When wandering around on my travels, I come across all kinds of statuary – some in good repair – others a little worse for wear – all completely forgotten.  It seemed to me rather sad to see these works of art which would have been celebrated when unveiled, lying in the shadows, covered in soot or pigeon excrement.

So, to fly the flag for the forgotten statues of yesterday, I thought I might start a mini-series here on my blog to give them their three minutes of fame once again.

OK – so maybe you know about this statue of Alfred the Great in Winchester but clearly, the chap parking his car – a tad too close to me for comfort – when I was taking this photo didn’t have a clue about it – and he has lived in Winchester all his life.

So, online research relate that the artist was one Hamo Thorneycroft RA and the bronze statue, 2..5 times life size, was erected in 1901 to mark 1,000 years since the death of King Alfred of Wessex.  It is located in the middle of the road at the eastern end of The Broadway, close to the site of the city’s medieval East Gate.

It’s only right that a King should be the first in the series!

For more about Winchester, follow @King_Alf on twitter and on Facebook/KingAlfWinchester.

Contributor and photographer:  Sue Lowry

Follow A3Traveller on Twitter:  @A3Traveller and Sue Lowry on Google +, YouTube, Linkedin, Flickr and Pinterest.  I also operate another blog for my company, MagellanPR – http://www.magellanstraits.com.  They can be followed on Twitter:  @MagellanPR, on Google+, on YouTube, on Pinterest and on Facebook.

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