Plan for Ted Hughes sculpture in Poet Laureate's home village of Mytholmroyd

Geoff Wood, of Royd Regeneration, has submitted plans for the cast iron statue, representing the work of Ted Hughes, to Calderdale Council.

Hughes, who died in 1998, was born in Aspinall Street in the village and lived there, attending Burnley Road School – now Burnley Road Academy – until the age of seven when his family moved to Mexborough.

Nature played a part in the poet’s work, with his boyhood in the Calder Valley providing some significant inspiration.

In later life the poet established The Arvon Foundation at a home he had bought at Lumb Bank, Heptonstall, and his first wife, the American poet Sylvia Plath, is buried at Heptonstall churchyard.

The sculpture, in cast iron and depicting a large milk churn and two life-size foxes arranged to stand flush to the ground, will be sited in the centre of the village, on a site which has been re-constructed and re-landscaped by the Environment Agency as part of Mytholmroyd’s flood defences.

The fox that sits atop the milk churn will face north, looking towards Red Acre Wood, with the specific location selected because it is central to the village, opposite the War Memorial and provides an open space next to the River Calder at its confluence with Elphin Brook, says a supporting statement with the application, numbered 22/00243/FUL viewable on the council’s Planning Portal.

Mr Wood says in the statement: “The only public realm reference to Hughes is a small plaque near his former home in Aspinall Street and yet he is an international literary figure.

“We believe that the sculpture will enhance an area that has been recreated and upgraded by the works to the Flood Alleviation Scheme.

“The birthplace of the poet laureate, Ted Hughes, deserves greater interpretation and this work will increase interest in his legacy,” he says.

The area is well used by residents and visitors alike, close to public transport and very visible to traffic, says the application.