Guide to city’s sculpture
Tucked away in south Norwich are public sculptures few are aware of. Now a trail has been put together to act as a guide.
In the grounds of the former Norfolk and Norwich hospital on Newmarket Road stands a sculpture called Charity. The statue comes from a horses’ drinking fountain dating back to 1876. The fountain used to stand on the junction of Newmarket and Ipswich Roads and was erected by Sir John Boileu in memory of his wife. The fountain was dismantled in 1965 and the statue was moved in front of a pond, which is now on the development by Charles Church. Sir John was a generous benefactor of the N&N hospital.
This statue is included in a new trail around Norwich that takes around an hour and half on foot. It was put together by the Recording Archive for Public Sculpture in Norfolk and Suffolk (RACNS) and is available from the Tourist Information Office or can be downloaded from their website.
Richard Cocke, from RACNS said: “We found when visiting cities we didn’t know, where they had published a trail, it was very helpful and told us a lot of detail about the sculpture in a city. We want to help people pick out the most significant sculptures in Norwich. It’s one of 11 different trails we’ve put together in Norfolk and Suffolk.”
The website archive has over 800 entries. The trails illustrate the region’s outstanding sculpture, as well as including many little known works. A grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund allowed the site to create a digital database of public monuments and sculpture.
Further examples in the south of the city include the large mural of St Stephen’s Gates on the Coachmakers Arms on Newmarket Road, Kemps Men in Chapelfield Gardens and a number of works on the campus at the University of East Anglia.
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