Public Art Research Archive, Sheffield Hallam University
PUBLIC ART IN SHEFFIELD

Antonia Hockton (calligraphy)/ Richard Hurford (poet)
'The city shops ...', 1997
The Moor
lettering cut into stone
Location:
In the middle of The Moor, Sheffield S1, opposite Matilda Street. (A-Z p.4 5D)

Description:
The poem is carved on 10 paving stones, which form part of a circle of paving surrounding a circular patch of stone setts, with a single paving stone circle at its centre. These stones mark the junction of the Moor with Matilda Street. Similar patterns of paving record the appearance of the other side streets to The Moor, a major pedestrianised shopping street in the middle of Sheffield.
Each flag stone is a rhomboid in shape with its shorter sides slightly curved. The long straight sides are 1.18 m long, the letters are up to 13 cm high.

The full text reads:

"The city shops, stops to talk, walks on, lunches, munches, rushes, catches buses, smells a bargain, tells a story, whistles, hustles,
fusses over children, queues, loses track of time, browses, furnishes houses, tries shoes on, moves on.

RH"

Commission:
Moor Traders Association. % for art during a complete refurbishment of the street. A companion poem was installed nearby.

Comment:
The letters are spread over a wide area and, unless the light is strong or the sun low in the sky, they are not particularly easy to read from a single viewpoint.
More images of this piece


thumbnails sheffield city centre work in sheffield thumbnails outer sheffield
documents other locationslinks links
search homepage

This page maintained by Dave Ball
Slide Collection, Learning and IT Services
Last updated September 5, 2006