New Town Reclamation: Skelmersdale

Abstract

“…asks many questions of expression and validation. Nostalgia. Vandalism. New expression. Territory and memory.” - Simon Herbert Location: Concrete wall relief between Exchange roundabout and Whitehey Island roundabout on the B5312 Railway rd. Skelmersdale New Town, WN8 8TL, Lancashire, England. Throughout a working day reclamation will take place by painting the concrete subway/underpass wall reliefs originally designed by Mike Cumiskey who was resident artist in Skelmersdale from 1966-1976. Four major wall reliefs by Cumiskey were made in 1967 and positioned at pedestrian underpasses on the B5312, Railway Road in Skelmersdale. These decorated underpasses were to guide workers to their factories and linked Pennylands housing estates to the Gillibrands Industrial Estate. The physical brutalism of Cumiskey’s underpasses in Skelmersdale are transitional portals that suggest that the new town environment was and is a multi-layered and liminal experience.