The Singing Ringing Tree

Wind-powered sound sculpture on the moors producing eerie musical tones

The Singing Ringing Tree is a wind-powered sound sculpture standing on Crown Point above Burnley, with views across the Pennines in all directions. The 3-metre-high steel structure looks like a stylised, geometric tree and produces an eerie, resonant hum as wind passes through its tuned steel pipes — the sound shifts with wind speed and direction, ranging from a gentle moan to something more dramatic.

Designed by Tonkin Liu architects and completed in 2006, it won the RIBA National Award and has become the most recognisable landmark in the area. Getting there requires a 20-minute drive from Burnley followed by a short walk; the elevation and open moorland exposure make this genuinely dramatic rather than merely photogenic. Worth combining with a walk on the surrounding moors.

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The Singing Ringing Tree was commissioned as part of the Panopticons project, which placed four large artworks on the hilltops of Pennine Lancashire to mark the cultural regeneration of the post-industrial region. The structure is made from galvanised steel pipes of varying lengths that are tuned to produce sound as wind passes through — mostly in minor keys, giving it an unsettling, slightly mournful quality that suits its exposed moorland setting. It won the National Award of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2007.

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