AN ARTIST and sculptor from Aiskew has produced two striking new interpretations of scenes from one of the bloodiest battles ever to be fought on English soil.

Miss Kate Jones ensured that Wednesday's 863rd anniversary of the Battle of the Standard, near Northallerton, did not go unnoticed by creating large matching metalwork pictures of scenes from the engagement between the English and the Scots.

The two pictures, both cut from mild steel, have gone on show in Northallerton library as efforts continue to repair the vandalised battlefield memorial on the A16, three miles outside the town.

Miss Jones spent about 70 hours on the pictures, made up of separate pieces of steel welded together and bolted to wooden backing boards, specially textured to suggest the appearance of the sky at dawn and mid-morning, the short timespan of the battle in 1138.

The first piece depicts, part sectionally, a cart strewn with banners, said to have been set up on the site of Standard Hill Farm and used as a rallying point for the English. The second picture shows English archers who poured a torrent of arrows into the Scottish line.

Miss Jones was on a video course at Northallerton college when she and fellow students Graham Pentelow, Linda Halliday and Ann McGreggor decided to make a video about the battle which left more than 10,000 dead.

With the help of Northallerton historian Mr Ted Dawson, a 15-minute video was produced which is now in the library for public viewing. Miss Jones, who was already working on a series of metalwork images, was inspired to use the battle as the theme for the two pictures, about 4ft square.

Miss Jones, the partner of Aiskew blacksmith Mr Will Willson, used a punch, a stamping tool, a chisel and dribbles of weld to achieve textured highlights in her pictures and heighten their visually dimensional effect.

She said: "I had already done a couple of fish in mild steel, thought they were quite nice and would like to do something a lot bigger with a backing board.

"I'm very pleased with how the battle pictures have come out. They have given me other ideas about texturing and about different themes for what I am going to do. I am not necessarily going to stick with the themes of historical figures. I might go on to do conceptual ideas for my work."

Miss Jones gained a BA honours degree in art and design and recreational studies at Plymouth four years ago.

While there she specialised in sculpture and, during her second year, exhibited at the national exhibition centre in Birmingham. She now shows work at the mythic garden in Chagford, Devon.

She and Mr Willson take on architectural and personal commissions at their blacksmith's workshop at Aiskew. Next year they are planning to exhibit a series of sculptures at a location soon to be announced.

Miss Jones also creates art and design pieces in stained glass and in recycled materials including pebbles, matchsticks and old LPs.

In May this year the Battle of the Standard memorial, a 12ft sandstone obelisk, was disfigured by vandals who stole the bronze and copper plaques, damaging the stonework as they did so. Money to pay for the obelisk, erected in 1913, was raised by public subscription

Hambleton council took the lead in setting up a working group to investigate repairs and the group now comprises representatives of the district council, North Yorkshire highways department, Allertonshire civic society, Northallerton local history society and Brompton Parish Council.

A Hambleton spokesman said prices were awaited following a meeting with a local stonemason. Instead of vulnerable metal plaques, the group was considering the option of having a new inscription carved in stone and set into the obelisk.

Mr Dennis Weller, of Guisborough, is providing an information board for the site, where the highways department is being asked to lengthen and improve the present sub-standard layby.