NEWS RELEASES
A Tale of Two Iguanodons
26th October 2006
This coming December the world will have its first sight of a bronze Iguanodon currently being created in the studio of Horsham artist Hannah Stewart. Some 153 years ago the world was awestruck as images of a concrete Iguanodon, designed by Hawkins, appeared in the Illustrated London News. Remarkably both events are linked, for the celebrated Crystal Palace Iguanodon was based on fossils found in Horsham in 1840, whilst the new bronze Iguanodon is based on fossils found in Southwater, a village 2 miles from Horsham, in the 1920s.
Both works are unique creations; both using cutting edge science to make the sculptures as life like as possible. Whilst we can see in the new Southwater Dinosaur how science has developed and moved on, it, like its Crystal Palace counterpart, has used the skill of the artist to interpret the scientific discoveries.
Hannah Stewart has used 450 kg of clay to model the dinosaur with the clay being supported by a steel, aluminium and polystyrene structure. When finished it will be over 3 metres long and standing 2 metres high on a brick and stone plinth. The sculpture will weigh just less than half a ton. It took 3 days alone to model its scales. 150 years ago instead of kilograms they used imperial measurements and concrete instead of bronze. That Iguanodon was some 35 feet long, constructed of four iron columns, each nine feet long and seven inches in diameter, 600 bricks, 650 drain tiles, 38 casks of cement, 90 casks of broken stone and 100 feet of iron hooping with 20 feet of cubic inch iron ore making up the bones, muscles and sinews of the monster.
Queen Victoria, as figurehead of the nation, unveiled the Crystal Palace Iguanodon on the 10 June 1854 in front of 40,000 spectators. Cllr Baldwin, Chairman of Horsham District Council, representing the people of Horsham District will unveil the Southwater dinosaur on Friday 15 December 2006. Next day the Southwater Iguanodon will be at the centre of a party, the like of which Southwater has never seen before, just as a party atmosphere enveloped the earlier Crystal Palace unveiling.
In 1853 Britain and the world first saw images of the Iguanodon being made through the pages of the London illustrated News. This was revolutionary news telling, using pictures to tell the story. Today equally revolutionary media is being used, for the story of the Iguanodon creation will be told online.
The Crystal Palace Iguanodon became the icon of the Victorian era, inspiring New York to create its own prehistoric theme park. The solid concrete monster attracted visitors across the globe as it stood proudly on its man made island. Following on from its discovery in the 1920’s the Sussex and Dorking Brick Company used the Southwater Iguanodon as its logo. With the demise of that company the image disappeared from public consciousness, just as Crystal Palace did after the fire in the 1930’s. Now, thanks to Miller Construction (UK) Ltd. and Horsham District Council, the Iguanodon can become the icon for the new Southwater of the 21st century, an icon not made of concrete but bronze.
Southwater Iguanodon is a unique sculpture for a unique place. Southwater’s Iguanodon was only possible because of social, economic and scientific advances - just like Hawkins’ dinosaur all those years ago.
For further information on Hannah Stewart please see www.hannahstewartsculpture.co.uk
For further information contact Jeremy Knight at Horsham Museum on tel: 01403 254959, email: museum@horsham.gov.uk