A 25-YEAR effort to find a home for a popular model of Winchester is a “lost cause”, according to its creator.

Roger Brown’s 15-foot replica of the city as it was in 1870 has never been permanently displayed despite dating back to the 1980s.

It is on show in the Great Hall this month (pictured below) but will soon return to a disused Hampshire County Council office, away from public view.

Hampshire Chronicle:

Above: Roger Brown with the model.

Mr Brown said: “We’ve been talking about this now for 25 years and nobody’s come up with a sensible solution. You can’t spend the rest of your life chasing after a lost cause.

“I jokingly said once ‘why don’t we have a fire by the Buttercross and celebrate by burning a piece?’”

Efforts to find a home in Winchester Guildhall, North Walls and the North Transept of Winchester Cathedral have all fallen through.

The former county planning officer, now aged 90, has passed the baton to friends including Peter Liddiard, who is calling on Winchester City Council to take the replica.

“I’m starting a campaign,” Mr Liddiard said. “It ought to be the responsibility of the city rather than the county.”

The model has been the centrepiece of popular exhibitions in the Great Hall and Winchester Science Centre but has never been permanently displayed due to its size and need for constant supervision.

“Every time we take it apart and put it back together again it deteriorates a little bit. It’s quite a labour of love,” Mr Liddiard said.

The model is on show in the Great Hall until November 15.