Sculpture trail puts Tiverton on a pedestal

Devonshire Homes are, quite literally, giving support to a family sculpture trail highlighting the qualities of their home town of Tiverton.

Scale models of the historic Tivvy Bumper steam engine are being placed at 21 locations around the streets and parks of the town, each one standing on a concrete plinth provided by the house building company.

Devised by the Tiverton Museum of Mid Devon Life, the All Aboard! trail opened today (2 July). An informative walking route, it is designed to encourage residents and visitors to take a closer look at the town’s heritage, as well as its contemporary leisure and tourism assets.

Each sculpture of the Tivvy Bumper - the traditional emblem of the museum - is being individually decorated in a project involving local artists, celebrities, schoolchildren and community groups.

All aspects of the trail - from the plinths to the trail signs and the sculptures themselves - have been sponsored by a local business, visitor attraction, school, community group or organisation. When the trail closes at the end of October, the sculptures will be auctioned to raise funds for local charities.

As a subsidiary of London and Devonshire Trust, Devonshire Homes has strong links to Tiverton’s industrial past. Trust chairman David Heathcoat Amory is a descendant of John Heathcoat, the man who brought lacemaking to the town in 1816, and built homes for his workforce.

Jane Pearce, Sales and Marketing Director of Devonshire Homes, said: “As a company with long-established connections to Tiverton, we are extremely happy to make a contribution to this imaginative project celebrating the great things the town has to offer.”