Stoke-on-Trent Wedgwood sculpture 'must be rebuilt' after demolition gaffe

The Josiah Wedgwood sculpture, carved out of red bricks, was first unveiled in 1986

A sculpture mistakenly demolished during roadworks in Stoke-on-Trent must be rebuilt, a museum boss has urged.

Made from bricks, the statue of local pottery magnate Josiah Wedgwood has been in Festival Park since 2009.

However Stoke-on-Trent City Council admitted on Thursday it had been knocked down by contractors during road-widening work.

Victoria and Albert Museum director Dr Tristram Hunt said it deserved to be rebuilt, even if it was relocated.

The local authority said an investigation had been launched and it was speaking with contractors to understand what had gone wrong.

Dr Hunt, a former Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central and biographer of Josiah Wedgwood, said the sculpture was an "important part of the kind of landscape of Wedgwood" in the city and "needs to be rebuilt".

The council said the sculpture had been knocked down in a "significant operational error"

Created by sculptor Vincent Woropay for the National Garden Festival in 1986, before its move to Festival Park, Dr Hunt said it "aligns the industrial with the aesthetic".

"This was a story of great kind of industrial might, manufacturing, factories and you see that in just the kind of raw brutality of the sculpture and the brick," Dr Hunt told BBC Radio Stoke.

"Then also I think the beauty of the eye, the beauty of the hair, the sort of sense of vision connected to him, the sculpting and shaping of the bricks, so in this one sculpture you have this very, I think, attractive and engaging story of Josiah Wedgwood."

While he said there was a strong case for the sculpture to be sited in Festival park, possibly near Etruria Hall, it could also go to the V&A Wedgwood collection in Barlaston or installed outside the museum.

Road widening work is being carried out to open up access to the park