Waiting on the Shore – bronze statue at Rosses Point, Co Sligo

Rosses-Point_Waiting on the Shore statue detail-of-face-Image-copyright-Ireland-Calling-

Waiting on the Shore is a highly evocative statue of a woman with her arms outstretched to sea at Rosses Point in Co Sligo.

Rosses-Point_-Waiting-on-the-Shore-Image-copyright-Ireland-Calling

It was created by sculptor Niall Bruton and pays tribute to the men who sailed the seas off the west coast of Ireland, and to the women who waited at home and prayed for their safe return.

For centuries, successive generations of Sligo families had an uneasy relationship with the sea. On the one hand it provided them with a living with men going off to be fishermen, merchant seamen and sailors.

On the other it was fraught with danger and took lives with frightening regularity. It meant that women could never be at peace while their husbands, sons, brothers and fathers were out at sea.

Rosses Point abandoned-boat--Image-copyright-Ireland-Calling

It was also left to women to run the family and the home while their men were away. And in those tragic cases when men were lost at sea, their wives would have to struggle on and raise the children alone.

Rosses-Point_sunlight breaking through the clouds -Image-copyright-Ireland-Calling

With seafaring so dangerous and the stakes so high, it’s perhaps not surprising that woman in Waiting on the Shore has her arms reaching out to sea and perhaps even to heaven, beseeching the safe return of her loved one. She looks as though she wants to pull him back to safety.

Her face is full of sorrow and anguish … perhaps he is already late in his return and she is becoming anxious, praying and hoping against hope that her fears are groundless and his ship will appear any moment.

Hers is the plight of women throughout the ages along Ireland coastline and beyond. The plaque on the base of that statue reads:

Lost at sea, lost at sea,
Or in the evening tide
We loved you, we miss you
May God with you abide.

Rosses-Point_plaque-Image-copyright-Ireland-Calling

The three metre high bronze statue looks out across Sligo Bay and fittingly, is close to the base of the local lifeboat rescue service. It was unveiled on 10 August, 2002 in a ceremony involving local dignitaries.

Rosses-Point_-Image-copyright-Ireland-Calling

Sculptor Niall Bruton was born in Dublin and now has a studio in Donegal Craft Village. As well as Waiting on the Shore, he also created the Famine Commemoration Statue on the Quayside in Sligo.

Rosses-Point_-Anchor-from-SS-Sligo-Image-copyright-Ireland-Calling

How to become an Irish citizen

Billy Connolly says public should ignore politicians and listen to comedians

Take a look inside Hollywood star Saoirse Ronan’s stunning Irish home