Penny Hedge
Penny Hedge
Penny Hedge
Penny Hedge
Penny Hedge
Penny Hedge
Penny Hedge
Penny Hedge
Penny Hedge
Penny Hedge
Penny Hedge

© the artist. Image credit: Fiona Jeffrey / Art UK

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A male figure referencing one of Whitby’s strangest legends – the Penny Hedge. The story goes that one autumn day in 1159, a group of noblemen were hunting nearby. Their hounds attacked a boar which took shelter in a hermitage, the hermit closing the door on the dogs. The enraged hunters attacked the hermit, leaving him for dead. On his deathbed he suggested that, instead of the death penalty for murder, they and their descendants should enact an annual penance – the construction of a woven 'hedge' from branches cut using only a knife 'of a penny price'. The hedge needed to withstand three tides: if it didn't, the lords would forfeit their lands. The planting of the Penny Hedge has continued every year at 9am on the eve of Ascension Day, 39 days after Easter.

Title

Penny Hedge

Date

2021

Medium

galvanised steel wire

Accession number

YO21_FJ_S104

Acquisition method

commissioned by the Coastal Revival Fund and Scarborough Borough Council

Work type

Statue

Owner

Scarborough Borough Council

Custodian

Scarborough Borough Council

Work status

extant

Access

at all times

Signature/marks description

signed on the base of the figure: es 21

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Located at

Church Street, Whitby

YO22 4AJ