‘Big Willy Collins’ headstone made from solid white marble and features a solar-powered jukebox

What is believed to be Britain’s ‘biggest headstone’ has been firmly planted on the grave of traveller king ‘Big Willy Collins’.

The 37 tonne headstone featuring a solar-powered jukebox now stands at the burial site in Shiregreen Cemetery in Sheffield of bare-knuckle boxer Willy, who died aged 49 after collapsing while on holiday with his family in Majorca in July 2020.

The huge memorial, which some local stone masons estimate to have cost at least £200,000, is crafted from solid Carrara marble and features two life-sized statues of Big Willy’s six-foot-two frame.  

The memorial is crafted from Carrara marble and features two life-sized statues of Big Willy

Mourners who visit his final resting place can also connect to the speaker through Bluetooth to play their own songs.

Upon his death, tributes poured in from across the UK and his beloved home city, where he was known by many as the King of Sheffield

The gargantuan memorial is surrounded by Irish flags and features a statue of the Pieta, with Mary cradling Jesus Christ

The marble memorial features two life-sized statues of Big Willy’s six-foot-two frame (pictured)

For the funeral service in 2020, friends and family let off blue flares and travelled on quad bikes to honour the bare knuckle boxer

It also features depictions of Jesus Christ and biblical scenes, as well as a solar-powered jukebox playing the late father-of-nine’s favourite tracks.   

Mourners who visit his final resting place can also connect to the speaker through Bluetooth to play their own songs. 

The headstone also features LED lights that can change colour, and is under 24-hour CCTV monitoring, which his large family have access to in order to see and ‘speak’ with him.  

The family have declined to comment on the price of the elaborate headstone.   

One of 16 children, Willy was the patriarch of the Collins family, and is said to have doted on his children and grandchildren, and to have had around 400 nieces and nephews. 

The headstone also features LED lights that can change colour, and is under 24-hour CCTV monitoring

The huge headstone and tribute to the late father-of-nine weighs in at 37 tonnes 

Willy died aged 49 after collapsing while on holiday with his family in Majorca in July 2020

One of 16 children, Willy was the patriarch of the large Collins family

His cortege was led by people in velvet suits and crowns with a white funeral carriage being pulled by six plumed horses wearing yellow and blue feathers

Willy is said to have doted on his children and grandchildren

The headstone features the tribute: ‘My daddy, my best friend, my first love and forever my king’

Hundreds lined the streets in the city in August 2020 for Big Willy’s final send off, with his body being carried in a gold-plated casket, transported by a horse-pulled carriage

Upon his death, tributes poured in from across the UK and his beloved home city, where he was known by many as the King of Sheffield.   

Hundreds lined the streets in the city in August 2020 for Big Willy’s final send off, with his body being carried in a gold-plated casket, transported by a horse-pulled carriage. 

His cortege was led by people in velvet suits and crowns with a white funeral carriage being pulled by six plumed horses wearing yellow and blue feathers, 40 Rolls Royce cars and some bikers and vintage cars. 

Mary Collins, 30, Willy’s eldest daughter, said: ‘It’s a sad day but it’s also a way to show the world what he meant to us.

Kathleen (pictured) was married to Will for more than 30 years

Tributes paid to Willy said that he ‘still means the world to us’ [the family]

‘Our father was a family man and he means the world to us – he still means the world to us. We’ve given him everything we’ve got and he deserves it.  

‘If you met him once for five minutes you would never forget him.

‘We now have somewhere where we can meet and talk about him and for others to remember him.

‘He was my best friend. Not a day goes by where we all don’t think of him.’

When asked about whether she worried that the council would order the removal of the headstone in the future, Mary said: ‘We don’t worry as all the plots taken up, we own.

‘We bought all the plots as it’s a family grave, so we’re not taking over more space than it should be.

‘From behind, all of the plots are ours, but when someone dies the head stone starts at the head. We’re not worried, and it’s well taken care off. We jet wash that road all the time. We have a lot of respect.

‘My father’s grave is on a hill, so it has to be raised anyway. It’s in line with other headstones.’

When asked if she was happy to reveal the price of the headstone, Mary refused and said that it was against travel traditions to ‘brag’ about the value of such memorials.

She said: ‘It was never about a price. It wasn’t done as a brag. We’ve done it for our father and us, and for our grandchildren to remember him, and what a great man he was to us.’