At the south end of the Suffolk coastal town of Aldeburgh, an area known as Slaughden, for the washed-away village that was once there back in the middle ages, stands a unique quatrefoil Martello Tower, built in the early 19th Century to help defend Old Blighty against a Napoleonic invasion. Now, the Tower, owned by the Landmark Trust and rented out as an esoteric holiday residence, has a new resident: a life-size statue created by artist, sculpteur Antony Gormley, one of five marking points of the compass around England and a central point. The distributed artwork installation is known as Land. The Slaughden statue stands, arms folded, looking out to sea with what Gormley describes as a defiant “What’s going on here, then?” posture, daring wouldbe invaders of these shores to come over here if you think you’re hard enough.
