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A lone fisherman sitting on a mooring bollard, reflecting in thought. The design was adopted from a photograph taken on North Shields Fish Quay in the late 1950s by local photographer Harry Hann.

Title

Fiddlers Green

Date

2017

Medium

Corten steel

Measurements

H 320 x W (?) x D (?) cm

Accession number

NE30_SD_S004

Acquisition method

funded by public subscription by The North Shields Fishermen’s Heritage Project

Work type

Statue

Owner

North Tyneside Council

Custodian

North Tyneside Council

Work status

extant

Unveiling date

24th September 2017

Access

at all times

Signature/marks description

Ray Lonsdale / 2017 / 'Fiddlers Green'

Inscription description

plaque: 'FIDDLERS GREEN' / To the fishermen lost in the cold North Sea, / and the other ones who will be so, I'll be seeing you on Fiddlers Green, be steady as you go. // For Fiddlers Green is a place I've heard tell, though no one really knows, / where fishermen go if they they don't go to hell, and no Arctic wind will blow.; nearby plinth: Funded by Public Subscription / To the Memory of those Fishermen, / who lost their lives at sea // 'Until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore, / You will not know the terror of being forever lost at sea' / Charles Cook; information board: North Shields Fishermen's Heritage Project / www.nsfhp.org.uk // Fiddler's Green / 'Fiddler's Green' is a legendary supposed afterlife, where there is perpetual happiness and mirth, a fiddle that never stops playing for / dancers who never tire, with endless supplies of Rum and Tobacco. // In 19th-century maritime folklore it was a kind of afterlife for mariners / and fishermen who served their time at sea. // The origins of the term 'Fiddler's Green' are unclear, however some / sources suggest that it was first adopted by pirates, who were unlikely / to find their way into Christian heaven, so they simply created their own / paradise after death; // 'Where the girls are pretty and the beer flows free and there's / bottles of rum hanging from every tree.' // Other theories exist, and this / includes reference to 'Davy / Jones' Locker', regarded as the / final resting place for mariners / lost at sea, however 'Fiddlers / Green' is said to be situated on / land, and the place where / mariners go who die ashore. // Nevertheles; it is said that when / a fisherman dies, he too will / enter 'Fiddler's Green' wher all / his fallen frineds will be waiting / for him with a drink in hand.

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