Denny Town Page Editor's Blog

Joseph Ingleby The Treasure Trail

All sculptures in the Treasure Trail have come about through a process of community consultation, historical and environmental research and a process of projects, drawings and models. This has been in consultation and collaboration with the local community including five local primary schools, Denny High School, and groups such as Denny Heritage Group, Communities along the Carron, Community Green Initiative, Denny’s Men’s Shed and Writers Group.  In addition the public were invited to see and discuss the ideas for all the public art projects for the new town centre as they took shape, at the new Denny Library in January and May 2017.  The whole Treasure Trail was then fabricated by and in close collaboration with Specialised Castings and fabricators Blueton, in Denny itself.

The Denny Battleship
This cast iron ship on an oak base was made at Specialised Castings, the last of the once mighty iron foundry industry in Denny.  It symbolises these factories on its deck, and in its ship form refers to the many ship engines that were cast here, particularly at Cruikshanks on Glasgow Road, who did this for the famous WW2-commissioned ship HMS Vanguard.  The ship is also inspired in its shape, by the battleship icon from the game Monopoly, whose boards were, at one time, printed alongside other board games in Denny’s paper mills such as Carrongrove Mill.

Acorn Lamp
The Acorn Lamp symbolises the former mining industry of the area, as well as the core theme of nature running like the River Carron through Denny.  There is a proliferation of oak trees, particularly westward along the River Carron, so an acorn seemed appropriate as a representation of strength, , longevity, growth and regeneration.  This is combined with the form of a miner’s lamp to create the Acorn Lamp.  It is also a reference to both Victorian lamp stands and, in its octagonal segments, reflective of the distinctive former octagonal-shaped bank, which stood for 40-50 years on this site. The sculpture was made at Blueton in Denny.

Discovery Oak
Continuing the theme of nature and in particular oak, one of the most famous uses of the wood was from a tree in Herbertshire Park, Dunipace, used for the stern post on Captain Scott’s HMS Discovery, now in Dundee.  Here the stainless steel hull of Discovery sets sail with a half oak leaf for sails; at once sails, an oak leaf and the waves of a frozen sea; it all sits on an oak ‘stern post’ of its own.  The complete sculpture was made at Blueton in Denny.

Brick and Broch
Like the Denny Battleship, ‘Brick and ‘Broch’ are cast in iron at Specialised Castings in Denny. As such, they represent the cast iron crucibles of the once-mighty iron foundry industry.  Yet they also have clues to other elements of Denny’s past.  One is shaped like nearby Tappoch Broch, and the other like a brick kiln, another industry that had its home in Denny.  Between them, as if hatched from a cast iron shell, is a stainless steel dice referring to the paper mills that printed board games.  On it are the names of some of Denny’s old companies, from Herbertshire Brick Works to Coupers Foundry and Machan Engineering.

Bridge
‘Bridge’ is symbolic of the twin relationship of Denny and Dunipace and their connection over the River Carron.  Informed by Denny Bridge and earlier bridges such as at Stripeside, it takes the form of a bridge over the River Carron in the satin-finish stainless steel, that is reflected in the stainless mirror-plate steel below.  As a whole it also resembles a cleat, a typical product of Denny’s foundries and in its contrasting halves, the dual relationship of Dunipace and Denny as well as the River Carron itself.   Like all other oak or stainless steel work, this sculpture was entirely made at Blueton in Denny.

Chestnut Seeds
These sculptures, located off-site in Stirling Street and Broad Street,are under construction at Blueton in Denny and will go in place soon.  Inspired by the natural environment of Denny and Dunipace, and in particular the 450 year old Spanish Chestnut tree in Herbertshire Park, Dunipace, each will contain a viewable tableau comprising drawings from the project done by pupils of Denny’s local primary schools.