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Pan Statue Aston Hall

I would be nice if we could help we must have loads of pictures of Aston Hall so hopefully there is one of the statue! Thanks for bringing it to our attention dwilly.
 
Hi Wendy: I found a great one of the statue and sent it to the chap who wrote the article in the Birmingham Mail last week. The photo is from the l920's I believe. Not sure if Neil Eidler received the photo. It was actually in their own records at the Birmingham Mail. Here is the link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/birminghamnewsroom/5363487616/ I expect they are looking for more close up photos but if they photo shopped the one on the link you would think they would have enough. How long is it since Pan was headless?
 
Jennyann what a find right under their noses. The photo is excellent thanks for finding it I hope they can restore it.
 
I'm sure this appeal is just a publicity ploy, as there must be hundreds of photos of this excellent statue by Birmingham based sculptor William Bloye in the public domain. Here is one of the last bit of vandalism. What is it with these people that they have to destroy things that are too hard for them to comprehend.

Phil

PanAstonParkWestGarden.jpg
 
Thanks Phil...It is a bit of a mysteryb as to why they are advertsing for photos, etc. Looks like the one you posted shows the paint thrown over it. Very sad.
 
William Bloye (1890-1975) was a significant and prolific Birmingham sculptor. His best known work is probably the 1956 gilded bronze statue of Boulton, Watt and Murdoch in Broad Street. I'm pleased to hear that his 1934 statue of the Greek god Pan is to be restored and conserved. Here are some links relating to Bloye and his work:
[1] Wikipedia biography. Includes pictures of many of his works.
[2] Moseley School and the work of William Bloye. Includes many more pictures.
[3] An article about the Pan statue. From Public Sculpture of Birmingham Including Sutton Coldfield by G T Noszlopy and J Beach (Liverpool: LUP, 1998). The picture appears to be the same as that posted by Phil (#5).​
Finally, here's the flickr picture discovered by Jennyann. I'm using the flickr "share this" option which respects copyright and doesn't take up BHF server space:


Pan statue, Aston Hall by Birmingham News Room, on Flickr
 
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Thylacine thanks for the links I had no idea William Bloye had done so much work around Brum. Lets hope they find a good sculpter to repair Pan!
 
Just had this reply from Chris Rice who's email address is in the BBC article

Many thanks for this.
I've had a couple of responses so far which have been very useful but I
would welcome any further images as we still don't have a really detailed
view of Pan's head.
Best wishes,
Chris
 
Note. Merged posts below with an earlier thread on the same subject.


hi guys
is the peter pan water fountain still in front of aston hall on there lawns or should i say the rear side over loking the crown bowling green;
if not what as happenend to it was it removed and if so where to; i asked myself i know old horris the parkie would not let us kids no where near it and the water casadeing down
and i was remenmising yesterday aboutmy youth as we all do from time to time after all it was a famous statue do any body know why it was installed there at aston park was there a meaning about it any connections to do with the family i wonder
have a nice day every body astonian
 
Note. Merged posts below with an earlier thread on the same subject.

Morning Alan,
The statue was The Greek God PAN.If you do a search on the forum for Headless statue help needed,you will get a lot of information on it.
I hope this is of some use to you.
Have a nice day,mossg.
 
The famous Peter Pan statue is in Kensington Gardens. There is also a statue of Peter Pan in J M Barrie's birthplace in Kirriemuir, Angus.

 
Thanks Alf I should have gone and taken a look on Saturday. They did discuss repairing it but need a good photo of the head.
 
HI WENDY ;
What about the flute h was playing as that been broken off as well it had to be the yobs
bring back the parkie ; i say ; the last time i seen him was fifty years ago wit is magic flue and the water casadeing down
it was a lovely site to be seeing and people often had there sunday afternoon family photographs taken next to him ;
but with the council cut backs i cannot see it happenens
best wishes alan ;; astonian;;;
 
When we had the Forum outing to Aston Hall a couple of years back after the major refurb. of the Hall and gardens, I asked one of the rangers why they hadn't repaired the Peter Pan fountain but he said he didn't know. The council with the help of lottery grants spent a fortune on the project and it amazes me that they didn't repair the fountain. We always played around it when I was a child.
 
