Statue The Rope Horse Or The Great Escape Liverpool

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Heading towards the docks in Liverpool from the city centre you may see this startling statue near the main police station (it was recently relocated from the Church Street area). Though officially called The Great Escape it is more often referred to as The Rope Horse. It was created by the sculptor George Cronshaw. He made models of the horse in rope before copying the design in cast bronze, fifteen feet in height, and weighing in at over four tons. The depiction is of a horse made of rope, but with a cruel human figure standing on its tail causing it to rear up in pain. If it tries to run away it could literally unravel itself. The statue reflects how in attempting to escape our dark past and history (Liverpool takes great shame in its part in the international lave trading in the 18th and 19th centuries), we destroy ourselves in the process. It is quite an unforgettable and rather disturbing work, but then, it should be. Arthur Chappell