A £200,000 bronze statue of Canterbury Tales author Geoffrey Chaucer will be unveiled in the city today.

It is the result of a 10-year campaign by the Canterbury Commemoration Society to acknowledge Geoffrey Chaucer’s important association with the city.

The life-sized figure, sculpted by Sam Holland, is being sited in the Three Cities Garden in Best Lane.

The sculpture will also feature the faces of city personalities around a plinth representing characters from his greatest work, which tells the stories of pilgrims travelling from London to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral.

It follows months of research with historians and costume experts to ensure the period detail, including his accessories, are correct.

Sam’s interpretation depicts Chaucer representing himself as one of the pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales, part kindly old man and part all-seeing soothsayer.

The cost has been met through fundraising, donations, grants and the £5,000 sponsorship of each of the 29 characters’ faces, which include Canterbury-born actor Orlando Bloom as the Young Squire.