The anticipation for their arrival was almost palpable, but those living in the seaside community watched on as the bronze statues of a man and woman, entitled Couple, were finally put in place.

Their creator, artist Sean Henry, watched the operation from the shore, along with hundreds of onlookers.

The installation of the UK's first permanent offshore sculpture took nearly a full day, but as night crept in, the female figure was joined by her male companion as a crane hoisted the pair into place.

Having travelled up from Liverpool last week by lorry, the artwork was temporarily stored at Battleship Wharf in North Blyth whilst repairs were carried out on the barge which would transport the sculpture out to sea.

Work then began early on Friday morning to secure the ten tonne platform, on which Couple stand, to stilts rising from the sea.

Only when the engineers had secured the 130 bolts on the platform could the sculptures be collected from the port and taken to their new home.

People gathered along the seafront to watch as the female sculpture was carefully lifted into place at around 9.30pm on Friday.

She was then joined by her male counterpart a little more than an hour later.

Westminster Dredging, the contractors who installed the artwork with their crane barge Strekker, have been building a sea wall 300 metres out to sea since May.

Before the statues could be positioned on the striking white plinth, a steel shelf was lifted into place on six 7.5m support struts.

They are designed to prevent the bottom of the artwork getting wet.

The long-awaited arrival of Couple is part of a £10m investment into the reconstruction of Newbiggin's once-popular beach and the creation of sea defences around the bay.