Object Details

The Serpolet Sculpture

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General Information
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Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright for Photograph:

Creative Commons

Location

Street:De La Warr Parade
Town:Bexhill on Sea
Parish:Bexhill on Sea
Council:Rother District Council
County:East Sussex
Postcode:TN40
Location on Google Map
Object setting:Road or Wayside
Access is:Public
Location note:Opposite the Sackville Hotel and Middlesex Road
In the AZ book:East Sussex
Page:145
Grid reference:L2
The A-Z books used are A-Z East Sussex and A-Z West Sussex (Editions 1A 2005). Geographers' A-Z Map Company Ltd. Sevenoaks.

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Makers

Name : Peter Fairhurst
     Role:Designer
Company/Group :Anvil Tubesmiths, Sedlescombe
     Role:Metal worker

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General Information

Commissioned by: Rother District Council
Unveiling date:26/10/2002
Work is:Extant
Owner custodian:Rother District Council
Object listing:Not listed
Description:A tubular steel structure representing skeletally the 'Easter Egg' car designed and made by Leon Serpolet. The sculpture has elliptical wheels. Embedded by steel poles into a tarmac base set on a grassed area.
Inscription:Metal plaque affixed to black granite at the base of the sculpture, south side:

1902 - BEXHILL on SEA - 2002
THE BIRTHPLACE OF BRITISH MOTOR RACING
THIS IMPRESSION OF M. SERPOLET'S
'EASTER EGG' RECORD BREAKING CAR
WAS UNVEILED, AS PART OF
BEXHILL'S CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS
BY
COUNCILLOR PETER FAIRHURST
TOWN MAYOR
26th OCTOBER 2002

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Classification

Categories:Free Standing, Commemorative
Object type1:Sculpture
Subject type1:Figurative

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Object Parts

Part 1:Whole sculpture
     Material:Shot-blasted stainless steel
     Height (cm):160
     Width (cm):133
     Depth (cm):294

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Object Condition

Overall condition:Good
Risk assessment:No known risk
Condition 1 of type:Surface
     Condition 1: Corrosion, deterioration
     Condition 2: Bird guano
     More details:There is some rusting on all surfaces due to general weather wearing
Condition 2 of type:Vandalism
     Condition 1: Surface damage
     More details:A couple of what appear to be knife marks on the underside of the chasis.
Date of on-site inspection:28/09/2007

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History

History:'Breezy Bexhill turned an unveiling ceremony into something rather different on Saturday morning.
Town Mayor Cllr Peter Fairhurst's skeletal sculpture on De La Warr Parade depicting the car which won Britain's first international motorsport meeting on the spot should have been under wraps as the public gathered. But despite bright sunshine, a strong souwester made it impossible to keep any form of sheeting over the shot-blasted stainless steel impression of the artist-mayor's design. But tribute was paid to M. Leon Serpollet and the ''Easter Egg'' - the steam car of his own manufacture on which the French competitor won the Bexhill Motor Trials of 1902. Led by Old Town Preservation Society chairman Michael Kent on his 1899 Peugeot, a convoy of cars of the era motored the 1902 race route from Galley Hill to the Sackville. The Town Mayor rode aboard Bexhill's reproduction Serpollet, arriving before the knot of bystanders and guests huddling from the wind in a swirl of steam and with Bexhill Regeneration Partnership chairman Malcolm Mitcheson at the wheel giving a joyous hoot on the Serpollet's train-like whistle. Youngsters of the Blue Stars marching band struck up a fresh number in honour of an occasion seen as marking the start of the landscaping and improvement of the seafront as part of town regeneration. Appropriately, the sculpture is entirely a ''Made in Rother'' effort. The tubular sculpture is intended to give an ''impression'' of the Serpollet, complete with elliptical wheels wheels depicting the distortion characteristic of early photographs of speeding cars. The Mayor explained: ''I did a drawing then made a model. I gave the drawing and the model to Anvil Tubesmiths of Sedlescombe and they produced this. I think they have done a terrific job.'' The Serpollet, first of a planned series of sculptures to adorn the parades, has cost just £2,500. In a speech, the Town Mayor thanked the regeneration partnership's town centre and tourism action group for backing the project. With a whoosh, a rocket soared into the air and 40 helium-filled balloons executed a horizontal getaway from under the Serpollet over the heads of the crowd and out across a storm-tossed Channel. Guests at the ceremony included town MP Gregory Barker, Rother chairman Cllr Ron Parren and his wife and the leader of Rother, Cllr Graham Gubby. '
(Bexhill Observer)

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References

Source 1 :
     Title:Bexhill Observer
     Type:Newspaper


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Photographs





Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright: Creative Commons




Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright: Creative Commons




Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright: Creative Commons




Author: Anthony McIntosh
Copyright: Creative Commons

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