Public Art in Ipswich

• By Mervyn Crawford
• 1963
• Aluminium
• Hart and Pert, Architects
• St Matthew's Street roundabout

The installation of this sculpture set-off a flurry of correspondence in the local newspaper and apparently its 'informal nickname' derives from one of these letters, where the writer referred to it as being the 'sort of thing' appropriate to London but not Suffolk. An unfortunate typographic error on the part of the paper resulted in the name that many people still know the sculpture by today, 'Sor of Hing'.

The piece was commissioned by architects Hare and Pert for their St Matthews Street roundabout development and was cast in Geoffrey Clarke's Hartest foundry.

Crawford was born in 1943 and was a painter, foundryman and naturalist. While on his National Diploma Course in Painting at Ipswich School of Art, he took a year off (1961 - 62) to help his neighbour Geoffrey Clarke with his work on Coventry Cathedral and has been a marine foundryman and consultant engineer ever since. He has always lived in West Suffolk.

Other Public Art nearby: The Town Centre and Christchurch Park.