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More Gormley Men

I don’t know exactly how many Antony Gormley statues there are in total in the Water of Leith, though I have now seen at least four.

The latest two I photographed last Saturday.

This one is in the water by St Mark’s Park and was taken from the footbridge you can see in the next one.

Gormley man

It’s quite a nice footbridge. Pity about the plastic on the bank. They’re doing some shoring up work I think.
Gormley man's back

The last is right at the end of the Water of Leith. The pier is hard by Ocean Terminal shopping centre. The Royal Yacht Britannia is 90o to the left of where I took the photo from.

Gormley man on pier

More Edinburgh

These photos were taken about a month or so ago.

This is a panorama of Edinburgh from the Botanic Gardens with Arthur’s Seat prominent towards the left and the Castle to the right.

Edinburgh panorama

This heron was in the Water of Leith as we walked back from the Botanics. It may or may not be the same one we have seen before.

Heron in Water of Leith

This is one of Antony Gormley‘s sculptures. It is embedded into the tarmac in the middle of the pedestrian entrance from Belford Road into the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

Gormley man at Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

Country Tracks?

I was watching Country Tracks on BBC 1 this morning – well it was on and I was in the same room.

They were doing what might as well have been an episode of Coast; from Liverpool to Morecambe – with a diversion up the Manchester Ship Canal – taking in along the way Antony Gormley‘s statues on Crosby Beach, and Blackpool.

A lot of the programme consisted of clips shown on previous BBC shows. The introduction to Morecambe was an extract from a 2006 edition of Coast which I remember well as it alerted me to the refurbishment of the Midland Hotel which I looked at last year and Big Rab has photographed recently.

The show is on the BBC iPlayer. For how long I don’t know. (The content wasn’t working when I tried though. The relevant bit will be towards the end.) For a programme called Country Tracks it spent a lot of time in cities and towns this week.

The presenter got to stay the night in the hotel and we saw several shots of the inside and the Eric Gill artworks.

By a curious coincidence yesterday’s Guardian Review (I only get round to reading that bit on a Sunday) had an article about another English sea-side Art Deco extravagance, Marine Court, St Leonards, whose structure is modelled on the liner RMS Queen Mary. Marine Court opened just in time to be made a bit of a white elephant by the Second World War. It’s quite stunning.

Stockbridge, Edinburgh

Last week the good lady and I took another stroll along the Water of Leith.

No herons this time, and we didn’t tarry by Dean Village, the Dene Bridge nor St Bernards Well but since the last time we were there, there have been a few additions to the water in the shape of Antony Gormley sculptures. This is the one nearest Stockbridge.

Stockbridge Gormley Man

Gormley is most famous for the Angel Of The North but has also placed figures on Crosby Beach near Liverpool and on roofs in New York and London.

The Water of Leith seems an appropriate location for these new emplacements as it flows past the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, albeit out of sight in a valley.

We had a look around Stockbridge, the good lady loading up on books from the charity shops and a great second-hand book shop that we hadn’t gone into before.

I liked the look of this one as the facade is Decoish:-

Former bank?

I suspect the projecting frontage may have started life as a bank.

Bank detail

There is some nice detailing on the door surround too.

Bank door

On its left as you look at it in the photo stands the former Woolworths shop (which wasn’t ever Art Deco) and is now a Scotmid.

Former Woolies, Stockbridge

On the way back I photographed the bridge which carries Belford Road over the river.

Old bridge

I’ve no idea whether this is one of Thomas Telford’s (as the Dene Bridge is) but it looks of an age to me.

This is the detail up on the right in close up:-

Detail on old bridge

I believe it depicts the Arms of Edinburgh.

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