Pytchley Gates bigger and better

Carrol Weston
BBC Northampton

An important county landmark, that was damaged in an accident, has been restored to its former glory.

The Pytchley Gates in the village of Overstone near Northampton were badly damaged when a car and a van crashed into the stonework in April last year.

The project to repair the Grade-Two-Listed gateway took eighteen weeks to complete.

Each piece of stone had to be taken down, restored and put back together piece by piece like a jigsaw puzzle.

It took over a year after the accident to start the repair work which was completed in September.

Bowden and Ward Stonemasons of Flore carried out much of the work on the gates.

Their director Sean Collins said matching the 16th century stonework up was quite a task:

"The original material used was Weldon stone which is no longer quarried. Luckily we came across some old blocks of Weldon Stone which we could cut up and use for the new pieces that had to be made. They were a pretty good match."

The Pytchley Gates at Overstone is an excellent example of a late 16th Century classical stone arch.

Its original location was the centre piece to the entrance to Pytchley Hall near Kettering.

But after it was demolished in the 19th Century, the gates were still recognised as magnificent examples and were were taken to Overstone to form the main entrance to Overstone Hall where they still stand proud today.