🌊✨ Low View of the Aldeburgh Scallop

Crouched down on the pebbles to see a familiar landmark from a new perspective towering against the Suffolk sky.

What makes this piece even more powerful is its story: The Scallop was created in 2003 by British artist Maggi Hambling as a tribute to composer Benjamin Britten, who lived in Aldeburgh and walked this very stretch of beach almost daily.

The sculpture stands 3.7 metres tall, made of stainless steel, and is formed from two interlocking halves of a broken shell. Cut into the rim is Britten’s haunting line from Peter Grimes: “I hear those voices that will not be drowned.”

Hambling designed it to be interactive — a place to sit, shelter, reflect, and literally “have a conversation with the sea.”