Shortly after we arrived in Wells I noticed this sculpture before we meandered to our first pub in the town. It transpired to be one of the more distinctive sights in Wells Harbour and it’s known as the Lifeboat Horse, a three-metre-high sculpture standing out on the sandbank opposite the harbour. It was created by Norfolk artist Rachael Long for the Wells Heritage Art Trail in 2018 and commemorates the working horses that once helped launch the town’s lifeboats.
The inspiration for this arrangement came from an old photograph shown to Long by Wells Harbour Master Robert Smith, depicting the lifeboat being hauled by five pairs of heavy horses. During the nineteenth century, the horses could be called upon to pull the 33-foot lifeboat around two and a half miles from the quay to Holkham Gap for launching. The horses weren’t kept solely in reserve for maritime emergencies either, as they normally earned their keep by hauling heavy cargo around the harbour.
The sculpture is made from steel bars and pieces of whisky barrel and is secured to the seabed with substantial metal pins, which seems sensible given that leaving a three-metre metal horse casually unsecured in the North Sea would introduce an unnecessary element of excitement. Its position also means that the appearance changes considerably with the tide. At low water the whole horse stands exposed on the sand, while as the tide rises its legs disappear and it starts to look as though it is standing, or perhaps wading, in the harbour. And fortunately for the increasingly demanding photographic requirements of this riveting blog, by the time we returned later the tide had come in.
I rather liked the whole changing relationship with the water, as it stops the sculpture simply becoming another static piece of public art. I photographed it at different stages of the tide and it looked quite different on both occasions and I hadn’t expected that. And as is visible in the photo, a seagull had also taken up position on its back. The horse wasn’t originally intended to become a permanent feature. It formed part of the 2018 Wells Heritage Art Trail, which included 17 works by 26 Norfolk artists, but it proved sufficiently popular that a campaign was launched to keep it. The local community subsequently raised the £15,000 needed to buy and reinstall the sculpture, with donations coming from businesses, residents and even local children so it returned to the harbour in May 2019.
It isn’t quite permanent in the literal sense, as the Lifeboat Horse is removed during the winter to protect it from the harsher weather and returned in spring. Moving it requires a boat with a crane so it all sounds like a bit of a hassle, although its secondary role as a £15,000 seagull perch should not be underestimated.