River Stour sculpture commemorates 16th century drowning that inspired Shakespeare

Figure of woman on her back underwater draws inspiration from Hamlet’s Ophelia and death of senior Tudor judgeAlmost 500 years ago, a wealthy and well-connected judge named Sir James Hales walked into the River Stour near Canterbury in order to take his own life. Hales had risen to favour under King Henry VIII but had refused to convert to Catholicism under the repressive regime of his daughter Mary, and had been imprisoned in the Tower of London.Struggling with his mental health after his