Little Book of Staffordshire by Gomez Kate

Author:Gomez, Kate
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780750982009
Publisher: The History Press

7

STAFFORDSHIRE ARCHITECTURE

STATUES AND SCULPTURE

The sailor guarding the entrance to Lichfield Registry Office (once the Free Library and Museum) was originally created for the War Memorial in Duncombe Place by York, but after it was rejected on the basis it was too warlike it was given to the city by the stonemason and architect Robert Bridgeman.

Until recently, a bronze sculpture of a stag and hind stood in High Green Court shopping centre in Cannock. The sculpture was won by a local woman who won it on the game show The Price is Right and donated it to the town as a gift.

There is a sculpture of a Marmite jar next to the library in Burton upon Trent, nicknamed Monumite.

A statue of Samuel Johnson sits in the Market Square in Lichfield, opposite his former home, now the Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum. Each year, the city celebrates the birthday of one of its most famous sons, and a wreath is laid on the statue by the Mayor of Lichfield.

A wooden statue dedicated to the memory of Christina Collins, murdered whilst travelling by narrowboat along the Trent and Mersey Canal in June 1839, stands below the Workhouse Bridge in Stone. Christina raised her fears about the intentions of the men she was travelling with to Hugh Cordwell at the Toll Office here but he did nothing but advise her to report the crew at the end of her journey. Christina’s body was found in the canal at Rugeley the following day.

A statue of Captain John Smith of the Titanic stands in Lichfield’s Beacon Park. On several occasions the people of Hanley have requested that the statue be returned to them, on the basis that Smith was born there and that the statue was originally intended for the town but rejected due to the perceived shame associated with the sinking of the ship. However, the bronze sculpture, created by Kathleen Scott, widow of Scott of the Antarctic, was never intended for Hanley. It was erected in Lichfield, as it was the centre of the diocese and was also a convenient place for people travelling between London and Liverpool to visit. Ironically, it was actually in Lichfield where opposition to the statue was greatest. A petition was presented to the City Council protesting that Smith has no connection with Lichfield and therefore a statue was inappropriate. In 2012, a memorial service was held at the statue with 1,523 tea lights placed at the foot of the statue to remember those who lost their lives in the disaster.

The place name Shenstone is thought to mean ‘shining stone’, a fact which inspired Jo Naden’s steel sculpture for the village’s Lammas Land in 2002. The silver stone sculpture was placed at a point where a bridge crosses the Black Brook stream running through the Lammas Lands. Trees can be seen reflected in the stainless steel, and the text inscribed on it – ‘A flock of birds settle … the green field re-echoes where there is a brisk bright stream’ – is taken from the words of an unknown ninth-century Irish author.

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