A LOCAL man believes he has unearthed a Neoclassical bust that once graced Goodrich Court, which was demolished in 1949/50.

Graham explains that he was doing some gardening for a woman, who is about to move into a nursing home, and she told him that somewhere in the hedge was a statue that came from Goodrich Court following its demolition and that if he retrieved it, he could have it.

And whilst clipping away the half century of growth, since the hedge had last been trimmed, the bust was found. It was in a sorry state complete with decades of detritus stuck to it.

Graham said that he did an initial wash of the bust, but this did not do much in removing the amount of green mould and the number of insects which had set up home in the bust.

He undertook some research for the best way to clean such a stone and spent weeks on the task.

Graham said that the project soon became a passion, and it wasn’t long before the classical details started showing itself.

On the side of the bust was the lettering Coade, London 1881, which suggests the bust had been created by Eleanor Coade using a ceramic material which was exceptionally resistant to weathering and erosion.

Graham said: “After the hours of work I put into cleaning the bust, it’s amazing how it looks as good as new.

“It was a bust that could have been placed in a special niche within the building, or it was created as a garden ornament placed on a gate post.

“There is no obvious way to say who the bust depicts, but my guess would be that it is either Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick who built Goodrich Court or its architect Edward Blore.

“However, the subject is dressed in a Neoclassical style, so it could just be a historical figure from the past.”

Graham cheekily said: “The bust, despite its age and how it’s been kept over the decades, is in remarkably good condition, but it has a smacked nose, but that what’s you get for living in Ross-on-Wye.”

Prior to the demolition of Goodrich Court, which had housed pupils of a London school during the Second World War and been central to the burgeoning Wye Tour during the 19th century, the building was stripped of all its contents, furnishings and fixtures.

The collection of armour and antiquities was subsequently passed to the British Museum and to the Wallace collection.

Eleanor Coade was a highly successful Georgian craftswoman who excelled in the industry when it was dominated by men.

She acquired the premises of another stonemason in London in 1769 and began to experiment with her own formula to create an artificial stone that was resistant to weathering.

The Goodrich Court bust would have been one of her last creations before her death in 1821 at the age of 88.

Around 650 surviving Coade stone sculptures still survive today, and these can be found throughout the British Isles, Russia, South Africa and Brazil.