AN HISTORIC Oswestry monument which was knocked down in a road crash will be restored to its original place at The Cross.

The Cross Fountain monument, which was gifted to the town in 1862, was damaged in the incident 18 months ago in an incident which left a man hospitalized.

Now, after much wrangling with insurance companies and extensive research to return the fountain to its exact design, Oswestry Town Council has declared it will be returning, which was welcomed by Mayor Councilor Mike Isherwood.

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He said: “Safeguarding our heritage landscape for future generations is an important part of our work.

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“The Cross is a familiar sight and means a great deal to us.

“While it will be wonderful to see it back home in the heart of our town, we mustn't forget that this was a very serious collision that had profound consequences for those injured.

“Our sincere thoughts are with them.”

Oswestry Town Council has led the restoration, liaising with the driver's insurance company, and appointing CBS Ltd to carry out the work.

By November 2023, the insurers accepted to pay in full to reinstate the monument and detailed research was commissioned to aid in the faithful reproduction.

Manuscripts and images in The National Library of Wales, Oswestry Town Council Archive and Oswestry Library were examined to enable the sourcing of the right sort of stone and accurate reproduction of the decorative carvings, most of which had been lost due to decades of weather erosion and damage.

Ian Storey, Director of CBS Ltd, said: “Having restored the original monument in 2006, we were very sad to have heard of the tragic events surrounding the collision, and felt especially motivated to help in whatever way we could.

“After we recovered the monument, we soon arrived at the conclusion that very little of the original material could be salvaged, and once the decision was taken to produce a replica, we began our search for archival information and suitable materials.

“We found that none of the stone quarries used to produce the original components remained open, so we had to look further afield for the replacement sandstone and limestone.

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“We engaged some of the county's finest architectural sculptors to produce clay models of the decoration before arriving at an exemplar that we were all happy with, and this was used to guide the stone carver during the working up of the detailed stonemasonry.

“The highly decorative, detailed and very crisp new work will be in stark contrast to the weathered remains of the original, but we're confident that our research, carefully selected stone and attention to detail have combined to capture the true spirit of the original work.”

The work is expected at last four weeks.