'Tinners Hounds' the Welly-Boot Mine Dog's .
These are some amazing Bronze Sculptures found in the town centre of Redruth in Cornwall. The region is known worldwide for its mining heritage and these Welly dogs are celebrating those bye gone days! The sculptures were made by Cornish artist 'David Kemp' and called the Tinners Hounds. They were made from the discarded boots of the workers from 'Geevor Mine' which closed in 1991 and ended thousands of years of tin mining in the area.
The artist recovered all the workers wellies from the site and turned them into rubber sculptures called 'the hounds of Geevor'. Here is a quote by the artist;
“ Relics of a vast subterranean workforce that rarely saw the light of day, each of these Hounds fed up to three & a half families(seven boots per dog).Released from their underground labours, they now wander the clifftops, looking for a proper job ”
Redruth was once the capital of Cornish tin mining, built from the miners labours. So the council commissioned these sculptures for the town centre to celebrate local history.
Fittingly they were cast in Bronze, an alloy of Tin & Copper which were the valuable metals that the owners of the boots were excavating from deep inside the earth!
those are some neat sculptures owen!
pew pew
Beautiful dogs. Sad story. Did the miner's eventually find other work?
Wow some people are so creative. To see old boots and think I’m going to make dogs out of those.
I like them. It is a sad story but I'm glad the miners efforts were recognised and these sculptures made.
Im thinking I may attempt a "welly dog" and stick it in my veg patch at the bottom of the garden.
Thats a great idea they would look great with flowers growing out of them :)
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Super photos, and quite a unique bit of history as well - it's very clever when artists can take something mundane like old miners boots and create something new for people to talk about and remember the past. Great share and if you wish use the brits tag and check through it to find posts by other UK users of Steemit.
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