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.
Nice bit of spotting there Uptonx. You can clearly see that its part of the old John Willey statue. Bet they don't even know what they've got laying there in the garden.
I was thinking of this statue a few months back and found information on uptoncx website, i remember it well as a child and often used it as a meeting point. Never the most beautiful statue in the world, it was obviously done by someone with some skills, whether it was done by a stone mason to advertise his work, i would have my doubts, perhaps his apprentices as a project. All the years it must have been there, i would of thought it would have been protected and at least been moved to another site.
God help us, Come yourself, Don't send Jesus, This is no place for children.
