I've seen the snail sculpture before. It's one of my favourite sculptures, so just had to make a return visit.
The sculpture is situated next to a housing estate where an industrial factory once was, in the 1990s. The factory was demolished and replaced with a housing development.
Liz Lemon, is the artist. Her inspiration for the artwork, is that the area is known for both goniatite and gastropod fossils. She also wanted to pay tribute to the land’s industrial past. The factory built turbines for many of the world’s large hydroelectric dams. The sculpture is about 25 feet high and made from parts of stainless steel sheets. She designed the sculpture in metal to reflect the factory’s quality engineering.
Manthorpe Engineering completed the construction. Some of the factory worker's names are etched on the base of the sculpture. The artwork has rows of portholes with fiber optic lights, that are switched on at night.
It was strange seeing it next to a housing estate but it seemed to work. I'd love to step out of my door in a morning and see a giant mollusc!
