Crumbling Lord Hill statue in Shrewsbury to be replaced with a replica
Shrewsbury's crumbling Lord Hill statue is to be replaced with a replica that could potentially cost more than £350,000, it has been decided.
Shropshire Council leader Keith Barrow said he would follow the decision of a packed public meeting in Shirehall last night, which overwhelmingly voted in favour of a replacement for the nearly 200-year-old statue.
He also promised to look into the possibility of cancelling planned short-term repair work due to take place later this year to save money that could be put towards the cost of a replica.
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About 70 people attended the two-hour meeting last night, which looked into the options of what to do with the statue.
The meeting heard that short-term repairs on the current statue could be carried out every five to 10 years at a cost of up to £60,000 per time.
The cost of a number of alternative materials for a replica statue was also explained, with the cheapest replacement being cast concrete at £180,000 and the most expensive being stone carving at £350,000.
But members of the public were in support of a replacement made from coade stone, the material used on the existing statue of the military hero who fought alongside the Duke of Wellington.
The decision comes after Shropshire Star readers decided a replacement was the best option in a poll conducted in July.
The estimate for the basic cost of the replacement is £200,000, but Councillor Barrow said when expenses such as scaffolding, fencing and the removal of the existing statue were taken into account, the final bill would be in the region of £350,000 and may be more.
Colin Richards, historic environment manager for Shropshire Council, said the coade stone replacement should have a lifespan of around 100 years – longer and in some cases double the time of the other options.
Council bosses have set aside £140,000 for the temporary repair of the existing statue later this year, with the job already out to tender.
But Councillor Barrow said that job may now be cancelled, with officials exploring the possibility of removing the current statue entirely and putting the saved repair costs towards the final bill for the replacement after the idea was suggested by a member of the public.
"I promised you would be involved in the decision-making process," he told the meeting.
"We will go away with the decision we are going to replace him with a coade stone statue. It is iconic for Shrewsbury and not to have him there would be a terrible thing.
"To save money on repairing is a good start to put into a pot to take it forward."
But question marks remain over what will happen to the current 17ft statue, after the idea of putting it into the new Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery was rejected as unworkable.
Councillor Barrow said the size, weight and poor state of repair of the statue meant the idea would not work.
He had earlier told the meeting that opting for a replacement statue would create an issue about what to do with the current one.
"The problem is what do you do with him? He isn't exactly pretty," he said.
"Even if you took him down, you would have to repair him. If you threw him in a skip, it would somewhat be an act of cultural vandalism."
But he said options such as leaving the original at the bottom of the column or putting it in the new museum would not work.
"You can't just take him down and stand him somewhere. If a chunk falls off, it is going to cause serious damage," he said.
"He weighs about 25 tons and is 17ft large. You can't stick him in the corner of the museum."
Last night's meeting was told action has to be taken on the crumbling statue to prevent falling masonry potentially killing someone.
The Grade II-listed column has been fenced off since April 2012 when small pieces of masonry fell from the statue, followed by further pieces last December and again in April this year.
Council bosses have found that with the nearby roads it is not possible to fence off a large enough area around the bottom of the column – resulting in the decision to put scaffolding up to help catch falling debris.
Councillor Keith Barrow, leader of Shropshire Council, said: "We have got to do something with him.
"Something is going to fall off and kill someone. We can't put fencing around a big enough area."
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