De Lank commissioned for NHS Trust project

At the Clock View Hospital in Liverpool, the Mersey Care NHS Trust has undertaken an inspired project to bring together service users, local people and artists to create a series of public artworks in the hospital buildings and grounds. De Lank Quarry was commissioned for its expertise in granite and stonemasonry, to produce the stone pieces for the external landscaped area.

In August and September 2013, a team of artists delivered workshops in hospital wards and out-patient clinics, community centres and schools. Inspired by Liverpool’s historic docks they set the theme of Journeys. They worked with service users, local residents and school children to explore the idea of journeys that lead to wellbeing.

Artist David Mackie designed stone and bronze works informed directly by the creative ideas produced by the workshop participants, and based on the themes of boats and cargo. Reclaimed granite was sourced from a former Clyde dock with historic connections to Liverpool. The next challenge was to find stone masons who could work the reclaimed blocks into finished art pieces.

The stone masons at our De Lank Quarry in Cornwall are renowned for their skills in working with granite. They took the reclaimed granite blocks and set about cutting, shaping, forming and polishing them, after which the stones were inlaid with bronze reliefs. To reflect the historic architecture of Albert Dock, our stone masons created small keystones to interlock each stone with its neighbour.

Adrian Phillips, Director of Black Mountain Quarries, said: “It was a privilege to be involved with the Clock View Mental Health Hospital Public Art Commission. It illustrates how local art projects can bring communities together and make a huge difference to people’s health and well-being. There is an instinctive human connection to natural materials. The blocks could have been cast in concrete but would never have been as beautiful and tactile as natural granite stone. We’re proud to be supporting the use of reclaimed natural stone materials, and sustaining the craft of British stonemasonry.”

As well as our skilled stone cutting services, De Lank Quarry produces a wide range of pre-cut and custom products in our own silver/grey granite. Read more about the history and current operations of De Lank, and the famous landmarks it has been used to create.