
Fleetwood 1841 was commissioned by Fleetwood Heritage Action Zone (HAZ) Cultural Consortium, a group of local arts and heritage organisations led by Fleetwood Museum.
This artwork was created in response to Fleetwood’s 1841 Census and is now being enjoyed as an educational resource to inspire others to explore the town’s heritage. The doll’s house was used as a foundation to the work because it is similar in style to the original Customs House (now the Fleetwood Museum) built in 1836, one of the first buildings to be completed in the town. The exterior represents Fleetwood as a whole that in 1841 was newly designed and under construction. The interior is filled with symbolic objects representing the people and their professions listed in the census i.e. a tomato to represent the grocers, a paintbrush to represent the painters, a saw handle to represent the sawyers and a shoe to represent the shoemakers/cordwainers.
Image Credit: Jill Reidy