River runs through him... once again!
FOR more than 10 years, a sculpture of the River Tyne god has been left high and dry on the outside wall of Newcastle Civic Centre.
The 2.5 metre bronze figure, with head bowed and hair flowing, was originally designed to be bathed in a continuous stream of water which trickled from its raised right arm.
It was commissioned for the opening of the Civic Centre in 1968 and is grade two-star listed. But the tap was turned off because of corroded pipework, and pumps which needed attention, which affecter the water pressure, and also concerns about water hygiene, with most of the supply being recirculated around the figure.
“There would have been quite a lot of investment and it wasn’t a priority,” said Stuart Turnbull, city council service manager – architecture and building design. But now the work has been carried out and a water hygiene unit installed as part of the refurbishment of the listed Civic Centre, and the sculpture – suspended on the wall five metres above the ground – is back in its element.
The water is currently running from 7am till 7pm Monday to Sunday and operating time will be reviewed for the autumn and winter priod.
Similar problems also meant that the water features around the Five Swans sculpture in the Civic Centre courtyard were switched off and consideration is being given to also restoring the flow.
The idea for the sculpture by David Wynne, originated from eight rivers represented on the outside of Somerset House in London in 1786 – the Thames, Mersey, Humber, Tweed, Medway, Dee, Tyne and Severn.
The carved stone head of the River Tyne was depicted surmounted by a basket of coal and fish, with a beard in three plaits. A carved wooden version of the London sculpture was made by Robert Sadler Scott, for the 19th century frontage of Moses Richardson’s shop in Grey Street, Newcastle.
The five bronze swans, also by David Wynne, were installed in 1968. Each is two metres long and are positioned as if they were taking off.