Historical Factoids 18:

[Mal]

The sorry saga of the Hartford Hall gates.

These Grade 11* listed gates were made by the world leading makers Coalbrookdale for the Vienna Exhibition in 1873 to demonstrate their craftsmanship.  Anecdotally I was told you can even see the fingerprints on the cast hands included in the design of these gates, a feat which cannot be reproduced even today! 

It was agreed as part of the renovations to Hartford Hall that these gates would be renovated and English Heritage became involved.  They even gave a grant towards the renovations and insisted there was only one place in England that could be trusted with this significant renovation project.  The gates were dismantled and shipped off to the specialist down in Yorkshire. 

Things now take a turn for the worse!

During the renovation project the developer went bust and the Administrator was called in.  The Administrator sequestered all monies in the account including the grant funding for these gates and paid out debtors of the company.  So the money disappeared and the gates which had been started were now left languishing somewhere in Yorkshire. 

There were many calls for their reinstatement and I decided to do a bit of digging myself.  I found out where they had been shipped off to and rang the company up to find out what was going on.  I was told there was an outstanding bill for work done, about 1/3rd, and until that was paid the gates remained, never mind about getting them finished.

After making more ‘noises’ about them over the next few years and a BBC Inside Blog about them I found out they had been moved and were actually in the old fire station at Morpeth.  So I presumed that part bill had been paid and moves were afoot to get them sorted?   Asking about them now and I was told they had been moved again, where I wasn’t allowed to know, but moves were afoot to get something done with them.  I persisted and eventually I received a phone call to tell me they were in the possession of NCC (good) they would be renovated (great) they would probably be encased in glass or plastic to stop any further degeneration (great) and would be on public display (great!).  There was even a cost estimate of around £500K and I was asked to help find that money.  I agreed but then asked where exactly would they be displayed, even suggesting several places in Bedlington where I thought they might work.  I was told they had to be displayed in…….Ashington?  Ehhh! 

Why was never explained and after a lengthy heated argument I said I wouldn’t be helping them to see them end up in Ashington, which I felt would be yet another slap in the face for Bedlington!

So that’s the tale of woe yet again but as far as I know NCC have them stashed somewhere and that £500K estimate could well be in excess of £750K now, never mind where they might end up!

 

 

(As an addendum to this one.........The Gates are now in safe storage in a NCC depot where they are being kept as dry and moisture proof as possible. )