I don,t think a 'parkie' would be much use against your modern yobs, if he said anything they would give him a mouthful, or even set about him, they have no fear or respect for authority nowadays knowing full well nothing will happen to them. Talking about the Pan statue, there was another one at bottom of the hill inside the main gates in the form of a huge cup, don't know whether it was metal or stone, I'm probably talkimg 50 years or more ago. I wonder what happened to that ?? Eric
 
Local people work at the hall including security which is very good now. The damage to Pan was done several years ago. I suppose the restoration is like everything else down to money. The more people who visit and make donations will keep the Hall going. It is very popular for wedding photo's especially by the locals I hope they make a charge for this as it all helps...
 
well cookie,
beleive horris a huge guy and athletic and i mean a huge guy in strengh and and size he would have scared the rubbish
what you called yobs he was what you called a big copper with an aggressive attitude
he years of experience in handling rough people beleive or not ,
my saying is dont always beleive hear say from people knowing indivisionals and seeing is my motto
and a different song sheet
horris was a fieceful man of nobody and done the dungeons of digbeth
I Called it a flute in a figure of speech that sqaure of he was holding in them days of many years ago
as a kid they called them flutes square piece of plastic and you blew down them cost a tanner i think it was
bought from most toy shops and news agents mine from mr taylor,s toy shop and diggers as well on lichfield road Aston
during the forty and early fiftys excact thing that pan was blowing into but they never made any tunes
just your puff of breath waste of a tanner Tanner, some times you got them in the original lucky bags if you ever bought one
Astonian;;;;;
 
Perhaps someone can see if Pan had his head on this photo. It was taken about 3 years ago.
 

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It has been missing for years and years, I took some photos for the Aston Brook through Aston Manor site about 15 years ago now, and it was missing then.....
 
Assuming it was restored (most unlikely for financial reasons) what guarantee is there against it being vandalised again, we no longer have park keepers and I have not seen a bobby on the beat for ages in Chelmsley Wood , no doubt Aston is the same. We had a small wooden jetty built at Meriden Park a few years ago for the children to feed the ducks, within a few weeks it was burnt to the ground, nobody caught of course. This is the age we now live in. Councils will think long and hard about repairing, replacing and providing amenities when they know it could be vandalised. Sad but true. Eric
 
Just been through the photos again and found another which shows Pan a little more clearly. I've cropped it (which I didn't think to do before). Clearly Pan now has his head back.
 

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I never once though that they would replace his head.....glad they have, just hope it doesn't get vandalise again.....
 
to be honest whom ever shangied the site have the picture of the original photograph of peter pan because i know we had it on here this forum and lots of people done there bit of info on it as well about 13 years ago but sadly as weve all been told some one taken the lot
Its a pity some of our older members whom have left since the days gone bye and nolonger freqent our sight
could have provided us with an originale picture of pan and what i expressed was his flute thats my expression
as i said as kids we refered that little square you got from where ever as kids in the fortys we called them flutes
but there again it all depends where you come from flutes being it made the sound of a flute by the sound of one continuios sound of one breath
well how long as it been since that statue disapeared and when did the council remove it from the park and what state was
it in ,
did they ever publish the request in the news papers asking for information on the damange whom was responible
i was quite dismayed on seeing his arm chopped off but now to see the whole state complete destroyed there aint a cat in hell on restoring it back to normality if they did it would be pointless to take it back to the park
Ie, to what i can se the park is an open free for all rogues to venture throgh the park at any given time
especial coming up from trintiny road through to any other roads like thomas street and albert road entrance
its a crying shame and i blame the council for scrapping parkies Astonian,,,
 
Below, is the record from the Public Monuments & Sculptures Association (PMSA) listing and a photo of Pan - it's listed as a fountain. Has Pan had paint thrown over him? Viv.

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Viv, I wonder if the above photo was taken some time ago? He looks quite clean in post #26, as if his head doesn't match his body. I can't see any paint but will try to go and have a look soon. I can come that way home from work.
 
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