The Wicker Man is the South West of England's version of the Angel of the North. The imposing 12 meter high statue of a man is a very popular landmark figure standing alongside the M5 motorway near Bridgwater, Somerset. Made from willow and steel, he stands with one leg slightly in front of the other and arms outstretched, looking as though he has been marching across the landscape for centuries rather for than a couple of years.
Created by Serena De La Hey for entry in the Year 2000, Year of Art exhibition, he cost £15,000 to build and he symbolizes the cultural history of the area. The Somerset Levels on which he stands are basically fen land and the tradition of working with willow can be traced back to the Bronze Age. Willow is still extensively grown in the area for the purpose of wicker basket manufacture and for furniture, so the choice of material for the statue was not a haphazard one.
Being made of natural material, the project was only supposed to survive for about three years, but during the night of the May 8, 2001 vandals set light to the figure, possibly trying to emmulate the burning of the Wicker Man in the cult movie of the same name. Fortunately, despite the massive blaze, the steel frame was still structurally sound, and there was a strong determination to raise the funds to rebuild him.
In
July of that year his
skeleton was bedecked in an enormous pair of brightly coloured
plaid trousers to launch
Wrong Trousers Day - a national
charity day aimed at raising money for children's hospitals. The trousers were made by a local company which specialises in making hot air balloons, they took 2 days to make and were the size of 85 pairs of normal trousers!
The rebuilding of the Wicker Man was completed in October 2001, this time with extra steel intertwined with the willow to give him more strength. There are still no fences surrounding him to keep out vandals, but he now stands in the centre of a large weedbed - hopefully the nettles and brambles will protect him for the rest of his natural life.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1423000/1423667.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1319000/1319215.stm