WATCHET'S Market House Museum is now home to a spectacular new piece of artwork commemorating the workforce behind West Somerset's Mineral Line.

Produced by Somerset artist Jon England, has created a portrait of one of the workers by hammering thousands of iron nails with various levels of rust which can be seen on the facade of the Market House Museum.

This is the first of several portraits in the series and was unveiled on Wednesday, March 27, to coincide with the museum's annual opening and 40th anniversary celebrations.

From the mid-19th to early 20th century, many hands were employed extracting and transporting iron ore from the Brendon Hills to the furnaces of Ebbw Vale, South Wales.

The workers spent up to fifty hours per week below ground - boring, blasting and shovelling. Meanwhile many ‘old salts’ and young mariners traversed the treacherous tides of the Bristol Channel, transporting ore from Watchet’s West Quay to Newport Harbour.

In Jon England’s response to this industrial history, iron and salt have become his core materials. Working with what is a scarce archive of photos of the mineral line in operation, he is creating works to be installed across Watchet during 2019.

Contains Art presents the first in a new series of public commissions by Somerset artist, Jon England. Beginning on March 27th with an installation on the outside of Watchet’s Market House Museum, Jon produces the first of several portraits documenting the workforce behind West Somerset’s Mineral Line.

The men who worked extracting the iron ore from the Brendon Hills were a largely migratory population, many having relocated from Cornish tin mines.

Jon Barrett of Contains Art said: "In Jon England’s hands the humble iron nail has become a material which resonates with the past.

"The absurdity of the artist’s process – an act of devotion or penance can pay only partial homage to the labour of the men’s whose hands worked the mineral line and who left a lasting impression on this community."

During the Easter holidays Contains Art will be running two messy art workshops on April 10 and 17 from 2pm to 4pm.