AN ELEPHANT sculpture replicating the star attraction at the former Oxford Zoo will be winched onto a Kidlington roundabout.

The metal art piece, weighing almost one tonne, was created by artist Tony Davies with input from students at Gosford Hill School.

It will be unveiled at 11am tomorrow after being lifted into place on the Sainsbury's roundabout, which will lead to a lane closure.

Oxford Mail:

The creation pays homage to an elephant called Rosie, who was one of the residents at the zoo in the 1930s.

It was a short-lived Oxfordshire landmark, which opened in Kidlington in 1931 before closing in 1937.

Mr Davies’ elephant stands at three metres tall and has been crafted by weaving and twisting lengths of galvanised steel wire, totalling five miles.

She will stand alongside sculptures of a stork and a monkey, and across the roundabout a sculpture of a zookeeper will watch over them.

The site where the zoo once sat is now taken up by the Thames Valley Police headquarters, as well as parts of a field and some of the Cromwell Way housing estate.

South coast artist Mr Davies was commissioned by Kidlington Parish Council and Cherwell District Council to create the creature. 

Andrew McHugh, the district council’s lead member for health and wellbeing, said: "Funding for public art comes around rarely and we have been able to pool together developer contributions from two projects to make an installation that will have a real impact.

"It’s a surprising part of Kidlington’s past, but one which still captures the imagination of young minds."

Rosie was funded using cash specifically set aside for public art projects, donated by developers as part of their planning agreements.

Pupils from Gosford Hill in Kidlington inspired a design for the zookeeper following a series of workshops with the artist. 

The zookeeper is attempting to get Rosie and the other animals to follow her to the other side of the roundabout with an offering of food.

The parish council’s chairman Nigel Simpson added: "Children in Kidlington are still taught today about our history as home to the Oxford Zoo and the council felt this would be a tangible and fun way to remember Rosie and Kidlington’s history."

Rosie died while in Kidlington and, according to the parish council, is rumoured to be buried somewhere in the ‘near vicinity’.

Mr Davies used to run a theatre company in Abingdon called Trading Faces and now lives in Brighton.

He said: "I always try to get an element of theatre into my designs to create something striking and fun."

OXFORD ZOO

According to the parish council, the zoo was owned for most of its life by Captain William Frank Cooper. 

He was the son of Frank Cooper, owner of the marmalade factory in Oxford (now The Jam Factory), and Sarah Jane Cooper, inventor of Oxford Marmalade. 

Kidlington and District Historical Society catalogued how Ronald Wilson, whose father worked as the zoo’s manager from 1933, recorded his memories of the place as having a ‘family-run’ atmosphere.

He apparently told stories of how they used a 100-gallon tanker lorry to fetch water from the Oxford Canal, to fill the pool in the polar bear enclosure.

He said Captain Cooper’s favourite animal was a lioness called Sheba, who would allow him to pet her through the bars of her cage and purr when she was stroked.

The zoo closed in 1937 and most of the remaining animals were moved to Dudley Zoo.