How a giant cockerel sculpture became a celebrity

A giant silver cockerel that stands on a roundabout overlooking passing traffic in Dorking has become one of Surrey's most recognisable landmarks.

The unusual piece of public art celebrates a bird with deep roots in the town's history, a museum curator has told Secret Surrey.

Kathy Atherton, from Dorking Museum, said the Dorking chicken has been associated with the town for centuries. "The Dorkings have been bred here at least since the 17th Century," she said.

"In the 19th Century, they were really popular for eating and for eggs. They were bred here by local farmers and farmers' wives and brought up to market in Dorking, and then they were all taken up to the London market."

Dorking's location just 27 miles (43km) from London helped make the breed famous, she explained.

Atherton said traders known as "higglers" travelled from London to buy poultry before taking the birds to markets in the city.

"It was said that on a Friday you couldn't get a bird in Dorking," she said. "They had all been bought and taken up to London. So that's where the fame came from.

"Later on, in the 19th Century, when you get these big agricultural shows, and they're breeding these really splendid birds in lovely colours.

"They're winning those competitions and they're appearing in directories and beautiful paintings of them, so they've become very famous."

The cockerel was created at Fire & Iron Gallery in Leatherhead after former Mole Valley District Council chairman Neil Maltby commissioned the project.

Lucy Quinnell, from Rowhurst Forge, recalled the unusual request.

She said: "He walked in just like any other customer and said, 'Can you make a three-metre-high chicken in metal?'. I said 'of course we can'."

Quinnell remembered the work that went into getting the cockerel into place.

"He was extremely difficult to move.

"I mean, he's big, and he was lifted by a crane on a lorry and driven past bewildered members of the public to Dorking, and we had to close the A24 and the A25," she said.

She said not everyone welcomed the idea at first, adding: "I was really worried that I'd ruined my career by taking this project on."

But attitudes soon changed, she said, adding: "There's so much affection for him.

"There are appreciation societies and students all over the world photoshopped him into favourite famous photographs.

"So, I think generally the mood is good."

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