KING Canute failed to hold back the wave of compliments that followed his arrival in Knutsford last week.

Callers telephoned the Guardian and drivers stopped at the roadside to admire the 10ft sculpture that could very well become a new Knutsford landmark.

Businessman Trevor Williams, who was driving to Liverpool, said he had not been able to pass without taking a closer look.

“It’s great that we’re seeing more of these types of things,” he said.

And Bill Dean, 77, of Ollerton, said he had cycled past the sculpture each day last week.

He felt King Canute should feel at home on the outskirts of Knutsford.

“It’s not far from the River Lily,” he said.

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Tim Burgess had carved the sculpture - with a chainsaw - from a dying 200-year-old beech tree. He said the owners of the land, the Bloor family, had wanted to commission a figure that represented Knutsford and greeted visitors in Chelford Road.

“He’s like a guardian with his sword checking out the people coming into the town,” he said.

The Bloors had been inspired by the ‘Welcome to historic Knutsford’ sign and believed the town needed something on its outskirts to represent its history.

That something became King Canute.

Legend says the Viking monarch gave Knutsford its name when he forded the River Lily.

Mr Burgess, who specialises in chainsaw carvings, surfed the internet for pictures of the king. “The end result was my interpretation of a variety of different images,” he said.

But the 52-year-old, who enters international chainsaw carving competitions, said King Canute was one of the largest projects he had ever worked on.

“I’ve taken a lot of wood away,” he said.

By Wednesday last week most of the carving – apart from the eyes’ pupils and other small details – had been finished.

Mr Burgess plans to return and finish off the sculpture and apply a wood preserve by today.

The artist has previously created dozens of carvings including an 8ft owl in Church Lane, Mobberley, and a sculpture of Hannah the bald eagle at the Gauntlet Birds of Prey Centre.

He believes the King Canute sculpture could still be welcoming visitors to Knutsford in 100 years.

“It was a great idea and was well thought out by the family,” he said.