The ‘making’ stage of the project is now complete. Flock is now installed in the garden of the Alfred Crossley Memorial Institute.
It is open to the public 24 hours a day. If you want to visit, you can enter the front gate of the village hall and nip round to the right of the building. Tucked away you will find the installation. Thanks again to everyone who took part – do come and visit to see how the piece is being weathered and worn, or keep checking up on this blog.
The tiny village that you see today only hints at the bustling brickworkers’ community that was in Commondale 100 years ago.
There was once a village shop, post office, and another church. There was also a school, which was so full that some of the local children had to walk to nearby Castleton for school. These buildings are all still standing but are all now converted to houses.
Of all the local businesses and amenities serving the community, only the small red brick church perched on the hill, local pub, the Cleveland Inn, and of course the village hall – the Albert Crossley Memorial Centre – remain.
Older residents describe how there were many more rows of terraced houses built along the hillside, where now there’s fields. As one resident said, nature is taking Commondale back.
This is mirrored in our piece, Flock, where the recent heavy rains have been working their powers on the clay. The grass and bracken surrounding the sheep sculptures has shot up; and the rain has softened the clay, encouraging it back to its original form, sludging back into the earth.
