Art and app project will tell the tales of resort’s fishing heritage

SCULPTURES AND an app are to feature on a new heritage trail which will tell the story of Whitby’s fishing industry.

Scarborough Borough Council has commissioned sculptor Emma Stothard to create seven wireframe models for a project that will also see visitors use a companion app at specific sites to find out about the artworks and their links to the town’s history.

The scheme was granted planning permission last year and now the council has signed off on the budget for the project and licence agreements with North Yorkshire County Council to place sculptures on its land.

The cost of the project is £55,000, with the majority of money coming from the Coastal Revival Fund, administered through the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government. The hope is that the trail will guide visitors to areas of the town that they might otherwise miss.

A sculpture will be placed at each of the following locations: the west side of the Swing Bridge, the bottom of Flowergate; in front of Church House; the junction of John Street and Skinner Street; the Old Wishing Well, grass at Whitby Pavilion; and the Khyber Pass Band Stand.

Mrs Stothard, inset, will create seven sculptures to tell the story of the fishing industry.

These will include a fisherwife, a man mending a net, a woman knitting a gansey, photographer and artist Frank Meadow Sutcliffe, a crow’s nest with a lookout,

Dora Walker – the only woman to hold a skipper’s licence in the North Sea during World War One, and a “herring lassie” – a woman who guts herrings.

A report prepared for the council noted: “The Walk With Heritage Project presents the Council with a unique opportunity to contribute to the regeneration of the West Side of Whitby while at the same time celebrating and showcasing the fishing heritage and history of the town. “Failure to deliver the project could result in reputational damage and a loss of investment for the council as well as providing a missed opportunity to regenerate a much-needed area of the town.”