Jekyll and Hyde-themed sculpture to honour writer

Author Robert Louis Stevenson is to be remembered with a sculpture near his former home.

Stevenson lived in Bournemouth from 1884 until 1887, during which time he wrote his horror novella, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

The design, planned for Alum Chine, is inspired by the book's characters and depicts the author's head in two materials, split down the middle.

It is the creation of sculptor Tim Ward, whose other public works include the Jon Egging Memorial on Bournemouth's Overcliff.

Stevenson, who lived from 1850 to 1894, was a Scottish novelist, poet and travel writer, whose works also included Treasure Island and A Child's Garden of Verses.

He moved to Skerryvore in Westbourne with his wife, naming the house after a lighthouse in Scotland built by his uncle.

The property was destroyed in a German air raid in November 1940 and the site, which still includes the footprint of the house, is now a memorial garden.

BCP Council has submitted a planning application to install the 2.3m-high sculpture next to the beach path off Alumhurst Road.

Half the sculpture will be made of rust-coloured weathering steel and the other half in marine-grade stainless steel.

The work is part of the Coastal Communities Seafront Infrastructure Initiative - a £19m government-funded programme of works to improve the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole coastline.

According to BCP Council, the scheme aims to "attract people to overlooked areas of the seafront via cultural and heritage interventions and trails".

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