Street artist creates graffiti of Yorkshire-born artists

Sylvia Plath has been immortalised on the wall of the Shoulder of Mutton in Hebden Bridge

A street artist has created stencilled works of famous artists, writers and musicians along Yorkshire's Tour de France route.

Stewy, based in Bristol, had permission to create the works from building owners in West and South Yorkshire.

The five stencils all feature Yorkshire-born artists, from the Bronte sisters to musician Jarvis Cocker, on bikes in places associated with them.

The opening stages of the Tour de France begin in Leeds on 5 July.

The artist has not been commissioned by organisers of the Tour de France but said the cycle race had inspired him.

The Bronte sisters have been stencilled on a wall near the Fire Station in Haworth

Pulp frontman, Jarvis Cocker, has appeared near the Workstation in Sheffield

"I am really excited," he added.

"My partner is from Moor Monkton near York so even if I don't have an immediate Yorkshire link my family are from there."

Stewy chose artists not known for their cycling prowess deliberately, he said.

"They are icon-like ghosts across the street. Sylvia may have walked across that path. It links art with geography and history in one space," he said.

Alan Bennett's Leeds stencil has since been covered over

Bradford-born David Hockney has been drawn on a wall at Cavendish Square in Keighley

Each individual stencil took weeks of preparation before being sprayed onto the walls.

One of the five has not survived, the portrait of Leeds-born writer and playwright Alan Bennett.

The stencil on Eastgate in Leeds near the West Yorkshire Playhouse has since been covered over.

"Don't worry, I will be back and do another one," he said.