Start date for Buxton's female quarry statue confirmed

The sculpture will be located in Buxton's Grin Low Woods after a successful campaign by the Advertiser to raise the £4,000 needed.

Sculptor Lorraine Botterill has sourced the wood and is looking to start carving next month with the grand unveiling taking place in the woods in November or December.

She said: “I’m really excited about starting work on the female sculpture and can’t wait to see it all finished in the woods.”

Lorraine also created the much loved Jack the quarry worker statue as well as the neanderthal man and the deer for the woods.

She said: “Normally when you create a piece you never see it again but I come to Grin Low Woods to enjoy the space and the quiet so I feel more invested in these pieces as I see them regularly.”

The statue will pay tribute to the women of the town who worked in the lime industry.

Simon Fussell, from Buxton Civic Association which owns the woods, said: “Women were responsible for digging out the stone and putting it in the kilns while the men were out doing other things.

"The town’s industrial heritage was built on women and the women who also worked tirelessly through the two world wars while men were away fighting.

"So it is very important we honour and celebrate the women and really important we get the statue right.”Lorraine is using sprue for the carving and says she has been gathering information of what women looked like from old photographs.

She said: “The statue will be a quarry worker from the Victorian ages in the 1800s.

"I’ve seen pictures of women wearing trousers, boots, a big dress apron with their hair in a cap and carrying big shovels.

"That is the look I am going to create – a strong powerful woman in the woods."

Lorraine is also looking at running a workshop with local school children to get their ideas on the project.

She added: “This is a community project which a lot of people are excited about so it will be nice to work with a school and give them a sense of ownership of the sculpture.”

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