A MYSTERY that has baffled people for 25 years could be solved in the next few weeks.

Nobody knows what happened to a brass statue of a steam plough, erected in South Park in honour of its inventor, Darlington-born John Fowler.

It was donated to the park in 1881 by industrialist Henry Pease but disappeared in 1979.

Rumour has it that it was too heavy for the thieves and they dumped it in the lake.

Work has started to drain the lake and park ranger Paul Place hopes the riddle will finally be solved.

He said: "It has not been drained for a long time so who knows what may turn up?

"We know that there is a wedding ring in there because a few years ago a couple were having a tiff and the woman threw it in the lake.

"The lake will reveal its secrets when the water level drops over the new few weeks."

The switching on of the pump was the start of the second main phase of work in the £3.9m Heritage Lottery Funded restoration project. Every day for the next few weeks 100,000 gallons of water will be pumped out of the lake into a foul sewer. The lake will then be de-silted and rebuilt.

The Environment Agency will be on hand to remove any fish to a safe location while the work is done.

Other wildlife will be relocated on to the nearby River Skerne.

Coun Lee Vasey, Darlington Borough Council's cabinet member for leisure services, got the work under way.

She said: "The next 13 months will see the transformation of what is already a wonderful open space into something that will be a real treasure for the people of Darlington and the region."