Lanchester Car Monument
Encyclopedia
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
of the Stanhope Phaeton, or Lanchester motor car. It is in Bloomsbury Village Green, a piece of reclaimed land in the Heartlands (Nechells) area of Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It was designed by Tim Tolkien
Tim Tolkien
Tim Tolkien is an English sculptor who has designed several monumental sculptures, including the award-winning Sentinel.His other claim to fame is as the great-nephew of J. R. R. Tolkien, the famous author of the fantasy book The Lord of the Rings...
to commemorate the Lanchester cars
Lanchester Motor Company
The Lanchester Motor Company Limited was a car manufacturer based until 1930 at Armourer Mills, Montgomery Street, Sparkbrook, Birmingham, England. It operated from 1895 to 1955....
which were made there.
It is in a park on Bloomsbury Street, near to the junction with Bloomsbury Walk, on the site of the former Forward Gas Engine Company
Forward Gas Engine Company
Forward Gas Engine Company was an engineering company making stationary internal combustion gas engines in Nechells, Birmingham, England.The most famous engineer to work at the plant was Frederick William Lanchester around 1895, who made various improvements to their engines, including a self...
and the adjacent small workshop where the engine for Britain's first four wheel petrol car was made by Frederick Lanchester
Frederick Lanchester
Frederick William Lanchester, Hon FRAeS was an English polymath and engineer who made important contributions to automotive engineering, aerodynamics and co-invented the field of operations research....
in 1895.