It is the first time the Turner Prize winning artwork – made up of 40,000 terracotta figures – has exhibited in St Helens despite being created in the town with the help of local schoolchildren 15 years ago.

Organisers and volunteers spent three days unloading the brick figurines, which are currently staring out at spectators from a room in St Helens College.
The exhibition will stay until mid-August.

Gormley, perhaps best known for iconic creations such as the Angel of the North and the Iron Men of Crosby Beach, enlisted the help of pupils from Sutton Manor and Sutton High in creating Field.

The children, teachers and their families were given a small ball of clay with which they shaped into a standing figure with two eyes.

Many art lovers say the exhibition changes every time they look at it, the array of different colours, the endless presence of the figurines gives them a different take on it each time.

After its three month stint in St Helens it will be heading to the Cotswolds in the south west of England.