Town wants to take ownership of Black’s Head
ASHBOURNE Town Council has asked to take on the ownership of the town’s Green Man gallows sign and the Black’s Head, ahead of a crunch meeting to decide on the future of the controversial carving.
The wooden sculpture, which smiled down on St John Street for generations, was removed by locals after a tumultuous week of debate over its origins, and its place in modern society.
Now Derbyshire Dales District Council, which owns the entire sign structure and has been storing the head since June last year, is aiming to make a decision over the future of the head which, it maintains, cannot go back on the gallows.
Ashbourne Town Council was asked to inform district council bosses, ahead of a meeting tomorrow, what it would like to see happen to the sign and the head. And town councillors agreed to send a clear message back.
Discussing their response at a meeting of the full council last Tuesday, it was agreed that the town council would ask for ownership of the gallows sign and Black’s Head to be passed to them “lock, stock and two smoking barrels”.
District councillor Sue Bull, who is also on the town council, said: “I know there’s going to be costs for it, but I think when the town hears that there’s a chance of us owning it, the town will chip in.
She added: “We have to go now to the district council and say what and when we want to happen. We know the Ashbourne people want it to come back to Ashbourne.
“The argument over whether it goes up or not is irrelevant, it’s all about who owns it.”
She added that the town council would “like to take it on and own it, the head, the gallows, everything.”