Manual Ref* SUwaLO004 Show 4 images 102
Title*

Pair of Tritons
County Suffolk   District Council Waveney 
Civil Parish or equivalent Lowestoft  Town/Village* Lowestoft 
Road Royal Plain 
Precise Location On esplanade 
OS Grid Ref TM548930  Postcode NR32 
Previous location(s)  
Setting Free standing  Access Public 
Artist/Maker Role Qualifier
John Thomas  Sculptor(s)   
Invent Water Treatment Ltd  Other   

Commissioned by

 Sir Samuel Morton Peto 

Design & Constrn period

 1850 

Date of installing

 June 2000 

Exact date of unveiling

  

Category
Abstract Animal Architectural
Commercial Commemorative Composite
Free Functional Funerary
Heraldic Military Natural
Non-Commemorative Performance Portable
Religious Roadside, Wayside Sculptural
Temporary, Mobile Other  

Object Type
Building Clock Tower Architectural
Coat of Arms Cross Fountain
Landscape Marker Medallion
Mural Panel Readymade
Relief Shaft Sculpture
Statue Street Furniture War Memorial
Other Object Sub Type: Statues

Subject Type
Allegorical Mythological Pictorial
Figurative Non-figurative Portrait
Still-life Symbolic Other

Subject Sub Type
Bust Equestrian Full-length
Group Head Reclining
Seated Standing Torso
Part Material Dimension
Tritons with cornucopia  Bath stone  H. 2.30 metres approx 
Plinth  Granite  H. 4 metres approx, W. 2 metres 
Base  Stone  W. & D. 3.20 metres 

Work is
Extant Not Sited Lost

Owner/Custodian

 Waveney District Council 

Listing status
Grade I Grade II* Grade II Don't Know Not Listed

Surface Condition
Corrosion, Deterioration Accretions
Bird Guano Abrasions, cracks, splits
Biological growth Spalling, crumbling
Metallic staining Previous treatments
Other  
Detail: The Triton to the north and the decoration of its plinth have suffered more damage and wear than its companion to the south. They were restored by A.J. Woods in 1983.

Structural Condition
Armature exposed Broken or missing parts
Replaced parts Loose elements
Cracks, splits, breaks, holes Spalling, crumbling
Water collection Other
Detail:

Vandalism
Graffiti Structural damage Surface Damage
Detail:

Overall condition
Good Fair Poor

Risk
No Known Risk At Risk Immediate
Signatures/Marks A plaque beside the southern Triton notes that it was by John Thomas with a date of 1850 and that it forms part of the Peto trail 
Inscriptions  

Description (physical)

 Tritons set on tall plinths: octagonal at the base but with a round shaft and decorated with dolphin heads. They hold large cornucopia at their sides (left to the north, right on the south). The northern Triton is completely free-standing but the base of his companion is set into the sea wall - with a flint support down to the sandy beach  

Description (iconographical)

 The Tritons are set with their backs to the sea to mark the first phase of Sir Samuel Morton Peto's development of the sea-front in Lowestoft. The northern one, just south of the harbour, marks the new Esplanade, closed by the southern Triton in front of the new villas facing onto the sea. The develoopment is shown in plaques based on old prints in the SUwaLO031 of 1999. That they face the town and carry cornucopia is indicative of the prosperity which Peto had brought to Lowestoft, both with his buildings and the railway lines, to Norwich and Ipswich. He commissioned Somerleyton House.  

Photographs

 Date taken:  21/5/2006
Date logged: 

Photographed by:
Sarah Cocke

On Site Inspection

 Date:  21/5/2006

Inspected by:
Richard Cocke

Sources and References

 Read, Ben, Victorian Sculpture, New Haven and London, 1982, 143-44; Brooks, Christopher, Peto's Lowestoft, Lowestoft, 1998, 28 and 30; Darke, Jo, The Monument Guide to England and Wales, London, 1991 p.192 

Database

 Date entered:  22/5/2006

Data inputter:
Richard Cocke