The concrete cows of Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, England, was designated as a ‘New Town’ in 1967. Among the projects that this inspired was the 1978 open-air sculpture by Canadian Liz Leyh of six concrete cows, half the size of real ones. The three adults and three calves are hollow inside and have been vandalised by pranksters in various ways over the years, such as re-painting, beheading, the addition of extra parts and actual bodily theft.

The original cows are now in the Milton Keynes Museum. A replica set of five cows was built as a more long-term feature, as it was realised that they had become a famous landmark. These stand near to the A422 road.

(Image: G Laird at geograph.org.uk / CC BY-SA 2.0)