metres (161 ft) high | Grade I listed building | Q7884143 | |||||
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Ball and Whirl | Fore Street, Chard 50°52′22″N 2°57′49″W / 50.8728°N 2.9635°W |
1991 | Neville Gabie | Bronze | ||||||
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Jack The Treacle Eater | Barwick 50°55′32″N 2°37′23″W / 50.9256°N 2.6231°W |
c. 1920s | Stone | South Somerset District Council | ||||||
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Fish Tower | Barwick 50°55′49″N 2°37′38″W / 50.9304°N 2.6273°W |
c. 1920s | South Somerset District Council | |||||||
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Cone | Barwick 50°55′26″N 2°37′56″W / 50.9238°N 2.6321°W |
c. 1920s | 75 feet (23 m) high | South Somerset District Council |
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Somerset West and Taunton[edit]
Somerset West and Taunton has borough status. The district covers a population of approximately 150,000[42] in an area of 459.5 square miles (1,190 km2).[43] The major settlements are the town of Taunton, where around 60,000 of the population live,[44] Minehead which has population 10,000.
Image | Title / subject | Location and coordinates |
Date | Artist / designer | Type | Material | Dimensions | Designation | Owner / administrator | Wikidata | Notes |
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Wellington Monument | Blackdown Hills 50°56′53″N 3°13′45″W / 50.9480°N 3.2293°W |
1854 | Thomas Lee | Triangular tower | Calcareous Grit | 80 feet (24 m) wide at the base and 53.34 metres (175.0 ft) high. | Grade II* listed building | Q7981443 | ||
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Queen Victoria Memorial Fountain | Vivary Park, Taunton 51°00′27″N 3°05′47″W / 51.0074°N 3.0964°W |
1907 | Q26565782 | Made by the Saracen Foundry of Glasgow.[45] | ||||||
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Queen Anne | Wellington Square, Minehead | 1791 | Francis Bird | Statue & surround | Carrara marble | Grade II* listed building | Q17555996 | Moved to current site in 1893.[46][47] | ||
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The Ancient Mariner | Watchet 51°10′56″N 3°19′45″W / 51.182084°N 3.329038°W |
2003 | Alan Herriot | Statue on pedestal | 7 feet (2.1 m) high | Watchet Market House Museum Society | [48] | |||
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The Hand That Holds The Map | Minehead 51°12′36″N 3°28′24″W / 51.2099°N 3.4733°W |
2001 | Owen Cunningham | Sculpture | Steel and welded galvanised iron | 3 metres (9.8 ft) high and 3 metres (9.8 ft) wide | Start of the South West Coast Path.[49] | |||
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John Short | Watchet 51°10′56″N 3°19′45″W / 51.182084°N 3.329038°W |
2008 | Alan Herriot | Statue | Bronze | Watchet Market House Museum Society | [50][51] | |||
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Memorial to Sir Thomas Dyke Acland | Selworthy 51°13′02″N 3°33′50″W / 51.2172°N 3.5639°W |
Wood | 7 metres (23 ft) high | |||||||
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Caratacus Stone | Exmoor 51°05′26″N 3°35′12″W / 51.0905°N 3.5867°W |
Possible 6th century | Monolith | Stone | Ancient monument | Q1035420 | ||||
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Fishing | Wimbleball Lake 51°04′00″N 3°28′00″W / 51.0666°N 3.4666°W |
Sculpture | Wicker |
References[edit]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
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