We were contracted by the Grainger Town Project to work with a local artist, Simon Watkinson, to create a replica of Earl Grey’s head for an installation at the base of the monument which would be lit with digital lighting.

Grey’s Monument towers 135 feet over the centre of Newcastle and, until recently, has been scaffolded for renovation work.

Simon Watkinson with the cast of Earl Grey\'s head

Simon Watkinson with Earl Grey’s head

Earl Grey to light up thanks to magic wand - 08/01/01

Visitors to the centre of Newcastle will be getting a close-up look at Earl Grey’s face for the first time thanks to an innovative new creative lighting scheme for Grey’s Monument being unveiled by the Grainger Town Project.

Four images of the head of the City’s elder statesman are to be recessed into the plinth surrounding the Monument statue and illuminated using a specially designed lighting scheme created for the area.

A unique casting of Earl Grey’s head has already been taken by Classic Masonry, the North Shields based contractor that carried out the restoration work. The casting, which was taken ‘in situ’ at the top the Monument in the City centre, was obtained using a delicate mix of silicone, fibreglass and plaster of Paris. A traditional barber’s poncho was placed over the rest of the body in order to protect it while the casting was completed.

A specialist team from Glasgow based firm Archaeoptics, which specialises in scanning sensitive material, is travelling to Tyneside on Wednesday (10th January) to scan the twice-lifesize cast using state-of-the-art scanning equipment. The 450mm ‘hand-held wand’ will be waved over the cast and will provide a solid 3D mesh projection on a laptop screen.

3D Render of Earl Grey\'s head

3D Render of Earl Grey’s head

Local artist Simon Watkinson has been commissioned to devise and oversee the installation of the lighting scheme, which is expected to be in operation by May of this year. As well as colour-changing illumination from beneath Earl Grey’s four heads recessed into the plinth at the top of
Grey Street, spotlights will be placed on surrounding buildings to pick out parts of the column and the statue itself.

In total, the cost of restoring Grey’s Monument, which was built in 1838 and is a Grade 1 Listed Building, will be around £260,000. Earl Grey has spent much of the last four months hidden behind scaffolding as the cleaning and restoration of the statue, column and base was completed. The first significant restoration work the monument has received in its 162-year lifetime has been funded by contributions of £100,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, £90,000 from the Grainger Town Partnership’s Single Regeneration Budget allocation from One North East, and £70,000 from Newcastle City Council.

Cllr. Tony Flynn, Chair of the Grainger Town Partnership, said: “This will be a showpiece scheme for Grainger Town that will set the standard for other buildings and pieces of public art that we are planning to undertake throughout the area. We have already created a world-class public space surrounding Grey’s Monument, and this final piece of the jigsaw will highlight the great success of the recent restoration work.”

Simon Watkinson, Artist and Lighting Consultant, said: “As Earl Grey is 135 feet high in the air, very few people actually get to see him ‘up close’, so we wanted to do something to address that issue. Setting different images of Grey in the plinth will make him much more accessible to people in the City. Creative lighting is a vital part of showcasing almost every public building to its full potential, and we wanted to maximise the impact of the recent restoration work and re-establish Grey’s Monument as as true centrepiece in the City.”

Alistair Carty, a Director with scanning specialists Archaeoptics, said: “We have scanned a number of historical and sensitive materials from around the country, but I don’t think that the end result will ever have been seen by so many people. The whole scanning process will take just under and hour, but it produces some spectacular results.”

Mike Moody, Managing Director of Classic Masonry, said: “Taking a casting of such an old and important piece is always a difficult task, but it is made even more delicate when you have to perform the operation 135 feet above the streets of Newcastle. I am looking forward to seeing our work reproduced at ground level where thousands of people will see it every day.”

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