A RENOWNED Great Totham artist has created a new statue marking 400 years since the Pilgrim Fathers set sail for America.

John Doubleday has created the two-metre high bronze sculpture of the Mayflower ship and pilgrims at Jim Shields Garden, Billericay.

Mr Doubleday is one of the Maldon district’s most acclaimed artists and his other works include a portrait of Charlie Chaplin in Leicester Square, London, and the only public seated statue of the fictional Sherlock Holmes at Meiringen, Switzerland.

He has also produced commissioned portraits of the likes of Prince Philip, The Beatles and Nelson Mandela.

The new sculptor was commissioned by Billericay Town Council at a cost of about £13,000.

Jim Devlin, town council chairman, said he was pleased to announce the statue was ready to be seen by the public for the first time.

He said: “Our new statue at the end of the High Street at the junction with Western Road to remember the pilgrims who sailed on the Mayflower has now been constructed.”

Several pilgrims originated from the Billericay and Burstead area and the Mayflower famously set sail form Harwich.

The structure marks the 400th anniversary of the pilgrims’ arrival in what was to become the United States of America in November 1620.