How a festival of art backed by poet laureate Simon Armitage is set to transform the streets of Barnsley

Eldon Street, once plagued by anti-social behaviour and a no-go zone for many of its residents, is now hosting artwork centred on the work of none other than the nation’s Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage. High above the alley is a neon sign bearing the words “Sunset totters down Eldon Street trailing its wedding dress”.

The words are taken from a poem written by Armitage and are inspired by the fact that he considers the street as a party street – but after the fun starts to fade.

The poem and artwork are part of a wider series of works planned in the coming months, a project that will culminate with a weekend of performances in the town in September.

Armitage, who has dubbed his involvement in the project “Barnsley; an unnatural history”, reflects on the process that led to his coming up with the words now illuminating a once dingy alleyway.

“The first time I visited Eldon Street and walked up and down a couple of times, I realised it was like walking through a book of poems,” he says. “You’d point at a shop window and there’d be a whole narrative open up, a whole universe. Or it was like walking down an aisle in a museum; with different exhibits.”

Armitage, who lives in the Holme Valley area of West Yorkshire, was given access to Barnsley’s archives in a bid to properly research the history of the town.

When looking specifically at Eldon Street – which connects the new Glassworks Square with Mandela Gardens and the Civic Art Centre – he both discovered and became fascinated by its history.

He found out there used to be a natural history museum in the area, with exhibits of both common and rare animals, and it was also a location for carnivals, fairs, circuses and performances.

The words are also influenced by other parts of Eldon Street’s history, such as the Harral’s Ring Shop where generations of Barnsley couples bought their engagement and wedding rings, and the “Bunny Run” – which often started on Eldon Street, next to the station, when crowds of revellers went out after work on a Friday night, moving from pub to pub around the town centre.

Not only did this lead to the “unnatural history” name for the project, it prompted him to propose the three-day event in September.

“The location seems perfect to me,” says Armitage. “You have to seek it out a little bit. I think we are opening up a connecting space between the square on one side and Eldon Street on the other, and bringing some imaginative life to a place that has become a bit derelict and a bit sad.”

The artwork itself was produced by local Barnsley artist Patrick Murphy. He has previously worked on commissions at locations ranging from Coventry and Northumberland to Belgium and France but he said that getting to work on something in his actual home town had been hugely gratifying.

“A lot of my work is around transforming space and a lot of my work is public facing,” Murphy told The Yorkshire Post. “It is nice to see these works actually impacting people. In using neon, it has literally shone a light on the street, illuminating it both physically and mentally.”

The last major piece of work that Murphy carried out was a series of sculptures of seagulls for the French port town of La Harvre but, owing to lockdown restrictions, he has yet to be able to see it. However, for this project in his home town, it is something based on his doorstep, and has helped him discover parts of Barnsley’s history that he was previously unaware of.

“It is always nice to be able to do something in your own home town,” he says. “This is not in a gallery, it’s in a ginnel in Barnsley where you can just haphazardly discover it. It has been really beautiful to put something into my home town that is part of its everyday experience. When you do something in foreign countries it is much harder to gauge reaction but this one has a special nuance.”

The installation forms part of a wider plan of action by the High Street Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ) project funded by Historic England and Barnsley Council. The Eldon Street High Street Heritage Action Zone, which runs until 2024, is one of 68 similar schemes across the country. It is part of a Government-funded initiative led by Historic England which aims to breathe new life into high streets.

Dominic Somers, arts officer with the council, says: “What we are trying to do, in essence, is to find historically important buildings and breathe new life into them. It is a big cultural project that we hope will really engage people and help them to discover historical stories about the town and make people think differently about the place.

“We brought Simon in as almost a poet or artist in residence. He is brilliant at finding his own sense of anything he thinks will resonate with people.”

The artwork marks a genuine turnaround for the town and is in a place which was previously not seen as desirable or attractive to both locals and visitors.

“It was not a pleasant alley,” said Somers. “It was not lit, was home to anti-social behaviour. It is not the kind of place many people would want to go down at night. But we wondered if we could evolve it.

“We have had great feedback from businesses in the area. We are really proud of it and it is a nice collaboration. Public realm can have a really important role to play in how we feel about our cities or towns. I think the pandemic has made it even more important. It will take Simon’s work to a whole new audience.

Somers’s views are shared by Dr Tegwen Roberts, Barnsley Council’s heritage action zone officer. She says the artwork had transformed a part of the town used previously as at best a shortcut into something that Barnsley could be proud of.

Now the project organisers are calling on the people of Barnsley to play a role in the transformation. “We want people to get involved and help us breathe new life into Eldon Street and turn it into something that gives a nod to the past, but is fit for the future,” says Roberts.

With his words now shining out in Barnsley town centre, Armitage is keen to stay involved and even hopes to have the band he sings for, LYR, perform at the festival in September.

“I think the best way of collaborating is for artists to do their own thing and then bring the work together to make something out of those components. I also think there should be an element of surprise in collaboration for the artists.

“So I provided the words. There was some discussion about the site, some discussion about the colour, but then I was just happy for the rest of it to take place and to come along and be wowed by it – and I was.”

The Sunset Neon artwork will be in place until March 31.