top of page

Seven Stones Before The Old Man

Keir Smith 1982

Rob - seven stones before the old man.jp

Photograph by Robzet

The Old Man of Coniston sits a few miles west of Grizedale, a fearsome fell looming over its village and stretching to 2,634 feet above sea level. In 1982 Keir Smith built a tribute to it; seven 'stones' (made from wood) and wooden stumps cut to various lengths in order to mimic the shape of the Old Man on the distant skyline. I have vague memories of peering through the trees to see the mountain when I was very small, but in the nineties the trees went and the Old Man could be clearly seen, as shown in the lovely photo above. Smith described the sculpture and its relationship with the peak in 'A Sense Of Place':

"The sculpture overlooks the Grizedale valley. The highest local peak, the Old Man of Coniston, is seen in the distance. The work is in two parts, a pallisade of larch logs cut to the shape of the mountain, and in front of this, a row of seven 'rocks' carved from wood. One rock, the largest, contains a deep reservoir filled with metal powder. This 'quarry stone' refers to the metal workings in Coppermines Valley which leads to the summit of the Old Man. The remaining rocks have implement shapes cut into their top surfaces. On the right of the quarry stone, axe, nail and sickle, on the left, spear, sword and arrow. These shapes are ghosts of potential within the metal ore. They were suggested by Bronze Age flat moulds from the British Museum.

Seven Stones Before The Old Man celebrates the technology needed to carve into a mountain to extract ore, to smelt that ore and shape metal into tools."

Also by this artist:

The Realm Of Taurus 1979

Last Rays Of An English Rose 2009

A Flower In Flower 2014

bottom of page