Detail View: SHIMMER: The Huskar Stone

Location: by a stream under House Carr Lane, Silkstone Common, Barnsley.

Description: A large stone sculpture carved to show rocks and flowing water. On its top, facing the sky and difficult to identify because of its height above ground, is a child's head and a pair of clasped hands visible amidst the water.

Commission: Organised by the Silkstone Heritage Stones Project, composed of local residents. The Project was inaugurated in January 1989. This piece and 'The Railway Stone' were commissioned in April, finished in July and sited by September of the same year. 'The Huskar Stone' was the second piece sited.
The stone commemorates the accident in 1838 in the Huskar pit when 26 children died in a flood. There are two more memorials to the accident, one in Silkstone churchyard where the children are buried, and the other in a small wood off Moor End Land.

Comment: Winner of the Ford Conservation Award 1990, worth £8,000, organised by the Conservative Association. [1]

References: [1] Sara Selwood, 'The benefits of public art in Great Britain'