A STATUE honouring Dunbar's fishing heritage will be in place near the town's harbour within a matter of weeks.

Plans for a monument, called The Creel Loaders, to be created on a small triangle of land at the junction of Victoria Street and Castle Gate have been ongoing for more than three years.

The statue, which was the brainchild of the Dunbar Shore and Harbour Neighbourhood Group (DSHNG) and created by Gardner Molloy, of Cockenzie, was given the go ahead in October 2014.

Since then, funding has been secured and the statue is now nearing completion ahead of it being unveiled on August 9.

The statue tells the story of the town's connection to the herring trade, which at its peak, saw women carrying fish for sale from Dunbar to Lauder in wicker creels on their backs.

At that time, it was common for two people to help load the creels into position.

Pippa Swan, DSHNG chairwoman, was delighted to see the scheme becoming a reality.

The sculpture, which is made of sandstone and more than six-foot tall, will be officially unveiled by later this year.

She added: “There will be a formal unveiling when everything is in place and we have got it finally safely here.

“Then we will plan a proper unveiling with Viridor Credits representatives and that will hopefully be before the end of the year.”

The project has been funded through private donations, as well as the generosity of Viridor Credits.

Gardner, who is well known throughout much of the county, has regularly appeared at the Three Harbours Festival.

In Dunbar, he has produced the letter cutting outside the John Muir Birthplace and the carving for the noticeboard outside Dunbar’s Parish Church.

The main work on the massive stone has been undertaken at the premises of Had-Fab Ltd, in Macmerry.

Gardner, who reckons he will have spent about 1,000 hours on the project, said: “The boys at Had-Fab have been absolutely brilliant with me, allowing me room in their yard for nearly a year now to work away at this and being generously supportive and at pains to make me feel welcome and under no time pressure.”

Public consultation took place during the 2013 Civic Week and the preferred option identified was for a figurative sculpture in stone, which would tell some of the story of fishing in the town.