John Willey - 30th Nov 2010 10:19pm
A small piece of Upton history has briefly re-emerged over the past week.
On the triangle of land at the junction of Meadway and Manor Drive stood a crude stone statue. This larger than life figure was known locally as John Willey. I don't know when he arrived, but he was certainly there in the mid 1950s.
The stone man was simply made out of blocks of stone and was supposedly put up by a local stone mason as an advert. It was frequently 'decorated' by local children.
John Willey's end came when a bungalow was built on the land, the stone man was knocked down, and it was believed that some of the stone was used to build a rockery in the garden.
A lot of work is presently being carried out on the house and garden, and when I passed at the weekend, there, at the end of Meadway, were John Willey's legs and feet.