Wiltshire town to make life-size sculpture of an auroch

Images of the prehistoric aurochs can be found in caves in Spain

A prehistoric animal which roamed the English countryside 4,000 years ago is to be celebrated with a new piece of artwork.

The auroch was a giant horned cow, the wild ancestor of modern domestic cattle.

Amesbury History Centre is bidding for a grant to build a life-size model of the animal, made out of mosaic tiles.

"The community can help design and build the sculpture," said volunteer Mark Verbinnen.

Speaking to BBC Wiltshire he said: ""There's a valley coming down from Stonehenge to Amesbury and it's believed that this valley would have been used to herd the aurochs into one specific place.

'One cow to feed them all'

"At the lowest point they would have been stuck and then you would have had a massive herd of them, and each one would have fed 300 people.

"You could feed your tribe for months on that," he added.

A herd of tauros in Croatia, which are the closest animals to the extinct aurochs

Once located in a temporary building, Amesbury History Centre reopened last August in a new two-storey building on Church Street.

Footprints of an auroch were found during an archaeological dig at Blick Mead in 2018, however preparation works for the A303 tunnel at nearby Stonehenge caused them to be drilled through.

Speaking at the time, lead archaeologist, Professor David Jacques described it as a "travesty" and said: "It was like putting a hole in the Bayeaux Tapestry."

Wild cattle footprints dating back 6,000 years have been found at Blick Mead near Stonehenge

"My pet project is to get a life-size aurochs sitting at the front of the museum and involve the community," said Mr Verbinnen.

"We'll combine it with our other projects where we go out to schools and we'll get children to help design and build the sculpture," he added.

The heritage centre, which relies on volunteers and donations, is currently awaiting the outcome of an application for funding from the Arts Council.