A commemorative sculpture, a poppy made from recycled horseshoes, has been unveiled at the Pear Tree Hotel in Purton to mark the sacrifice and work of horses during the First World War.
The piece by artist Darren Greenhow was funded by the Purton Carnival Fund.
During the Great War, Purton was home to a remount depot on a site close to The Pear Tree at Church End. The depot was recently discovered by Purton resident and former RAF Aircraft Engineer Bob Lloyd, 46, who spent the past seven years exhaustively researching the role Purton parish played in the Great War.
The remount camp pictured during the First World War
He found out that Purton was one of 11 places in ‘Southern Command’ to run a depot responsible for the re-training of problematic horses and mules so that they could be used as working animals.The highly skilled work involved many Purton residents including local women who led groups of 200 horses at a time from the train station to the depot.
During his research, Bob made contact with the descendants of William Robson who managed the depot and found a letter from a government agency stating “Mr Robson has saved the Country hundreds of pounds already by curing apparently hopeless cases which would otherwise have been sold for what they could fetch.”
Alix Young, hotel manager, said: “We’re all delighted Bob asked us to provide a home for this moving memorial. We value our own history at the hotel so it is entirely in keeping that we also value this hidden, but important time, in our village’s history. It’s amazing to think villagers were involved in something so unique to this war effort.”
For further information about The Pear Tree visit www.peartreepurton.co.uk
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