Another Place, Crosby Beach near Liverpool

Do you see this man staring far into the sea, into nothingness, his expressions pale as he fearlessly faces the sea all day. This is nothing but a sculpture by Antony Gormley, made out of cast iron, and there are hundreds of these installed on the beach every 500 meters.


Crosby Beach is located near Liverpool and one weekend I decided to go there to experience and fathom this bizzare public art that adorns this beach. When I reached there, my first reaction was that it looks haunted. No, it was not deserted, there were lots of people walking with their dogs, enjoying the wind and exercising.

This beach is a huge stretch of land, you could see wind turbines and industries on the other side. I even spotted some ships far away. There are warning signs that this beach is Hazardous and advises visitors to not go beyond 50 meters from the promenade.

I noticed there were 100s of sculptures of a nude man installed from left to right far into the sea, looking exactly alike spread acorss the 3 Kms lovely coastline. These are partially submerged and visible as the tide comes and goes. Every figure is 650Kgs and it is said that it made made from the cast of Artists own body.
This striking public art-work is known as "Another Place" by the British artist Antony Gormley.

Initially the plan was that these will keep moving to different places (they have been earlier installed in Germany, Norway and Belgium, but it looks these men have found their true home and are permanently installed now at Crosby beach near Liverpool.

How to Reach : This place is a 20 mins ride on the Merseyside train from Liverpool. There are regular trains, but the frequency is less on weekends. There is an off-peak ticket that you can buy from Liverpool Lime street stations for 5 GBPs and this will allow you to catch any train, any time on the Wirral line.
Liverpool Central --> Blundellsands & Crosby

From this station just take a 10 mins walk, and you will see the beach. Use google maps for navigation.
This is a really quiet place, so I did not find any people walking on the streets or driving. The roads were totally empty, so better to go in the Noon hours as it might be scary late in the evening.

The beach is very very windy, probably thats why they have windmills there. So it can get cold, and thankfully I had a hood in my jacket to protect from the wind.


Where else can you go: Liverpool is a lovely city, if you have time, explore it more. Or you can go to other places on the same train (with same ticket) such as Sefton Park or New Brighton beach etc. I will write more on this later.

In the words of the Artist :"The idea was to test time and tide, stillness and movement, and somehow engage with the daily life of the beach. This was no exercise in romantic escapism."

Some links which might help :
https://www.merseyrail.org/destination-merseyside/locations/crosby-beach-antony-gormley.aspx
Wikipedia "Another Place"
Antony Gormley's Project

P.S : The Photographs in the post are my original and have been clicked using my iPhone6 :)