Irwell Sculpture Trail

The Irwell Sculpture Trail is a 33-mile long arts trail starting in Salford following the River Irwell through Bury up to Bacup in Rossendale, Lancashire.

The Irwell Sculpture Trail is currently being transformed by a five year re-development worth £420,000. The trail is due to be re-launched in Spring 2012. The money has been awarded by the Arts Council England after a successful bid by a strategic partnership led by Salford City Council which also includes; Lancashire County Council, Rossendale Borough Council and Bury Metropolitan Council.

The Arts Council funding will be invested in:

• Development of new routes - clusters which link in with other cultural attractions, new additions to the trail and general improvement to access to the trail
• New technologies to support access to the trail, including using GPS and mobile phone technology for onsite interpretation as well as the production of downloadable content such as audio guides and video from a new and rejuvenated website
• A rebranded trail, including new maps, signage and waymarking
• Development of a management system, including commissioning/decommissioning and maintenance processes
• Developing local Friends Groups  to support the maintenance of the trail, raise funding, animate the trail, and to become involved with activities along the trail such as exchange schemes and new media training and development

The development work on the trail aims to:

• Increase visitor numbers
• Improve access
• Improve the quality of the visitors experience
• Increase local ownership of the trail

In Salford

Salford City Council as the current lead on the development of the trail host the Irwell Sculpture Trail Co-ordinator, Chair the IST Partnership meetings and hold the central budget for the redevelopment programme.

The Salford section of the trail starts at Salford Quays through to Chapel Street, and follows the River Irwell up to Peel Park, which then takes you past the Student Village and ‘The Cliff’, to follow the river path towards Salford Sports Village. The next section of the trail takes you through Prestwich and Clifton Country Park where the trail then leads into Bury, and then on to Rossendale in Lancashire.

The future

New routes in Salford will  be developed to link to other cultural attractions and developments such as The Lowry, Ordsall Hall, Irwell City Park, LIVIA, and include artworks new to Salford. The new routes will also be informed by an audit of the existing trail, with recommendations based on the quality of the pathways and artworks and the levels of access. The interpretation for the trail will include audio and video capturing local stories, events animating the trail and the making and interpretation of the artworks. This content will be available for visitors to download from the new website on to MP3 players and mobile phones.

If you are interested in receiving more information about the development of the trail and becoming involved in its activities details are available at the Irwell Sculpture Trail website.

This page was last updated on 9 November 2009