A SCULPTOR based near York is creating characters from the classic children's book series The Chronicles of Narnia to adorn a church.

Kibby Schaefer has been working on a plaster model of Aslan, as well as other characters from the CS Lewis novels, at Wolds Workshop in Full Sutton.

The carvings will be reproduced in stone to decorate the exterior of St Mary's Church in Beverley.

The church said new stone carvings on the exterior of the building will feature 14 characters from the ever-popular books.

“The precedent of animal and character carvings in churches stretches right back to medieval times,” said St Mary’s heritage learning officer, Dr Jennie England.

“Amongst our roof bosses we already have countless wooden carvings of animals, real and mythical, and the misericord carvings under the seats in the Chancel feature an elephant and a pelican. And of course there’s our famous Pilgrim Hare!”

Roland Deller, director of development at the church, said: “For centuries there were carvings in these spaces on the outside walls. “But over time they have weathered away completely. We don’t have any pictorial evidence to show us what was there, so have no way of reconstructing the original carvings.

"And so we decided to commission something new, to reflect more recent times.”