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Art historian Dr Richard Cocke (pronounced 'Coke') is on a mission to point out the wealth of sculpture around us - often to be seen on the facades of buildings in town centres, if only we looked up.

"It came as a revelation to us. When you start walking round Ipswich, Sudbury or Bury you start looking up and there's all this wonderful sculpture.

"The fascias of the shops have all been horribly modernised, but above that there's often this wonderful legacy from the Victorians and, above all, the Edwardians as well as the free-standing sculpture.

Green Wind, Ipswich

"One of my favourites is at Ravenswood in Ipswich where the developers and the local council have done a very good job of putting sculptures in public places to mark that it was a former aerodrome."

The Recording Archive for Public Sculpture lists around 700 pieces from across Suffolk and Norfolk. The project's been financed with 拢40,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the work's been carried out by the University of East Anglia and the Public Monuments & Sculpture Association (PMSA).

The church and your money

"In some cases the sculpture itself is not very interesting, but it tells us about a fantastic social history - aspects of the region we would tend to overlook or forget," said Richard.

One of these is the Tithe Memorial at Elmsett near Hadleigh which records the 'tithe wars'. The Church of England was entitled to collect its own taxes (tithes) from local people, whether or not they were Anglicans, for the upkeep of the church and its vicar.

The Elmsett memorial was built by Charles Westren who had furniture and goods to the value of 拢1,200 confiscated in 1934 in lieu of his failure to pay a 拢385 tithe. He emigrated in 1943 and the tithe system was eventually abolished after the Second World War.

Tithe Memorial, Elmsett

There's a similar memorial near Wortham where a confrontation took place at the rectory between the police, fascist blackshirts and landowners fighting the tithe system.

"It sits into a wider picture of agricultural decline," said Richard. "In the earlier period one's got lots of corn exchanges with wonderful reapers sitting around looking proud, bundles or corn etc.

"But from the 1870s, East Anglian agriculture suffered a decline and the tithe wars were the final stage in this process of things not going very well."

Growing interest

The Norfolk & Suffolk archive is the latest in a long-line of archives that the PMSA has set up across the UK.

It follows the popularity of artworks such as the Angel of the North at Gateshead on Tyneside.

"It's an absolutely fabulous object both from the way it dominates from a long distance to the quality of the design," said Richard.

"A region like East Anglia cries out for some sculptures of that scale and quality. Local people and visitors get a tremendous kick from it when it's really well done - and I think Maggi Hambling's Scallop is really well done."

"If you go and look at the Barbara Hepworth in Snape you have wonderful sculptures in a wonderful setting with reedbeds and the River Alde. If you go to Lowestoft you can look at Triton while the children run through the fountain.

"It enhances one's trip around cities, towns and in the countryside."

It's hoped the Recording Archive will eventually produce a quality photography book to accompany the project.

(All photographs taken by Sarah Cocke of the Recording Archive for Public Sculpture.)