{"id":241725,"date":"2026-01-20T01:39:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T01:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/241725\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T01:39:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T01:39:12","slug":"creepy-sculptures-appear-near-former-brymbo-steelworks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/241725\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Creepy’ sculptures appear near former Brymbo Steelworks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SherylSheryl Bishop<\/p>\n

People local to Brymbo were surprised to encounter a field filled with “creepy” sculptures at the weekend<\/p>\n

Residents in a village were left baffled after a group of mysterious life-sized figures appeared overnight in a field, and vanished just as suddenly.<\/p>\n

Around 15 human-shaped casts were spotted on Saturday near the former Brymbo Steelworks in Wrexham.<\/p>\n

There was no warning they were coming and no explanation as to why they had been placed there, prompting confusion, curiosity and a flurry of speculation among locals.<\/p>\n

Jess Jones posted on Facebook: “Can someone else vouch for this so I don’t sound mad. Drove past the Brymbo Steelworks earlier and the field opposite had loads of silver ‘statues’ dotted around.<\/p>\n

“Just drove past now and they’re gone and my husband thinks I’m going mad when I explained what I saw. What were they?!”<\/p>\n

\"HollyHolly Jones<\/p>\n

Many people stopped to take photos of the sculptures<\/p>\n

Some described the scene as “spooky” and “freaky”, comparing it to an episode of Doctor Who and questioning whether aliens had landed.<\/p>\n

“It was very creepy,” one local said. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”<\/p>\n

Sheryl Bishop and Holly Jones also stopped to take pictures. “I thought I was going mad at first, I had to stop to take a photo,” said Holly.<\/p>\n

The mystery was later explained as part of One Man Army, a travelling sculptural installation by Cheshire-based artist Colin Spofforth.<\/p>\n

The project explores Britain’s lost industrial and social heritage by temporarily placing repeated casts of a single, solemn figure in locations shaped by work and industry. <\/p>\n

Each installation is filmed and shared on social media before moving on, leaving behind images and conversations in the communities it visits.<\/p>\n

The figures were positioned opposite the former steelworks<\/a>, a site built in 1796 that once employed around 2,500 people at its peak. <\/p>\n

Steel production came to an end there in 1990, when 1,100 workers lost their jobs, marking the closure of a major part of the area’s industrial history.<\/p>\n

\"LisaLisa Rumsey<\/p>\n

Colin Spofforth’s One Man Army is a travelling installation that explores Britain’s industrial and social heritage<\/p>\n

Lisa Rumsey, who lives in Brymbo, said she came across Colin and his son as they were installing the work, describing it as “something really special”.<\/p>\n

“The work didn’t just fill the space, it lifted it, adding new meaning to the surroundings and tying beautifully into the story of Stori Brymbo”.<\/p>\n

Spofforth has previously created the life-size statue of Owain Glyndwr<\/a>, erected in Corwen, Denbighshire, in 2007, and his work can also be found across the UK and internationally.<\/p>\n

“My work explores that connection between people and place, how art sparks belonging, memory, and curiosity,” a statement on his website reads.<\/p>\n

\"LisaLisa Rumsey<\/p>\n

The sculptures are the work of Cheshire-based artist Colin Spofforth<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sheryl Bishop People local to Brymbo were surprised to encounter a field filled with “creepy” sculptures at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241726,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-241725","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}