A LIFESIZE model of a sheep could be set up in the market place at Masham to welcome the growing number of visitors to the town.

The parish council is to approach an artist with a view to having a Masham sheep sculpture to symbolise the town's connection with the breed and the farming industry of the area past and present.

It would stand on a specially-built dry stone wall at one of the main roads in to the square, with a plaque explaining how sheep helped to bring wealth to the town in the Middle Ages.

Parish council chairman Coun John Ellis said they had agreed to make preliminary inquiries with an artist and were hopeful the scheme would attract grants.

"It will be very tastefully done, not the sort of thing you would find on the Golden Mile at Blackpool or down Las Vegas way. We thought it would be a very appropriate way of welcoming people to Masham and reminding them of the links with sheep," said Coun Ellis.

Also included would be a revamped honesty box in which people parking cars make voluntary contributions.

Coun Ellis said the plan included having a mould made so a replica could be provided if anything happened to the original.

He added: "We think it would be fitting to have the model in the market place. At one time Masham was one of the richest places in the whole country because of the number of sheep around. In College Lane there was even an outcrop of Cambridge University sharing in the wealth of the area."

The market place, huge in comparison to the size of the town, was created to house sheep driven down from the hills. At its zenith, sheep numbered so many thousands they spilled out of the square.

Links with the past still abound. There is the Black Sheep Brewery, and Masham Sheep Fair - a comparatively new tradition set up in 1984 - has grown into an event that attracts thousands of visitors, and includes popular sheep racing.

On one occasion, the BBC television programme Call My Bluff caught out members of the southern-based panel who were unable to link the word Masham with its distinctive breed of sheep.

The growing popularity of Masham as a tourist venue has been underlined by takings from the honesty parking box in the Market Place. Since June, contributions topped almost £6,000.

The parish council plans to replace nine picnic tables damaged in recent flooding with three quality tables on the recreation ground. Final approval has yet to be given but the cost may be almost £500.

Recent floodwaters rotted existing tables beyond repair and two had been vandalised