Swan sculpture unveiled outside stately home

Laurence was craned in over two 8ft high walls

A stone swan has been installed in the gardens of a stately home to celebrate a significant milestone.

The sculpture, named Laurence, is now on permanent display on top of a plinth in the Rose Garden in Lamport Hall, Northamptonshire.

Laurence was commissioned to commemorate Lamport Hall's 50th anniversary as a preservation trust.

Artist Louise Regan, a student at Moulton College, spent three and a half months carving the swan said she was "relieved" to see it installed safely.

Louise Regan spent three and half months hand sculpting Laurence

Swans have long been associated with Lamport.

The Swan Pub and the two cast iron swans flanking the gate to Lamport Hall are nods to the village's history, thought to date back to the 1560s.

Ms Regan who previously appeared on tv show, Make it to Market, said she designed Laurence to "reflect the other swans" in the village.

"[Lamport Hall] has got an art collection and to have something that I've sculpted to be part of that collection is humbling actually," she said.

As to the origins of Laurence's name, Ms Regan explained: "When you work with something for so long, you get very attached to it. So they developed their own names."

Moving Laurence into Lamport Hall's rose garden was a delicate operation

Laurence started life as a 800kg block of Portland stone.

But after three and a half months of being worked on with power tools, he now weighed in at 330kg and is around three and half feet tall.

He was attached to a crane and hoisted onto place.

Vicki Grimmitt, the operations manager at Lamport Hall, said Laurence was a "pretty impressive centrepiece.”

The public can see Laurence at Lamport Hall from the 3rd April.