Celebrating a hundred years of successful garden city living
Welwyn Garden City has a rich variety of beautiful statues and monuments which mark events, buildings or significant people in the town’s history.
A new statue of Ebenezer Howard was commissioned by the Welwyn Garden City Centenary Foundation to mark the centenary. We are delighted to share these pictures of the near final product, funded by the Wheat Quarter.
Cast in bronze and weighing half a ton, the statue stands over 7ft (2.2m) tall. Local sculptor Ben Twiston-Davies said ‘I’m delighted with the casting which has brought out all the detail in the clay model.’
The statue will be installed in Howardsgate later this year when the plinth of Welsh slate has been carved and finished. A specialist contractor has been commissioned to undertake the works. It is hoped that lighting can be installed so that the statue will be illuminated during evening hours.
Peter Waine, Chairman of the Centenary Foundation said ‘This will be a handsome addition to the formal gardens in our elegant town centre. The garden city pioneers believed that public art was a vital element in the street scene and it is fitting that this statue of the founder of Welwyn Garden City should be installed in our centenary year. It is a stunning work of art by a local artist and will grace our town centre for centuries to come’.
We would like to thank the Wheat Quarter for their generous sponsorship, Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council for their support in making the installation of the statue possible, Digswell Arts Trust for helping us find such a talented sculptor, and to Ben Twiston-Davies for creating such a wonderful depiction of the man who created Welwyn Garden City.
The magnificent new sculpture by Ben Twiston-Davies ready to leave the foundry and be prepared for installation
The scale model – known as a maquette – created by Ben Twiston-Davies prior to the full size sculpture being cast
