Arreton Hare

The Arreton Hare, a beautiful carved sculpture which also features two Magpies, sits at the junction (Map) of Downend Road and Newport Road (A3056).

Carved by Paul Sivell, it was installed in September 2008.

In July 2009 it was stolen, hacked off its Macrocarpa root and vanished overnight, to quite some consternation.

Happily it was found by long-time visitors to the Island, Mr and Mrs Yates, on Culver Down in the August.

Both the theft and welcome return were the product of quite a lot fo interest and discussion around the Island – even Daft Old Duffer mused on it, raising quite a few reader’s comments.

Residents of Arreton and their friends celebrated The Hare’s return the following month.

The story later developed in a strange and unexpected way when a Police woman at the Shanklin police station was dismissed from the force after she was arrested “on suspicion of arranging to handle stolen goods”.

As of March 2014, it has its own Twitter account.