Cannon balls - Andrew Burton

On the Castle Gate Island there is a complete sculptural combination of agricultural, military and industrial references. The seven part work by artist, Andrew Burton, is a tribute to the colourful life of Dud Dudley, the inventor, soldier and entrepreneur who was the natural son of the Earl of Dudley.

Heraldic Lion

The giant sculptural symbols can also seen as reminiscent of life generally in mediaeval and pre Civil War Dudley. The aristocratic families of Dudley are represented by a Heraldic Lion in permanently rusty coloured 'Corten' Steel - the same material used for the 'Angel of the North' in Tyne.

Cannon and Cannon Balls

The mediaeval style bronze Cannon is wittily directed towards the Castle (one of the cast concrete cannon balls, dubbed "scotch eggs" by one local wit, appears to have been "fired" across the road!).

Bronze Crucible, Mediaeval Plough, Stone walls

The Plough, again of Corten steel, refers to mediaeval agriculture and the fact that many of the plots in the nearby town still follow the old strip farming pattern. A vast bronze Crucible relates to the nearby 'Black Country Museum'. The enigmatic stone walls of GRC (glass fibre reinforced cement) provide a counterfoil to the architecture of the Castle and their curved shapes and pale colouring also echo the 1930s work of modernists Tecton at the Zoo.

Dudley's Millennium Sculpture Trail full picture gallery