The Kelpies

The Kelpies are two horse heads thirty metres high, rising out of flat parkland beside the M9 between Falkirk and Grangemouth. The two heads are posed differently, as if caught in conversation, and together they have become the great public landmark of central Scotland. They are the work of the sculptor Andy Scott; construction finished in October 2013, and they were unveiled in April 2014.

Their name comes from folklore: the kelpie of Scottish legend is a shape-shifting water spirit, often in the form of a horse, with the strength of many. But the models were very real. Scott based the heads on working Clydesdales, and two of those heavy horses, Duke and Baron, stood for him in the studio. The sculptures are a tribute to the heavy horses that once powered Scottish industry and transport, and they stand at the eastern entrance of the Forth and Clyde Canal, either side of a lock and basin built as part of the project.

Up close they are a lesson in how steel can suggest flesh. Each head weighs around 300 tonnes and is built of hand-welded stainless-steel plates over a structural frame, laid like scales or armour so that the gaps between them make the forms feel almost transparent, especially against a pale sky. The surface changes constantly with the weather — grey and heavy under rain, bright silver in sun — and walking around them, the two heads seem to turn and interact as your angle changes.

Critics have argued about whether they are art or spectacle, but engineers admired the finesse required to realise them, and nearly a million people came to see them in the first year alone. The surrounding Helix park, with paths and water, makes it easy to approach them slowly from a distance, which is the best way to feel their scale.

Getting there

The Kelpies stand in the Helix park, about 2 km from Grangemouth and close to Falkirk. Edinburgh Airport (EDI) is about 25 km away. Falkirk Grahamston is the nearest railway station, about two miles off, and local buses stop near the park; drivers reach it directly from the M9.