Cambridge Core - Magdalene Street, Cambridge, UK.
N 52° 12.645 E 000° 06.911
31U E 302907 N 5788401
Cambridge Core is a bronze sculpture located at the junction of Magdalene Street and Chesterton Lane, opposite St Giles Church, in Cambridge.
Waymark Code: WMQQ4G
Location: Eastern England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 03/17/2016
Views: 2
A bronze plaque attached to a brick wall, adjacent to the sculpture, tells us:
This sculpture by artist Michael Fairfax
represents layers of Cambridge history,
dating back to Roman times.
It was inspired by finds from an excavation
at this site by the
Cambridge Archaeological Unit in 2000.
The dig revealed a medieval coin hoard
- the Magdalene Hoard -
Now preserved in the Fitzwilliam Museum.
Remnants of a Roman Street, first millennium
burial sites, Saxon and Medieval buildings and
a nineteenth-century public house were also
found during the dig funded by
Anglian Water. To make the sculpture, oak tree
trunks from Wimpole Hall were carved, and then
cast locally in bronze. The wooden model is on
display at the Cambridge Folk Museum.
This Gateway feature is part of a public art
project, which includes Street-Side Bollards
and a Bronze Flower Path leading from
St John’s corner to this point.
It was sponsored by
Cambridgeshire County
and Cambridge City Councils.
Michael Fairfax's website tells us:
A 3.5 metre high bronze sculpture, relating to 3.5 metres below ground that the water board dug down and found an archeological treasure undergound. The archeologists came in and researched the ground and drew images depicting every half metre of time. These drawings I have interpreted onto the core. The Core becomes a history lesson of the site. 2001