The wooden statue of St. Anne stands in the baptistry with the old stone font.  Those who attended the church prior to 1990 will remember that it once stood in its own niche at the back of the church. The statue is not in prime condition.  The nose of each of the figures, together with some of the fingers and hands are missing.  The nature of the damage suggest that it is deliberate and it is likely that it was done during the Reformation by groups attempting to rid England of Catholic imagery. Our Statue of St Anne The first written notes to mention the statue in the church date to 1922 although these merely state that it was moved out of the sacristy into the main body of the church.  It is probable, therefore, that the statue had been present in St. Austins for some time before this. It is believed that the statue is one of a group that was found by workmen in Ivy Cottage, Northgate, in 1756.  The workmen were doing repairs when they came across the statue hidden in the attic. It is believed that these were statues which had been removed from the various chapels and chantries around Wakefield at the time of the Reformation and secretly hidden to save them from destruction.   Ivy Cottage and Haselden Hall stood on Northgate near to Charlie Browns' Garage and were demolished in the 60's for the new road system.  The buildings dated back hundreds of years and Ivy Cottage is believed to have had Norman foundations.  Some believe the buildings were used by Catholics to worship covertly during the period following the Reformation and that this is why the statues were hidden there. A curator from the Victoria and Albert museum has identified the statue as being of a type produced in the Netherlands in around 1500 and shipped throughout Europe.  Although the statue is commonly referred to as St. Anne, in fact a closer examination reveals there are three figures to the statue.  St Anne is holding her daughter the Virgin Mary, who in turn holds the Christ Child.  The three figure arrangement is know in the Netherlands as an Anne te Drieen and is also well established in Germany where it is known as Anna Selbdritt. The image on the right dates from the Netherlands around 1500.  The same three figure arrangement can be seen.  Indeed in some European countries the three figure composition continues to have some popularity in the world of art and sculpture. The image on the left is one of several Anna Selbdritts produced by the artist Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, an Austrian Jew who was murdered by the Nazi's at Auschwitz in 1944. Although the work has little immediate resemblance to our wooden statue, the three figure composition is clearly visible.  St Anne is the figure in red, the black figure is the Virgin Mary, the cream or white figure is the Christ Child.