Winners of Bury Mount Art Competition Announced

The winners of an art competition for schoolchildren to mark the completion of phase one restoration work to Bury Mount in Towcester have been announced.

The monument has been at the heart of the town since Medieval times, originally as a motte and bailey castle, before it became an important area of open green space at the centre of the town.

Bury Mount is part of the wider Moat Lane project. The Moat Lane area of Towcester is being regenerated to provide new community, retail, leisure, food and drink, residential and commercial facilities.

The Moat Lane project team comprising; West Northamptonshire Development Corporation, South Northamptonshire Council and Northamptonshire County Council, gave local schools the chance to get involved in the exciting venture, asking pupils to design posters on what they thought Moat Lane would look like in 2039, or what they thought it used to look like in 1139.

The response was fantastic and the judges had a difficult task coming up the winners but after much deliberation the following winners were chosen:

4-7 age category
• 1st Amy Punter / Nicholas Hawksmoor Primary School
• 2nd Mia Cowley, Bethany McNelis, Rebekah Daniells, Sophie Arnold / Towcester C of E Primary School
• 3rd Benjamin Buck and Jack Evans / Towcester C of E Primary School

8-11 age category
• 1st Chloe Brown / Towcester C of E Primary School
• 2nd Kellan Rakkar and Stefan Gilder / Nicholas Hawksmoor Primary School
• 3rd Charlotte Spuffard / Sponne School Technology College

12+ category
• 1st Oliver Davis / Sponne School Technology College
• 2nd Eleanor Blamires, Alice Hunt, Alanna McElroy, Laura Pratley / Sponne School Technology College
• 3rd Amanda Luk, Charlotte Lloyd and Charlotte Hopkins / Sponne School Technology College

First prize for the age categories is a family ticket to Warwick Castle, with the second prizes being a £30 book voucher and the third prizes £20 book vouchers.

West Northamptonshire Development Corporation Chief Executive Peter Mawson said: "We would like to thank all the children who took part in the Moat Lane school arts competition - we were all really impressed by the quality and creativity of the pictures."

"The future of Towcester is bright and the Moat Lane project will enhance the town centre as part of the wider vision to regenerate South Northamptonshire."

The plan for Bury Mount is being delivered in two stages – phase one started last summer and has stabilised the structure of the monument, created a new access to the top of the mount via a ramp and stairway, provided seating and installed an historic timeline running up a spiral path depicting key dates in Towcester's history.

Phase two will see the finalisation of the landscape scheme and will include an outdoor performance space and a mosaic representing the moat which once surrounded the Mount.

The open space provides a new venue for the town, enabling a wide variety of events to take place, ranging from informal play to organised outdoor events such as concerts, all in the natural amphitheatre created by the Mount. Local community groups are already beginning to develop ideas for events.

The space will provide the local community with a meeting point and will become a focus for community activities. This new green space also creates a significant heritage learning opportunity for schools and history enthusiasts.

For more information on the project visit www.moatlane.org