Leicestershire sculptor crafting quarryman tribute

Mountsorrel Quarry commissions lasting memorial to workers past, present and future

A LEICESTERSHIRE sculptor is crafting a memorial to Mountsorrel Quarry workers, past, present and future, in a celebration of the site’s community heritage.

Graeme Mitcheson, from Castle Donnington, is putting the finishing touches to the statue, chiselled from Mountsorrel granite itself.

It has taken the artist a month to turn the lump of rock into a representation of a Victorian quarryman, which will form a lasting legacy of the quarry’s upcoming open days in May.

Inspiration came from an old photograph of a granite sett-maker – nicknamed Albert - shaping cobblestones for road building – one of the most important jobs at the quarry for more than 150 years.

Quarry manager Angus Shedden said: ‘We wanted to have a lasting legacy from our spring open days and also some kind of commemoration of the quarry’s link with the local community, the essential contribution it makes to the local economy and vital role it plays as an employer and consumer of services.

‘We chose Albert, from the photograph, to be our open day logo and when we started to think of commissioning a sculpture it seemed fitting he should also be the inspiration for that too.

‘Albert is a bit of a mystery; we don’t know his real name or anything else about him apart from his job – a sett-maker, a skilled and important job at the quarry at the time.

‘But he is a perfect example of a local man making his living at the local quarry, a tradition which continues to this day and which we hope will continue for many more years.

‘Our thanks go to Graeme Mitcheson for his work – he has done an amazing job bringing Albert to life.’