A pair of stone lions are roaring once again in a Victorian park thanks to Maysand.

We’ve just undertaken the cleaning and restoration of the grade II listed Boer War Memorial, as well as the Victorian clock tower and iron shelter in Crewe’s Queens Park.

These projects form part of a much larger £6.5 million restoration scheme for the whole park which is due to be completed later his year.In fact, the restoration was given the royal seal of approval earlier this year with an official opening by the Duchess of Gloucester.

In recent years the lions have been one of Queens Park’s hidden secrets. At some point in time the base of the war memorial, which was dates back to 1903, had disappeared under earth and the lions were buried along with it. Now, as well as cleaning the monument, we have unearthed and spruced up the pair. They are being cleaned up and seated upon the original granite plinths at the foot of the memorial.“At one point in time it must have been agreed to cover the lions but now they are being restored to their former position. Why it was done we don’t know. I think it will always be something of a mystery, though sometimes these kinds of statues become unfashionable,” says Maysand’s Bryn Lisle. The clock tower is the focal point for the park’s main entrance. It is sited between two grade II listed entrance lodges, which are also featured in the overall restoration scheme.

Originally unveiled in 1888, the clock tower is regarded as being a key to the original design for the park. Over time some of the original stone had eroded so identified the original as Hollington from the nearby quarry in Staffordshire. We were able to match that and the badly damaged originals were replaced with new but matching stone, with our masons carving new stone.

In the play area we worked on a small iron shelter. Its origins remain something of a mystery but we have stripped down and blast cleaned the original cast iron elements and repainted them. The job was finished with the addition of a new zinc roof. We have also worked on restoring a timber shelter.

Throughout the project we worked alongside the project’s professional teams including Eric Biggs of quantity surveyors EMB Consultants, who said: “The restoration is a hugely important project for the local community and Maysand proved they were up to the task. They carried out a thoroughly impressive job and we were all very pleased with each aspect of the work they were asked to carry out from the Boer War monument to the clock tower.

“Their professionalism while on site was of the highest possible standard and the quality of their work has been hugely impressive. The Maysand craftsmen slotted in perfectly as part of the project team, understood their brief and carried it out with the minimum of fuss.”

The project team also included SBS Architects, engineers Scott Hughes Design and Landscape Architectural practice Bertram Hyde.