Monumental Milestone 8 Footprints - Little Lever, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 33.266 W 002° 22.459
30U E 541450 N 5934132
This milestone marking mile 8 along the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal was installed as part of an art project and has a variety of footprints imprinted on it.
Waymark Code: WMTM4D
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 12/08/2016
Views: 1
The milestone is at the top of an old set of locks on the former Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal. The canal opened in 1796 and served local mills and mines. Competition from railways and roads and led to a decline until the canal finally closed in 1962.
A preservation society is trying to re-open the canal for leisure purposes and renovation work has been carried out on some sections. As part of a housing development the builders donated money for an art work and Liam Curtin was commissioned.
"The Meccano Bridge came about as a result of the need for a footbridge to replace the old horse bridge at Nob End, Little Lever. The construction of a new bridge at this site was to allow The Canal Society to re-route the footpath and make it possible to restore this section of the Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal.
The original brief for artist Liam Curtin was to make an artwork for Little Lever. Discussions with local people, the Council, and the Canal Society led to the artwork being based at the canal and that artwork becoming a functional bridge.
There were many ideas, but the final proposal was for a bridge made from giant meccano. – meccano scaled up by ten times. Meccano is scaled down engineering; this proposal involves scaling meccano back up.
The milestone
As well as the new bridge it was decided to erect a new mile 8 milestone and set up a picnic area.
"The scheme, which has won a number of national awards, provided an opportunity for local artist Yolande Baxendale to shadow Liam and gain valuable knowledge, skills and experience. Bolton at Home commissioned Yolande to work with local community groups to design a new ‘Milestone 8’ for the canal side."
link
The milestone is approximately 6 feet high, made of concrete and has the various footprints imprinted. These include bird foot prints, paw prints, horese shoe prints and human boot prints.