The tower of tears...
Derby mill’s poignant poppy tribute
CASCADING from the high turret of an old mill, poppies provide a vivid reminder of the British lives lost in the First World War.
Weeping Window is a poignant art installation portraying the sacrifice made by a single city between 1914 and 1918.
The sculpture, tumbling from the Derby Silk Mill, consists of several thousand handmade ceramic poppies.
These were originally seen three years ago, pouring from a window at the Tower of London as the installation Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red.
Those 888,246 flowers represented the death of a British serviceman or women.
Many poppies from the Tower of London were sold off for £25 each – and now some of the remainder are being used for a touring display around Britain with the original artist Paul Cummins, who hails from Chesterfield.
He finds it “surreal” but is proud to see his creation back in his home county.
Paul came up with the idea in 2012 and used 400 people in the city to create 410,000-plus handmade poppies.
The remaining poppies for the Tower of London display were made elsewhere but sent to Derby to be glazed by his team.
Paul said: “It’s great to have the poppies in Derby and on such a brilliant building as the Silk Mill. It looks fantastic, especially at night.”
During the First World War, Derby Silk Mill had two businesses, one grinding corn and the other making medical supplies, both integral to the war effort.