Flamborough Heritage Trail
17 August 2005
17 August 2005
We turned up at Flamborough by accident really, after originally going to Filey up the coast. Filey was far too crowded and so we fled to Flamborough Head. We discovered some fine sculpture here, on the heritage trail. We visited on 17 August 2005. For background information, see the foot of the page.
We approached the beach at South Landing, where the narrow road you walk down suddenly stops, and there's the big blue stretch of water in front of you, and a great icy gale blowing in off the North Sea. A few brave souls were actually sitting on the beach in very few clothes, demonstrating true Yorkshire grit. I was so busy standing there breathing in proper sea air that I forgot to get out my camera.
After admiring the view of the sea, and the fortitude of the sunbathers, we decided to have a walk up some steps on to the cliff path. The strenuous ascent warmed us up. This view is from the top of the cliff, looking north.
My
camera has developed an intermittent fault, and it was having one of its
periodic malfunctions at this point, just when I noticed this fine construction
and wanted to capture the image. It's not the best photo I've ever taken,
as I was struggling with not being able to adjust the camera's settings,
but I think you get some idea. We weren't expecting anything except the
usual clifftop path, but found this interesting formation of crossed pieces
of metal, with a bench behind it.
Later research revealed that it's the Flamborough Longsword Dance Lock.
But I'm none the wiser, as yet, as to its significance.
Thanks to Sue from Hull - whose surname is one of those included on the heritage trail benches (see below). Sue emailed me with more information: 'The Flamborough longsword dance is a living tradition going back hundreds of years. The team traditionally dance on Boxing Day starting about 1pm and dance at all the pubs in Flamborough finishing in Dog And Duck Square.' Here's a YouTube clip of the Flamborough Longsword Dancers in Dog And Duck Square. That sculpture above makes sense now.
It became clear that we were on some kind of sculpture trail. It was very
exciting to find these fascinating structures on the cliff top paths.
We didn't find out what this trail was until we returned home and I looked
it up on the net, and discovered that it's the South Landing Heritage Trail.
It's rather nice to chance upon something like this. I love sculpture trails,
and the way it's becoming more common to place works of art alongside public
rights of way. We admire the landscape created by Mother Nature, but it's
also good to see what fabulous things people can make.
The photos left show details from the 'Lighthouse Sculpture', shown above. The sculpture trail is the result of work by local young people, via the 'Young Roots' programme.
'Young Roots' helps young people to explore and celebrate the heritage of their own local area, with financial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
These
carved details are from the wooden totem pole. The carving on the two sculptures shows features of the coastal landscape in this area.
In a report on the project on the Flamborough website, one of
the young people involved in the project writes:
'I loved the carving, I learnt how to carve wood and stone . . . they are totally different, with wood it's more forgiving than with stone, when you hit stone too hard bits can fall off that you don't want to, whereas, wood if you hit it to hard you just take the chisel out and start again.' - Eloise Mummery and Flamborough Young Roots Group, from the website Flamborough UK.
The
sea and coastline was alongside us for the first part of the walk, as we
admired the carvings on the lighthouse sculpture. As it's August, the grasses
have formed seedheads now and move constantly in that bracing breeze coming
in from the North sea.
The path bears inland after a short distance, so we left the sea behind,
but not the sculptures, which are carefully positioned throughout this circular
trail.
At various points on the walk are these brilliant benches, with weathered metal turning that wonderful shade that always makes me think of the Angel of the North. I've been thinking, looking through these photos, how the sculptures placed in public spaces have to suggest something personally relevant to the community, otherwise, it seems, they just get vandalised. These benches are about as 'personal' as it gets, as they have names of families from the local community cut into the cross pieces. Inspired.
Distance: 1 mile approx
Route: The 'official' trail is shown on the Flamborough
Community Website. (We didn't find this until we returned home, and
realised we'd gone round the other way, as described here, and also missed
a couple of the sculptures near the South Landing bay.)
The Flamborough Community Website - information
on the Young Roots Heritage Trail project
Information
on the Young Roots programme, from the Heritage Lottery Fund