Major New Art Work for Lee Quarry, Rossendale

Background

The Valley of Stone Heritage Landscape Partnership has been awarded over £500,000 from The Heritage Lottery Fund to conserve and celebrate Rossendale's heritage.  The Valley of Stone is a large scale project involving many aspects to help celebrate the history of stone quarrying in Rossendale.  The Valley of Stone aims to inspire the communities of Rossendale and preserve features within the quarries, recognising this important industry and the people who worked in it.  A number of projects will map oral histories, develop quarry and town trails, launch a virtual museum site, create new site specific art works and conserve key features of the quarrying industry.

Lee Quarry

Lee Quarry is a large site with many dramatic landscaped features.  A lot of archaeology, history and geology remain in the area.  The saw shed within the quarry is classed as the most significant feature on the Rossendale District local plan (1995) and is listed within the top ten of "heritage landscapes of distinctive local character".  The site has been quarried from the early nineteenth century and was closed in the 1980s and at present has open public access status.  Recently the site has undergone further improvements through the partner project 'The Adrenaline Gateway' funded through Lancashire CC, Rossendale BC and Rossendale Leisure Trust.  This has included the introduction of purpose built mountain bike circuits.

Our Project

The Steering Group and Mid Pennine Arts will be commissioning a permanent piece of public art work for the site.  The short listing process for the artist is currently underway and information about the short listed works will be available here soon.  Watch this space!

For further information contact Helen Callaghan on 01282 421986 or email her.