At his home in the hamlet of Streat he made a sculpture garden and filled it with his own figures carved from stone, wood and cast bronze.

In the side garden he sited the poetic Sculpture for a Roman Landing Place to greet visitors.

John Skelton was born in Glasgow in 1923, attended Norwich Cathedral Choir School and Bablake School, Coventry.

He studied lettering, sculpture and architecture at Coventry School of Art and was then apprenticed to Eric Gill, his uncle, shortly before the artist died in 1940.

He continued his training under Joseph Cribb, working at the Guild of Saint Jospeh and Saint Dominic on Ditchling Common.

Cribb had taken over Gill's lettering and sculpture workshop in 1924, continuing his practice.

In 1942, John Skelton joined the Army, was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1944, and served in India, Burma, Malaya and Siam.

On his return he worked as a stonemason, married Myrtle Bromley Martin, a silversmith.