Foundry fix Nailsea glassblower for free

THE foundry has fixed free-of-charge the broken bronze statue of the glassblower outside Tesco supermarket in Nailsea.

The goodwill gesture was made as there was some confusion about whether the damage was caused by the bad weather or bad behaviour.

Nailsea Town Council clerk Ian Morrell said: “The police checked the CCTV footage and there was no evidence that somebody was tampering with the statue and there is certainly no evidence that someone took a saw to it.”

Castle Fine Arts, of Stroud, foundry manager Jamie Attwood was on site this week with welding equipment for the repair.

He said: “It looks to me as it someone has given it a good yank and pulled it all apart.”

Council chairman Mary Ponsonby said: “It might have just been that the very cold weather caused the movement in the metal but we are very pleased the foundry waive its bill.”

Barnstaple-based sculptor Vanessa Marston was commissioned to make the prized bronze which depicts a glassblower shaping a parison in preparation for blowing a cylinder of glass.

The artwork sits on the site of the historic 18th glassworks which is now a derelict rat-run clump of land, a new road and a supermarket car park at the end of the High Street.

The near life-size model stands on a plinth made from pennant sandstone called Nailsea Flats.

It has been in place for exactly two years.

Half of the £30,000 to pay for the artwork came from the developers, Tesco, as part of a ‘planning gain’ contribution and the rest was paid for by the town council.

The glassworks was established in 1788 and was one of the largest in the United Kingdom.

Work made by Nailsea ‘friggers’ – employees at the end of their shift - is still collectable worldwide.

The site has been the subject of several archaeological digs but most of the brickwork it thought to have been recycled by the 1960s by newcomers to the town to adorn garden rockeries.

Richard Barclay, of Backwell, the great-great-great-great grandfather of John Robert Lucas the founder of Nailsea Glassworks was at the unveiling ceremony performed by Mrs Ponsonby.

The plans then were to develop the glassworks site with a mixture of residential and retail properties but since the recession this has been put on hold.