Work to start on facelift for iconic Wolverhampton statue
An iconic statue in Wolverhampton city centre will undergo essential repairs to restore it to its former glory.
Restoration work on the Prince Albert bronze statue – known locally as the “Man on the ‘Oss” – will start on Monday and is expected to take around eight weeks.
The monument, in Queen Square, has not been treated for around 20 years.
Work will include repairs to the corroded bronze, the granite plinth and the bent scabbard.
Council chiefs say the work is long overdue but they insist access to nearby businesses will not be affected while it is carried out.
The statue has been subjected to vandal attacks over the years, with yobs daubing graffiti over it and even placing a comedy nose on its head.
The council has budgeted £20,000 for the work but spokesman Paul Brown said the exact cost would not be known until the extent of the damage has been analysed, saying it could be “significantly lower”.
Councillors said they were looking forward to the statue being restored to its “former glory”.
City Councillor Peter Bilson, said it was a long-overdue restoration and that residents were “quite rightly proud” of the statue.
Comments for: "Work to start on facelift for iconic Wolverhampton statue"
Laura
Services to the old and most vulnerable being cut, benefits being cut, job losses, cost of living rising and they spend £20,000 on restoring a statue, when will WCC get their priorities right!!!!
PJW Holland
"Man on the Oss"?
I have never heard it called that. It is and always was a statue of Prince Albert.... with the legs wrong!
Maybe the author of this facile comment should have looked up a bit of history and understood what the statue represents. This statue was erected for the vist of Queen Victoria in 1865. This was the first public engagement she carried out after the death of the Prince. She had been implored to carry out public engagements but she declined until the invitation from the Widows of Wolverhampton persuaded her to perform this one.
Another slant is that perhaps this was an apology for the unlawful removal of the deanery twenty years earlier.
CanMatt
PJW,
When I lived in Wolverhampton, which was for forty years, the Prince Albert statue was regularly refered to as "The Man on The Hos".
The same goes for number 19 Victoria Street which is known locally as Lindy Lou, which was a business in the 60's and 70's.
These were local nicknames given to meeting places.
Perhaps you would like to read the article from the Black Country Bugle for further insight and facts related to this statue.
http://www.blackcountrybugle.co.uk/News/The-mon-on-the-oss-unveiled-by-Queen-Victoria-in-1866-19102011.htm
PJW Holland
Lindy Lou was the Copper Kettle and indeed the kettle hung from it for years after it became Lindy Lou.
I am a Wulfrunian and I have never heard it referred to as "the Man on the Hos". No doubt this is something those from nearby locations use.... I challenge you to find any article in the Express and Star or the Wolverhampton Chronicle prior to this decade where such a term is used.
Fred
Its the only bit of history we have left in Wolverhampton, why shouldn't the council restore the man on the horse or the M.O.T.H as we used to call it. One thing I would say though is that they should stop all the angsty teenagers sitting on it of a Saturday because they really make the place look untidy, perhaps railings around the monument would deter this, as well as those that have the lack of intelligence to graffiti? Long live the M.O.T.H!!!
Steve
born and bred in Wolverhampton (Blakenhall, Penn) and I have always know it as the man on the oss. I was told the legs were wrong though I never understood it myself.