This beautiful sculpture, made of steel wire, by Andy Scott (how I love his work!), was unveiled in Greenock in February 2011. It stands 3.5 metres high and is a memorial to a much loved cart horse, which unfortunately drowned in 1889 in the old Albert Harbour.
The sight of the horse’s death and the distraught, weeping owner, who was clinging on to the neck of the dead animal on the quayside, was witnessed by a long queue of people waiting to emigrate to America on a steamship.
This lovely statue was installed by Riverside Inverclyde as part of the redevelopment of the whole area and can be seen at the piazza at the eastern end of Cathcart Street, at the junction with Dalrymple St.
To see more of Andy Scott's wonderful sculptures, please click here
17 comments:
Poor Ginger!
Liz @ Shortbread & Ginger
Ginger is TRANSPARENT!!! Did not realize that until I saw your closeup photos. Metal? Lovely sculpture!! Love seeing Scotland through your eyes, Jane!! Wish I could be there with you to see it all firsthand. Love what you write!!
Thank you both for your welcome comments!!
That's a nice Horse sculpture! I just wonder what it's made of?
Very nice horse sculpture! I'm glad that you've personally got a chance to took a photo of this fabulous work of art. :)
Thank you Jane for sharing the beauty of Scotland :)I will come back again to see more pictures from Scotland.
Love,
Joson George
Thank you all so much :-)
Brilliant as usual Jane...sorry been distracted with too much these least couple of years!! Br, Denis.
Wonderful Jane
Wow.The details are just intricate. You are very lucky to see this sculpture up close. A sight worth looking at. And the story behind it is touching. Seeing the sculpture (photo) and knowing the story just evokes different emotions.
http://www.designideasandprinciples.blogspot.com/
Thank you very much Denis and Lasertek, much appreciated!!
Hi Denis, tried to post the below on your blog but it's only set for team members (hope you see it here):
Wonderful photos Denis, sorry I haven't been around lately. Thanks for your welcome comment by the way. It's been a very busy year; first renting in Fairlie, then buying a place on the outskirts of Kilmarnock. Still doing it up and busy with many other things too. Just love being in Scotland again, still hasn't really sunk in! Hope you and yours are well and I'll take this opportunity to wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New year too! Best wishes, Jane
Can someone shed some light on where the story of the horse was recorded.Having resided in the local area and having worked in the ship yards I have never heard of this until the sculpture was erected.Thanks
All I an find is this: "Harbour Mishap at Greenock. Yesterday morning, while a horse and cart were conveying a thousand-weight of sugar on the quay at Albert Harbour, one of the cartwheels caught a mooring stanchion, which caused the laden conveyance and its draft animal to fall over into the water. The poor creature made desperate efforts to free itself and was successful in casting off all the harness except the collar, which, being attached to the shafts of the sunken cart, held its head under water until it was drowned. The dead animal and the cart were raised during the forenoon by the Greenock harbour diver."
Glasgow Caledonian, October 23, 1889
I'm thinking that Glasgow Caledonian might be a newspaper of the university, but I'm not sure.
By the way, I got the other information that I put on my blog from reported hearsay found on the web (easily found by searching for Ginger the Horse and Greenock).
The Ginger story is basically made up. Retro fitted because of criticism that RI had bought a sculpture that was beautiful, yes, but they were being criticised for it having no relevance to Greenock (Port Glasgow has the ships bow in front of the Municipal Buildings). I love the sculpture but with an interest in our genuinely rich local history, to see this nonsense gaining traction is just annoying.
Glasgow Caledonian University didn't exist in 1889. Or 1989. Established 1993
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