The Mayor of Croydon, Cllr Humayun Kabir, officially opened the Iron Horse Art Sculpture in Rotary Field on Friday 31st January 2020.
Artist, Alan Potter, won a competition to design a piece that would capture the town’s exciting history through art and create an installation that would contribute to the area’s attractive surroundings. Alan was chosen because of the strength of his idea and his commitment to using opportunities such as these to develop and encourage local art groups and to help nurture a culture of creativity in the places he works.
A series of workshops were held inviting the community to paint a wooden version of the horse and wagons. These smaller versions of the sculpture were used to adorn the new installation at the official opening. Anyone who painted a mini iron horse at the workshops will be able to collect them from Purley Library, Banstead Road, CR8 3YH.
Purley’s rail heritage stretches as far back as the early 1800s with the introduction of the Croydon, Merstham and Godstone Railway, an extension of the Surrey Iron Railway, which operated through the town. It opened in 1805 and closed in 1838, however a remnant of the track bed remains in Rotary Field and the route of the railway can still be traced north towards Croydon and south towards Coulsdon.
