King's Lynn whale sculpture to be replaced

The sculpture has weathered 20 years of wear and tear and is to be replaced

A huge wooden sculpture of a whale created about 20 years ago to commemorate a Norfolk town's whaling industry is to be replaced.

The 6m [20ft] artwork at Harding's Pits Doorstep Green in King's Lynn has fallen prey to rot and vandalism.

It was erected in homage to the work the industry brought to the town between the 16th and 19th Centuries, when ships would dock and restock.

Following a fundraising campaign, plans have now been approved to replace it.

Harding's Pits Community Association is the driving force behind the replacement and it will be one of a number of changes planned for the area, which was once the heart of Norfolk's whaling industry.

For several centuries, ships which would venture into the seas surrounding Greenland and elsewhere in the Atlantic Ocean in search of bowhead whales were built and supplied in the west Norfolk port.

At the height of the trade, the area was busy with merchants, shipwrights and fishermen, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

A bid to create a community orchard has recently been approved by King's Lynn & West Norfolk district councillors, which coincides with the area being designated a village green to protect the green space from future development.