Market Drayton masons help restore historic statues in Birmingham

Birmingham has welcomed back two beloved statues thanks to the work of Shropshire stonemasons.

Two of Birmingham’s most significant historic figures, James Watt and Joseph Priestley, have returned to the city centre after a decade-long absence, thanks to masons from Market Drayton.

Their statues, towering symbols of the Industrial Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, now stand proudly at opposite ends of Ratcliff Passage, a newly completed public realm near the Grade I-listed Town Hall.

The statues were originally located beside Birmingham’s Victorian Central Library before being moved to Chamberlain Square for nearly half a century. When redevelopment of the area began, they were placed into safe storage awaiting the specialist care needed to restore them.

That work has now been completed thanks to Market Drayton-based Midland Masonry, experts in stonework conservation and restoration, working alongside Ian Clark Restoration, who handled the specialist metalwork. Both statues have undergone extensive conservation over the past year.

Jane Thompson Webb, conservation manager at Birmingham Museums Trust, which is custodian of the statues on behalf of the city, said: “The return of these vital figures to an accessible location in the very heart of the city will allow everyone to be able to enjoy them and underlines our pride in both Watt and Priestley’s achievements which influenced the world around us today.

“So many of the advantages society now enjoys are due in part to the vital role of engineering solutions and the brilliance and foresight of people like Priestley and Watt whose advances in science and industry gave an incredible boost to the world economy at a key moment in history.”