A sculpture created to mark the Olympic Games in Dorset celebrates the beautiful stone of the area. The Jurassic Stones sculpture is a collection of 16 prehistoric boulders
mounted on steel plinths on the approach to Weymouth and Portland. Each boulder weighs between two and nine tonnes. The sculpture is near the Jurassic roundabout in Littlemoor, Weymouth,
and is close to the venue for the Olympic and Paralympic sailing events.
The sculpture was designed by Devon-born artist Richard Harris who said: "I was inspired to work with the large
Bencliff Grit stones when they were revealed by the road excavations on
Southdown Ridge, to preserve them and to give them a new life after
millions of years under ground."
What do you think?
Posts
I like it... it's like a copse of trees. And reminds me of the central upside down tree at 'Tree Henge' which was revealed on the Norfolk coast.
ReplyDeleteI assume the stones had to be moved, so it's interesting to use them in a new way.
Would love to see them for real... another place to visit.
Celia
The stones were excavated as part of the roadmaking, and I suspect would have been crushed or tipped had they not been used here. The actual boulders are what geologists call 'concretions'. They come from a layer of sandstone known as the Bencliff Grit. Very soon after the layers of sand were layed down minerals started to concentrate around fragments of plant or shell within the sediment. Slowly these minerals started to fill up the spaces between the grains of sand around these fragments forming very hard 'lumps' within sandstone. Bencliff Grit is mostly a very soft sandstone that easily crumbles apart in your hands but contained within the layers of soft sandstone are these very hard concretions of various shapes and sizes.
DeleteAs you say, another place to visit!