Mary’s Shell is a striking, large-scale public art installation located on the sands of Cleveleys Beach in Lancashire, just north of Blackpool. Installed in 2013 as part of the Wyre Council's Mythic Coast Artwork Trail, this monumental stainless steel sculpture measures 8 meters long, 4 meters tall, and weighs an incredible 16.5 tonnes. It was designed by artist Stephen Broadbent and fabricated by Chris Brammall to bring local folklore to life. The structure is inspired by The Sea Swallow, a children's book by Gareth Thompson, and represents the magical golden shell captured by the story's young heroine, Mary, to save her village from a devastating tsunami caused by a Sea Ogre.
What makes Mary's Shell truly remarkable is its interactive relationship with the Irish Sea. Securely fastened to concrete foundations cast directly into the beach, the shell is designed to be completely or partially submerged by the tide twice a day. At low tide, visitors can walk right across the sand and climb inside the hollow, curved structure to listen to the amplified echoes of the crashing waves and read lines from The Sea Swallow etched into its inner walls. At high tide, it transforms into a dramatic maritime focal point, with only its metal ridges piercing through the breaking surf. This unique interaction with the changing water and the coastal sunlight has made it a renowned destination for families and a highly sought-after "portfolio shot" for landscape photographers looking to capture long-exposure images at sunset.