Another Place

The iron men on Crosby Beach

Three kilometres of coastline have been transformed into an unforgettable work of art by Antony Gormley, comprising 100 cast-iron, life-size figures of men, some on the beach, others almost a kilometre out to sea.

Every time you visit, the sculptures look different: they are affected by the tide, the light, the wind, and the weather. Over time, they have changed colour and texture: some are reddened by rust, others are stained with emerald-green seaweed or encrusted with barnacles. Many are partially buried in drifts of sand; at high tide those furthest from the shore become gradually submerged so that they stand up to their necks in water. Each of them faces away from land: whether standing in calm waters or surrounded by crashing breakers, they are stock still, gazing far out to sea.

Each figure is taken from a cast of Gormley’s body, but they are not self-portraits or statues in the conventional sense, and they are not elevated on pedestals. They are nameless and empty, waiting for the thoughts and feelings of their viewers; sometimes they look lonely and vulnerable, sometimes steadfast; they are migrants thinking of their homeland, or emigrants dreaming of a new world; they are the spirits of those lost at sea, or the exploited cockle-pickers of Morecambe Bay; they are staring at the offshore wind farm or contemplating our place in the cosmos.

Intended as a temporary installation, they were shown in Germany, Norway, and Belgium before coming to Crosby, where they have found a permanent home. People treat them with affection, dressing them in hats, T-shirts, and sunglasses. Local students of fashion design even put them in period costume. Gormley is delighted by the variety of responses, but even he might have been surprised at the biologists of Liverpool University who surveyed them for a research project about the spread of invasive species of barnacles.

Address Crosby Beach L23 | Getting there 6-minute walk from Hall Road station or Blundellsands & Crosby station; 15-minute walk from Waterloo station. Car parks at Hall Road L23 8SY, Crosby Leisure Centre L23 6SX, and Crosby Marine Lake L22 1RR. | Tip Between the Marine Lake and Waterloo station, the pretty seafront houses on Beach Lawn, Adelaide Terrace, Marine Crescent, and Marine Terrace have interesting stucco façades and cast-iron verandas.