A major new public sculpture by British artist Conor Hurford has been installed in the heart of Wirksworth, outside 11 Market Place. Titled Peak Moor Topography 2, the work is carved from a single 1.6-tonne block of Peak District gritstone and measures 100 x 112 x 100 cm.

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Created using traditional hand tools and a technique known as direct carving, Peak Moor Topography 2 is a striking new presence in the town. Its surface is traversed by continuous chisel lines that evoke topographic forms and geological strata, emphasising the raw materiality and natural history of the stone itself.

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Conor Hurford, based in the Peak District National Park, has worked exclusively in stone for the past seven years. He sources his material from local quarries, reclamation yards, and haulage firms, favouring carboniferous Derbyshire gritstone and limestone. His process is entirely manual, forgoing modern carving machinery in favour of a slow, meditative relationship with the stone — one shaped by time, weather, and the rhythms of the hand.

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“I don’t work from sketches or models,” says Hurford. “The stone guides the form. I try to collaborate with it rather than impose an idea upon it.”

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Hurford graduated from Nottingham Trent University in 2017 with a first-class degree in Fine Art. He was awarded the On Form bursary for sculptors under 35 in 2022, and his work has been widely exhibited and collected. In 2023, he was commissioned by EMH Homes, in association with Junction Arts, to create a new permanent public sculpture for a Derbyshire housing development.

Peak Moor Topography 2 continues Hurford’s exploration of landscape, geology, and time. In placing the work at the heart of Wirksworth — a town with its own deep history of quarrying and stone — the sculpture creates a new point of connection between place, people, and material.

The project was initiated by Paul Carr, a Director of Haarlem Studios and the Haarlem Shop, with support from Haarlem Artspace, with the aim of increasing the visibility of the towns significant artistic community and to demonstrate a shared commitment to embedding high-quality contemporary art within the life of the town.

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The sculpture is free to view at any time and marks a significant addition to Wirksworth’s growing collection of public artworks.

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With thanks to the town’s local DDDC Councillor Peter Slack, to the Wirksworth Festival and to the Wirksworth Civic Society and Wirksworth Traders Group for their support.