Godfrey Sykes Memorial Column - Sheffield, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 22.949 W 001° 29.462
30U E 600366 N 5915880
Hugh Gamble's 'Monument to Godfrey Sykes', was completed in 1871 and paid for by donations from the public. The monument was erected in Western Park, Sheffield, in 1875, and is made from terracotta, bronze and stone.
Waymark Code: WMZZKB
Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/28/2019
Views: 1
The column stands in Weston Park and consists of an elaborately decorated Corinthian column topped with bronze urn. It has a square square pedestal with 4 bronze relief panels, one of them a portrait and two have information about the column. A nearby information board has details about the column and Godfrey Sykes.
Terracotta and Royalty
Godfrey Sykes (1824-1866) was one of Sheffield's famous craftsmen. He was apprenticed to a Sheffield engraver and trained in decorative metal work techniques. He was a talented designer and won many awards gaining a national reputation for his work.
In 1861 he moved to London where he supervised the decorative design of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert took a great interest in the new museum and visited Sykes at the museum and at his home.
The monument is by James Gamble, one of Sykes' assistants who worked with him in London. The column is made from carved terracotta. The design is based on some of Sykes' own designs and depicts youth, maturity and old age. It was erected in the park in 1875.
Sykes died aged 41, of Bright's Disease (acute kidney failure). He is buried in Brompton cemetery in London beneath a stone designed by Gamble.
The terracotta gateways
Terracotta is Italian for 'baked earth' and is made from natural clay. It was used to make both the original entrances in the park from Winter Street and Western Bank. Some of Sykes designs for the Victoria and Albert Museum have also been used to form the pillars of the South East gateway next to the university.
The Winter Street gateway and lodge were removed in 1952 in order to construct the University Library.
Sykes' work at the V&A
In 1860 Sykes originally went to work in London on the Horticultural Society's new building and then later on the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum).
The enamelled metalwork he designed for the refreshment rooms was restored c 1900. He specialised in terracotta for external work but he also designed stained glass, tiles, pottery and mosaics.
The relief panels on the base of the column.
THIS MONUMENT WAS
ERECTED IN THE YEAR
1871 BY THE INHABIT
ANTS OF SHEFFIELD
IN MEMORY OF GODFREY
SYKES THE COLUMN
PLACED UPON THIS
PEDESTAL IS HIS
WORK
GODFREY SYKES BORN
AT MALTON IN THE
YEAR 1824 A PUPIL AND
AFTERWARDS MASTER
IN THE SCHOOL OF ART
OF THIS TOWN. HE WAS
CALLED TO LONDON IN
THE YEAR 1859 to SUPER
INTEND THE DECORA-
-TION OF THE SOUTH
KENSINGTON MUSEUM
AND DIED THERE 1866