[EDIT 2-4-23 – this article was originally published on the 1st of April!! 🙂 Find more like this at www.mymarlow.co.uk/category/april-fools/]
We have previously reported on plans to replace Marlow’s ageing obelisk at the top of the High Street, and can confirm that agreement has been reached over the new design.
The obelisk was erected in 1822 by the Trustees of the Reading and Hatfield Road, and states distances to other towns, e.g. “Wycombe 5” and “Hatfield 36”.
Mavis Girteka of Bucks Council commented “The obelisk has served Marlow well for 200 years, but times change and modern signposts and satellite navigation systems have made the obelisk completely redundant.”
After a public consultation, it was decided that the obelisk would be replaced by a colourful “life size” statue of Frankenstein’s monster, to help publicise the towns strong literary links to the famous novel by Mary Shelley. Mary and Percy Shelley moved to Marlow in 1817, where Mary completed work on the book, which was published in 1818.
An artist’s impression is shown below.
Mavis chipped in again “The obelisk will be put to good use – we are proposing to have it ground up, and reformed into 4 stone bollards to add to those already on the bridge”. She then took another swig of gin from her bottle and continued “thus the obelisk will, in a way, continue to cherished by road users for another 200 years at least”
