A celebrated sculpture near a motorway which has been compared to ‘Angel of the North’ has fallen into disrepair as motorists say it now looks ‘sad’.
Many people driving to the south west from Worcester will be familiar with the M5’s “Willow Man” sculpture near Bridgwater, Somerset, as drivers and residents say it now looked ‘threadbare’.
The 40 feet sculpture, unveiled in September 2000 near junction 23, was created by artist Serena de la Hey.
It is a popular landmark for people heading to the South West on their holidays in the summer. The sculpture was destroyed in an arson attack in 2001 but rebuilt later that year.
DAMAGE: The Willow Man in Bridgwater, Somerset, wilting away (Image: Getty Images)
It is built with black maul willow withies woven over a three tonne steel frame but concerns about its poor condition have been highlighted over the past few years.
The cost of repairing the structure has been placed at around £1 million and Somerset Council cannot repair it because of budget constraints.
One Worcester worker, who hails from West Cornwall, has noticed it deteriorating over several years as he travelled back from seeing family.
The 23-year-old said: “It looks a shell of its former self and it’s a shame because it was a really beautiful sculpture. It was a landmark.”
Anthony Phillips, 67, from the Welsh Valleys has shared his thoughts on the sculpture’s poor condition on a recent trip to the South West – and many agreed with him on a Facebook group called M5 (UK) Traffic Updates.
STRONG: Angel of the North is still standing strong in Gateshead, representing a more permanent structure on the A1 (Image: Getty Images)
He said: “We travelled to and from Torquay last week. I’ve got to say the M5 “Willow Man” which was a 12-meter tall humanoid sculpture located next to the Morrisons distribution centre Bridgwater is looking rather threadbare. It’s just a couple of scaffolding poles now. It doesn’t look like the photo attached. It once was such a good landmark for the South,
such as The Angel of the North is for the North part of the country.
“It’s a shame the Bridgwater Willow Man wasn’t made from a long lasting permanent material.
Lots of sculptures are made from old shopping trolleys. I’m sure Morrisons next door would be able to provide them. We were in slow moving traffic at the time and it looks sad.”