The Stag - Lockmeadow Centre, Maidstone, UK
N 51° 16.217 E 000° 31.203
31U E 327007 N 5682803
"The Stag" is a 21 foot (6.5 metre) tall sculpture located outside the Lockmeadown Centre in Maidstone on the banks of the River Medway. Created in 1963 it spent time in London before eventually arriving here in 2004.
Waymark Code: WMR6Q8
Location: South East England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 05/18/2016
Views: 2
"The Stag", made from aluminium, was created by the sculptor Edward Bainbridge Copnall in 1963 and was initially installed in Stag Place in London. It shows a stag rearing up on its hind legs with a full set of antlers.
The plaque, located at the sculpture, tells us:
Maidstone
Borough Council
The Stag
by
Edward Bainbridge Copnall
Originally located in Stag Place, London 1963 to 1997.
Re-installed on this site in 2004
as part of the Maidstone Millennium River Park by
Maidstone Borough Council
with the co-operation of Sevenoaks District Council,
and through the generous sponsorship of
Land Securities and Bryant Homes.
Unveiled by
Her Majesty's Lord Lieutenant of Kent
Mr Allan Willett CMG
29th June 2004
The Gulland's website tells us about the sculpture:
The statue once described as “a dramatic, rampant stag, rearing up on its hind legs, full of masculine raw energy” is well-known by all Maidstone residents and locals, but less well known is where it came from.
The Stag was sculptor Edward Bainbridge Copnall’s largest piece of work and for it he was awarded a silver medal from the Royal Society of British Sculptors. After its creation in 1963, the statue was put on display and unveiled by Princess Alexandra in London at Stag Place near Victoria Station where it remained until the area was redeveloped in 1997.
Originally donated to Sevenoaks Borough Council in December 2000 by Edward’s daughter Jill Neff, the Stag was eventually sold to Maidstone Borough Council in late 2003 for £2,000 after it was decided that Sevenoaks could not provide a suitable permanent home for the one-and-a-half ton solid aluminum piece of artwork. This provoked much protest and anger from many Sevenoaks residents who believed the sculpture to be worth at least £250,000 at the time.
Today the 21-feet-tall Stag proudly towers outside the Lockmeadow Centre where it was unveiled as part of the Kent Millennium River Park development in 2004.