A striking new artwork has been unveiled at Sunderland’s newest country park, marking the spot where archaeologists discovered a historic timber waggonway.
The stone sculpture, created by renowned Wearside artist Colin Wilbourn, will be officially unveiled in Elba Park, the former site of the Lambton Colliery and Cokeworks, between the villages of Shiney Row, Burnmoor and Fencehouses, at 2pm on Monday 23 May.
| The 52-hectare park opened last year following a £25m remediation project led by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), which also paved the way for a development of eco-friendly housing by David Wilson Homes on an adjacent part of the site. |
Initial reclamation works in 1995 uncovered timbers from ten wooden railway tracks – the most extensive wooden railway remains to be discovered in this country. The tracks, believed to date from the late 18th or early 19th century, formed part of a complex of railway sidings used to carry coal from Bournmoor ‘D’ pit to the River Wear.
The waggonway, which would have been worked by horses, was found buried under 2 metres of compacted coal and coke dust. 150 metres of track, mostly cut roughly from oak branches, were fully excavated and then reburied under protective sheeting to preserve it for future generations.
The two-part sculpture, commissioned from Colin Wilbourn by the Homes and Communities Agency, is one of a series of artworks commemorating the park’s industrial and cultural heritage.
For more information please read the news release at Home & Communities Agency
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