Mowbray Park Walrus

The bronze walrus in Mowbray Park is a relatively recent addition to the city's public art — commissioned in 2019 and designed by sculptor Graeme Hopper. The walrus sits on a plinth near the path through the park, and the sculpture is notably good: large, well-observed, and with a quiet dignity that suits its subject. It is within easy walking distance of both the Sunderland Museum and the Minster.

Mowbray Park itself is a pleasant Victorian park with good flower beds and a duck pond. The park forms a green buffer between the commercial city centre and the university campus, and the walrus is a good reason to pass through rather than around it.

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A story
Lewis Carroll's poem "The Walrus and the Carpenter" was written in 1871, and one source for the walrus character is said to be a stuffed walrus displayed in the Sunderland Museum. Carroll visited Sunderland, and the museum's walrus — which had been on display since the 1850s — was well known locally. Hylton Castle's Cauld Lad legend was another Carroll source. The bronze walrus in Mowbray Park was commissioned in 2019 as a celebration of this literary connection.

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