I’ve passed this statue hundreds of times in the 20-ish years I’ve lived in Tooting, without ever knowing what it was, or who made it. I’ve watched it decay, and fall to pieces, and now achieve a kind of dignified weather-wornness that’s almost more interesting than how it was when it was new. And finally, I found out what it is: it’s called Man Holding Ram (well, thanks to woodworm, he’s dropped it now) and was done by Mark Folds in 1988. Apparently, it’s made from timber that had fallen in the hurricanes of 1987. So now we know.
Jonathan,
Very pleased to see your page on Battersea and would like to add a link to that on our website if that would be fine by you.
Also, on Tooting matters, in case you did not know there is a Tooting Local History society and they have a Facebook group:
http://ja-jp.facebook.com/group.php?gid=107304007024
Rex Osborn would be able to tell you anything about the place, like the answer (which you now have) to the story behind the carving on Tooting Common. Rex can be contacted on: rosborn@wandsworth.gov.uk.
Fine by me, though that Battersea page is quite old now so probably a lot of dead links. I’ll be cleaning up soon and moving it to my newer site, in which case I’ll let you know the new link. Thanks for the info about the Tooting Local History society FB group – I’ve joined!
Incidentally, just wondered if you’d seen this picture on my site of my grandfather’s shop in Garratt Lane – definitely irretrievable history, since it was bombed.