A cracking new trail has been revealed by Cumbria’s mysterious guerrilla art collective.
Cumberland Objects – the Banksy-esque group who claim they don’t actually exist – have created a new golden fried egg trail in West Cumbria.
It is the fourth trail of its kind in Cumbria after golden custard creams were spotted in Carlisle, half-eaten golden pies were found in Whitehaven and Cleator Moor and an upcoming chocolate bourbon trail was teased just last month.
The trails aim to encourage people to embark on scavenger hunts to find them all.
Several people have already spotted eggs in Cockermouth and Egremont and the collective has since shared a little teaser about them on social media.
It said: “It is a little known fact that the fried egg was invented in Cumberland by monks.
“The exact whereabouts of these sizzling escapees (the eggs, not the monks) is unknown…Nestled in Cockermouth, Egremont and Dalston, these fried egg fiends want findin’!”
Most of the collective’s objects feature a QR code beside them, which takes finders to a website that shares extra details on the object.
The fried eggs do feature a QR code next to them, which takes users to a page that claims the fried egg was invented in Cumberland following a minor disaster.
It claims that following a crash between a wagon of eggs and lard getting too close to a fire warming the toes of some sleepy monks, that the monks scraped up the mess using metal communion plates – creating fried eggs.
It adds that 10 eggs are hidden in each town and while other object locations can be found on a map on the collective’s website, the fried eggs will not have their locations featured on the map.
The website adds: “Your challenge, if you’re up for it, is to hunt them down! Crack on…Like, eh. #crackon”
The website shares clues for the 50 custard creams in Carlisle and seven pies in Whitehaven and Cleator Moor – which the group said pay homage to McVitie’s and Bennett’s, an old popular pie maker in West Cumbria.
Cumberland Objects is a project to celebrate the obscure and uncelebrated anecdotal heritage of Cumbria.
Nobody knows who is behind the project – but when approached by Cumbria Crack, they told us they wanted the focus to be on the joy they were bringing, and not on their intriguing group identity.
As part of the wider project, the collective recently staged a ‘theft’ of Carlisle’s cursing stone.
The group shared a short video on Facebook featuring a gang of masked people hauling the Cursing Stone out of the underpass, using ropes, before dragging it through the streets at the dead of night and throwing it in the river.
After we published a story on the video, we were sent a mysterious message by the group.
They said: “If anyone asks, we decided to take action after the Gillingham game. Something had to be done.
“We did it for United, for Carlisle and for freedom. And maybe it will help get the city centre fixed on time.
“Big up the Blues. Tonight is a challenge, but at least that stone has been sorted.”
The collective is also collecting hyper-local stories, tales and urban legends to share on its website.
The location of three unusual signs related to these stories can also be found on the website. One of which we found in Cleator Moor, referencing the town’s old Co-op building.
