Sculpture is a mooving idea (From Wiltshire Times)

Sculpture is a mooving idea

2:00pm Saturday 12th January 2013 in Chippenham

The Chippenham Civic Society aims to bring history alive by placing a life-size model of a calf in the town centre.

The calf, to be made by sculptor Richard Cowdy, will stand at the entrance to Emery Gate to commemorate Chippenham’s old cattle market.

It will cost just under £10,000 to make and, thanks to several early donations, fundraising for the project is well under way.

The civic society will contribute £4,000 towards the project and Mountgrange LLP, the owners of Borough Parade, have pledged £1,500.

As the calf will be based in the shopping centre, they have also agreed to maintain it after it is installed.

Recently, the Chippenham Borough Lands Charity also promised to cover a shortfall in costs of up to £4,000.

Mr Cowdy, who will make the 4ft long and 2ft 9 inch-wide sculpture, was also responsible for The Pigs at Phelps Parade, Calne, to commemorate the bacon factory, and The Pyramid in Devizes.

His calf will be based at the site of Chippenham’s cattle market from 1910 to 1954.

In 1910, the market moved from the Market Place to the Neeld Hall, next to Borough Parade. It was based there for 44 years before it moved to Cocklebury Road and closed in 2005.

Owen Pennell, secretary of the civic society, said the sculpture would help people to remember when Chippenham used to have the largest one-day cattle market in England.

He said: “It’s not just a piece of sculpture, there’s a purpose behind it.

“We want to inform and educate, particularly children and young people, about the historic context of the cattle market in Chippenham.

“The position will hopefully give it the context of where the cattle market was at that time.”

Later this month the society will make a planning application for the calf, which members hope to install at an official opening ceremony by summer next year.

Mr Pennell said: “What we hope, arising from our initiative, is that maybe the town council or Wiltshire Council will also commission works of art that could be related to Chippenham’s history.

“I was in America last year and I was amazed by some of the towns I went through. It’s almost a foregone conclusion that if a developer puts up a building, they put up a new work of art.

“It gives the whole place a much more interesting dynamic.”

Mr Cowdy will also be making several limited edition bronze models of the calf, which are available to buy to raise money for the project.

For more, visit www.

chippenhamcivicsociety.co.uk