Goddess of the North – naked goddess carved into England

Plans have been approved to allow a 400 metre long naked, green goddess to be built from over two million tonnes of earth and tower 112ft into the sky in Shotton.

The Telegraph reports on how the project was first vetoed by Northumberland County Council in 2006 after 2,500 locals objected to the proposals.

The proposals combine the giant naked goddess with a new open-cast mine. The mine will rip 3.4 million tonnes of coal, two million tonnes of shale and three quarters of a million tonnes of fireclay from Northumberland over an eight year period.

The goddess, Northumberlandia, will recline over the mine and form the centre piece of a new public park at the site.

The mine and giant sculpture are being proposed by The Banks Group. Mark Dowdall, environment and community directory, at Banks Group told the Telegraph; Our duel aims with Northumberlandia were to create an outstanding artistic landmark which stands alongside the region’s other main tourist attractions and to provide high quality leisure facilities for the local community, and we believe this final design will succeed on both counts.

“Northumberlandia has already garnered interest and responses from people right around the world, and we’re very excited to now be unveiling the project’s final form.

“It will take around 20 minutes just to walk all the way around her, and the design has been enhanced with more paths to allow visitors to the park to easily ascend the figure.

“As well as the artwork itself, the surrounding landform park will offer important nature conservation and public health benefits, giving both local people and visitors an ideal place to exercise, picnic and enjoy themselves.

“This artwork could not exist without the adjacent mining operation, and the sculpture will be part of the long-term local legacy that we always wanted the Shotton scheme to leave.”

In Pure Spirit

Some of the locals have objected to the project because they do not like that the goddess is naked. What do you think?

Is this a blatant attempt to appeal to environmentalists in order to reduce attention on the open-cast mine or do you feel that The Banks Group is really trying to give to the community as well as take from it?

Is the nakedness wrong or perhaps the phrase ‘goddess’ is unwise?