Just as the head of the new statue of St Peter was lowered into place on the East Front of York Minster the clouds parted and the sun shone on the Lepine limestone carved by Martin Coward.

There was much debate about what the statue should look like because it would almost certainly originally have been carved to be wearing a Roman Catholic Papal Coronet, although that was probably hacked off by Cromwell's soldiers during the Civil Wars. The replacement wears the Church of England mitre.

There is more about the project in the November issue of Natural Stone Specialist magazine. Make sure you never miss a copy by subscribing now. Click here to order your monthly copy.