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Panopticons - Singing Ringing Tree

 

Project Information

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Enjoy a panoramic view from the Singing, Ringing Tree here

Designed by:
Architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu.

Wayside Arts Trail - Walk Leaflet:

Download the leaflet which covers a countryside walk from Towneley up to Crown Point, discovering the art along the trail.

(Please note that this leaflet was produced by Burnley Borough Council in 2005 and might be out of date. We suggest you check with Burnley's Parks & Open Spaces Department (01282 425011) about any changes before setting out. As at March 2014 we are aware that part of the walk is obstructed.)

 

Plan Your Visit

Plan your visit

From the M65 J9 take the turning off the roundabout signposted to Burnley.  At the next roundabout take the first exit and stay in the right-hand lane.  At the traffic lights turn right (NB It looks more like a fork in the road than a right-hand turn).  At the next roundabout take the exit signposted A682 Rawtenstall - turn left onto Crown Point Road* directly opposite the last building on your right as you leave Burnley (a former pub/restaurant).  The Singing Ringing Tree is signposted with a brown tourist sign marked 'Tree Panopticon'. Follow the road, over a cattle grid and keep going, it's quite a way, until you come to the car park on your left where a gravel path leads you to the Panopticon.

Singing Ringing Tree: Explorer OL12 South Pennines, 1:25 000 scale. Grid ref 848287

* SRT does not have a postcode - however the buildings nearest the turning from Manchester Road, Burnley onto Crown Point Road have the postcode BB11 5NP.  We hope that helps those of you with satnavs!

Project location
Click on the marker for Journey planning

Additional Information

We are a charity please support our work by making a donation.  You can donate via Paypal by clicking the button below.

 

Wayside Arts Trail - Walk Leaflet:

Download this leaflet which covers a countryside walk from Towneley up to Crown Point, discovering the art along the trail.

Panopticons - Singing Ringing Tree

Panopticon - Singing, Ringing Tree high on the moors overlooking Burnley.

Latest News

August 2015 - The Singing Ringing Tree has been chosen as one of 21 landmarks that define Britain in the 21st Century.  Hundreds of structures were voted for by the public with the final 21 chosen by a panel of experts.  Organised by The Independent Newspaper and British Airways travel magazine.  Read more here.  See information on left hand side for directions to SRT.

About

The Singing Ringing Tree is aptly named. A 3-meter-tall, wind-powered musical sculpture made of galvanized steel pipes, it stands high above the English town of Burnley. The pipes swirl to form the shape of a tree bent and blown by the wind, and produce an eerie, melodious hum as the constant wind on Crown Point drifts through them. The Singing Ringing Tree's pipes are used for both aesthetic qualities as well as for tuning, with their sound varied according to length and added narrow slits on the underside of specific pipes. The sound produced by these twisted metal trees covers several octaves and is said to be simultaneously discordant and melancholy, and intensely beautiful.

Completed in 2006, the Tree was designed by award-winning architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu. The site at Burnley was once that of a re-diffusion transmission station, complete with a run-down brick building and unused telegraph lines. The station was dismantled and the lines cut down to be recycled, to make way for the Tree that was to stand out against the stark, rolling landscape of the Pennines.

In 2007, the sculpture won the National Award of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) for architectural excellence.

View the video about the Singing Ringing Tree, top right hand corner of this page, above the photographs.


Singing Ringing Tree Storytelling Competition

As part of the Land project (2003-2007), a unique education and creative arts project run alongside and in partnership with Panopticons, we organised a storytelling competition for students in collaboration with the Burnley Express.  The subject was the Singing Ringing Tree and the entrants devised some very imaginative tales!  You can read the winning and highly commended stories here:  18+ age group; 7-17 age group.

Duet No.1 for Synthesizer and The Singing Ringing Tree

 John Kesson,originally from the UK, but currently based in Minneapolis, is a musician, composer and sound artist exploring the synesthetic relationships between auditory and optical landscapes.  This series of blogs documents his five day recording session and performance series at the Singing Ringing Tree.

Song for the Singing Ringing Tree

East Lancashire Clarion Choir member Henry Peacock wrote a song about SRT after the Choir climbed up there one weekend.  Read all about it here.

YouTube Videos Of Singing Ringing Tree

There are lots of videos on YouTube created by people who visited the Singing Ringing Tree, You can view some of them here.