New artwork unveiled on the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal

A loop-the-loop canal boat sculpture has been unveiled to celebrate Sheffield's historic waterways and industrial heritage. 

The full-sized canal boat, sculpted from rolled steel, is centred on the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal, a 200-year-old waterway.

The public artwork references the history of Tinsley using signwriting and is painted in traditional, canal boat colours.

Positioned between locks 4 and 5 of the canal, near to Meadowhall Shopping Centre, the artwork will serve as a free, year-round, outdoor visitor attraction for the area.

The project was co-funded by British Land and by energy company E.ON, who committed to creating a public artwork as part of its redevelopment of the Blackburn Meadows site, now the home of a biomass-fueled energy park that generates electricity and heating for Sheffield.

The artwork has been named 'The Industry' after the first vessel that navigated the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal when it opened in 1819.