Set in stone...Max, 7, stuck in monument
LIKE most seven-year- olds, Max Morgan has a spirit of adventure.
But his curiosity got the better of him during a day out. Max could not resist climbing into a monument at Wightwick Manor, near Wolverhampton.
Unfortunately, the schoolboy discovered he was wedged inside the 3ft-high stone pinnacle. It took fire crews – summoned by his frantic mother Jana – three hours to free him.
They eventually brought in a circular saw, normally used to free car crash victims, and put Max in a safety helmet as they cut the pinnacle in half. The monument is one of several pieces of decorative masonry salvaged from the original Palace of Westminster, which was destroyed by fire in 1834, and brought to the Victorian property in the 1930s.
Max was visiting Wightwick Manor, now owned by the National Trust, with his 36-year-old mother on Tuesday.
She and her husband George, 38, have been taking him there since he could walk and have several photographs of Max playing in the same monument, including one taken in October. They admit he must have ‘grown a bit’.
When Max became stuck, Mrs Morgan tried to haul him free. National Trust staff were also unable to pull him from the hole, so they called 999.
Mrs Morgan said: ‘The fire crew tried for about an hour to get Max out but weren’t able to, so they called a specialist service. Max was losing the feeling in his toes and is claustrophobic, so he was panicking. But we calmed him down.’
Max was taken to A&E as a precaution but had merely suffered some bruising to his leg and was discharged.
Mr Morgan said: ‘You can’t blame him, it was just one of those things. Lots of families take pictures on the monument, it’s just normal for kids to play there.’