Marie Corelli's Grave
The memorial to Marie Corelli in the cemetery on the Evesham Road, was erected over her grave in July of 1925, the year after her death, on the orders of Bertha Vyver. The angel is carved in Carrara marble and is of exceptionally fine quality and execution. It was described in the local paper: 'It consists of the figure of an angel 5 1/2 feet in height, with outstretched wings. In the left hand is a Madonna lily, (the late authoress'e favourite flower), and the right hand points upwards, symbolical of the Resurrection. Upon the pedestal is a handsomely-carved wreath of laurel encircling the name and date of death, and on the side appears the following verse from one of Miss Corelli's poems'. See below for a picture of the poem.
In 2012 the angel was toppled by vandals and had to be moved into storage while a decision could be made on what to do. The statue was seriously damaged with many broken parts and needed specialist repair before it could be returned to it's place. In addition, with no extant estate, or know relatives, there were no funds to do so. Nick Birch conceived of a plan to offer the statue to the Conservation department of the City and Guilds School of Art in London for one of their final year students to use as a conservation project. A grant for transport costs was obtained from the Stratford Town Trust, and the statue spent a year in London being restored. In July of 2017 the statue was returned to Stratford and re-erected on the cleaned pedestal.
