Tree turned into Armistice Day memorial sculpture

The project began more than a year ago when Upton Parish Council took control of the car park

A tree in a car park has been turned into a sculpture of a soldier to mark Armistice Day.

The artwork from the dead wood was commissioned by the parish council in Upton on the outskirts of Northampton and created by sculptor Peter Leadbeater.

He used ideas from the pupils at St. Luke's CE Primary School as inspiration for the design, and landscaper Steve Tee created a wall around the Unknown Soldier sculpture.

Mr Tee said of the carving: "The attention to detail is absolutely fantastic".

The sculpture is named the Unknown Soldier and is in Upton on the outskirts of Northampton

The finished sculpture was unveiled at a ceremony following the two-minute silence on Friday.

Upton Parish Council began the project in April 2021 after they were given control of car park near St Crispin Social Club from a housing developer.

Mr Tee said the tree in the middle of car park "was dying from disease and left as a tall trunk".

He said during the work, which took several months, people would stop and talk about the sculpture.

"Someone in his 80s stopped at the fence and had tears in his eyes, it meant so much to him, and he just said 'thank you'," Mr Tee said.

The sculpture is of a soldier holding a rifle, on top of sandbags, poppies and barbed wire.

The parish council said the sculpture would act as a "focal point" for future.