The Land of Oak and Iron is a suite of signage that has been installed across the area of the Derwent Valley in the north east of England.
This beautiful steep sided valley has an abundance of natural woodland, rare and iconic wildlife. However, the natural beauty that you can see today was not always as it appears. Not so long ago the area once hosted a world-leading iron and steel industry in various forms from the 1690s up until the 1980s; in the early 18th Century it was the heart of British sword making and was home to the great industrialist Ambrose Crowley. Such industry attracted wealth and culture to the area, including Mary Eleanor Bowes, known as the ‘Unhappy Countess’ living at Gibside Hall, the artist Thomas Bewick, the poet Tommy Armstrong and is famed for the local traditional rapper dancing across the globe. For more information see: www.landofoakandiron.org.uk
We have spent the last two years researching and developing panels around the many local stories that abound within this colourful, post-industrial area.
We also commissioned a local artist to create a linocuts for each location and these have been presented onto sustainable interpretation panels.
The fabrication was done using local workshops and we supervised all aspects of this including the carpentry of the supporting oak and installation of each of the interpretive installations across the area.
