A statue of 19th-century poet Lord Byron has been returned to Hyde Park, almost 70 years after it was isolated in a traffic island when new roads were built through the area in the early 1960s.
The Grade II listed statue was erected as a national memorial in 1880 after receiving special permission from Queen Victoria. Changes to the road layout on Park Lane 80 years later made it inaccessible, leaving it isolated, derelict and dirty.
The Lord Byron Society launched a campaign six years ago to have the statue moved, claiming it had been neglected.
The move cost more than £400,000 and was funded by a £230,000 grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and additional donations.
“We are all extremely grateful that our plea to save Byron and return him to public display has been met with so much support from everyone involved,” said Lord Robin Byron, president of the society.
