A historic concrete pillar left tilting towards a road after a drink drive car crash in Deal has been rebuilt.

Almost one year after the accident at the junction of London Road and St Leonard's Road, work has taken place to re-instate the piece of town history.

The pillar has puzzled passers-by for decades with many not realising its significance.

The tall brick ballcapped edifice is connected to the Rev Thomas Stanley Treanor (1837-1910), chaplain for 32 years to the Missions to Seamen, Deal and the Downs Branch.

Treanor lived at The Laurels, a grand house next to the War Memorial Hospital. It is thought the current homeowners are behind the new chimney-shaped statue.

It is said to be a replica of the watch tower that once rose above the house and gave Treanor unrivalled views over his maritime parish.

Treanor was well known for organising an annual summer concert at the Pier Pavilion in aid of funds for the Mission to Seamen.

He was frequently invited to speak to church congregations of the dangers that beset mariners, the perils of lifeboatmen and aims of the society.

The father of eight, who married three times, died in November 1910, aged 74, and is buried in an untended grave beneath a spreading yew in Deal Cemetery.

Historian Gregory Holyoake has welcomed the return of the tower.

He said: "I live in the vicinity and have watched the progress of the welcome rebuilding.

"This was the home of Rev Thomas Stanley Treanor, the famous Missioner to Seamen, and I have always known the tower to have been a representation of a watchtower or lighthouse.

"Tom Burnham`s illustration at the start of our book, ‘Deal and Walmer - A Celebration', shows it to have been topped by a stone ball though, perhaps, it originally was simply a chimney, which it appears to be again now."

Parts of London Road and St Leonard's Road were closed for almost nine hours after the crash in the early hours of August 4 last year.

Workers faced little choice but to remove the unsupported structure and make the area safe.

Police said a 21-year-old man from Deal was fined and banned from driving for drink driving offences.

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