The hollow-cast bronze statue of Lieutenant Colonel Robert Duckenfield is an Escar UK Bronze commission for Tameside Council, forming part of the borough’s series of heritage sculptures
The Robert Duckenfield statue stands outside Dukinfield Town Hall, in the seating area on its King Street side in Tameside, Greater Manchester
Robert Duckenfield lived from 1619 to 1689 and served as a Parliamentarian commander during the English Civil War
He came from the family associated with Dukinfield Hall, whose connections with the area extended back centuries
Historical sources also use the spelling Robert Dukinfield; the present-day town is spelt Dukinfield, while the statue’s dedication uses Duckenfield
The bronze figure commemorates a local participant in the conflicts and changes of government that shaped seventeenth-century England
Its position beside the town hall connects the portrait with the community and place from which Duckenfield came
Duckenfield served with the Parliamentary forces in Cheshire and was involved in the siege of Wythenshawe Hall during 1643–44
In 1651 he commanded forces sent to the Isle of Man, alongside Colonel Thomas Birch; their report of the surrender of the island’s castles was received by Parliament in November
These campaigns placed him within the wider military and political struggles of the Civil War and Commonwealth period
He became governor of Chester in 1650, a role that preceded the Isle of Man expedition
In 1653 Duckenfield was appointed to the nominated assembly often called the Little Parliament or Barebones Parliament
After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 he faced arrest and later imprisonment; he eventually returned to quieter life at Dukinfield Hall
He died in 1689, leaving a local history that includes military command, public office and religious nonconformity
Councillor Jackie Lane unveiled the bronze statue on Sunday 1 April 2007
Members of Colonel Edward Montagu’s Regiment of Foote, a Civil War re-enactment group, marked the occasion with a march past, standards and drums
The ceremony photographs and news reports reproduced below document the unveiling and the town’s commemoration of Robert Duckenfield
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Robert Duckenfield, who lived from 1619 to 1689, was a Parliamentarian commander associated with Dukinfield Hall; his public roles included governor of Chester and membership of the nominated assembly in 1653
The bronze statue stands outside Dukinfield Town Hall, in the seating area on the King Street side of the building in Tameside, Greater Manchester
Escar UK Bronze created the commissioned statue for Tameside Council as part of the borough’s heritage sculpture programme
Councillor Jackie Lane unveiled the bronze statue on 1 April 2007; the photographs and reports above record the ceremony and Civil War re-enactors’ march past
Historical sources use Duckenfield, Dukinfield and Dukenfield as name variants; the bronze statue’s dedication uses Robert Duckenfield, while the town is called Dukinfield
No, the town hall bronze was unveiled in 2007; Colonel Dukinfield in Dukinfield Park is a separate stainless-steel sculpture dating from 1996, commissioned from Stephen Broadbent’s studio
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