The replica mining poppet head that was erected on the site of the Comfort Inn Goldfields in 1980 has been taken down due to its deteriorating condition.

A crane was on site early on Tuesday disassembling the timber structure and removing the large mining wheels from the top.

Contact was initially made by the owners to the Northern Grampians Shire Council to gauge the availability of grants to restore the structure.

However, upon inspection of the poppet head, council officers deemed the wood to be rotten and a hazard. It was condemned and ordered to be removed.

The removal has caused some concern within the community, as residents did not want to see the wheels or structure disappear, but the Comfort Inn Goldfields owners had no choice but to have the structure removed.

However, they have advised that the wheels that sat on top of the poppet head will be restored and retained at a site in Stawell in the future.

The original poppet head was erected in January 1980 and at the time, it caused many of the town's older residents to ask how long it had been since one had gone up in Stawell.

Two large mobile cranes were used to lift the legs, which had been prefabricated on the ground, into position while they were locked and bolted into place.

The poppet head, which features a pair of genuine wheels secured in Bendigo by the Goldfields directors at the time, were put in place to make it a landmark of the Western Highway, then known as Highway 8.