Signage & wayfinding for Oldknow’s Legacy, Lancashire

About This Project

Samuel Oldknow was a remarkable man – starting out as a draper’s apprentice, he went on to create an industrial empire that changed the landscape around Marple and Mellor forever.

The Canal & River Trust released a competitive tender for a company to help with revealing this extraordinary landscape and interpreting it for the visitors. Landmark was delighted to be awarded the tender and worked with the Canal & River Trust and other stakeholders to bring the whole project to life.

Tasks involved included researching images of factory workers of the time to create some ‘weathering steel’ sculptures. This steel alloy has molybdenum added to make it corrode quickly and produce an attractive maintenance-free patina which gradually darkens over time. The brass hat on the limekiln worker makes an attractive contrast.

Lecterns carrying ‘HardRok’ panels with a 10-year anti-fade guarantee present the interpretation attractively, with oak fingerpost and waymarker signage forming the wayfinding. The addition of etched zinc rubbing roundels to the waymarker posts adds an engaging feature for young visitors! There are further phases to the project including more lecterns, and we will add photos as this most fascinating of projects gradually unfolds.