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Iron Gates
Keep them out or keep them in!
It seems the 19th century was the Hey Day for the wrought and cast iron industry – extremes abound, from the Stately Mansion with its huge ornate gates to the utilitarian type railings alongside the boundary between two fields – in fact just about everything seemed to get surrounded. Tombs in graveyards, pleasure grounds, and monuments. Piers were guarded and trespassers kept out for fear of impalement!
Everything was going along smoothly, even the 1st World War seemed only to temporarily stem the flow of orders. Unfortunately the 1st World War was followed by the 2nd and then we were told the metal was needed – railings and gates were chopped down with the acetylene cutter like a chainsaw in a forest and nowadays examples of Garton & Jarvis’s and Garton & Kings Railings and Gates are hard to find - but – our dedicated sleuth photographer has been out and about the highways and byways of Devon & Cornwall and we are able to show you not only some of the original drawings that still exist but also the real article, still in place guarding house, home, church or monument.
The absence of railings is particularly noticeable nowadays – the Cathedral green was enclosed by railings – large gates hung on pillars at Bull Meadow and Heavitree Park. Bartholomew Graveyard was surrounded by railings but the ones on the east and south sides are gone – all there is to see is the lead filled holes where the were secured into the stonework or the disused hinge pins embedded in pillars where once ornate gates proudly hung.
My first, and to date the most ornate set of gates, was discovered at Little Silver in North Devon in 2006 and to date it is the best example of Garton & King’s gates that I have seen that still exist and for which I have the scale drawing. Other examples will doubtless crop up from time to time but here is a small selection of past and present and some intricate and detailed and very skilful drawings that shouldn't be hidden away.
Little Silver, High
Bickington gate drawing
Design
drawings for the wrought iron gates made for Captain Barton at High
Bickington.
Little Silver, High Bickington gates at
Waterbeer Street
Little Silver
Gates,
High Bickington, North Devon
The
first I knew of these gates was when I saw the Drawing amongst the
numerous draughtsman’s drawings in the Record Office. A
Google search
came up with the location and a tongue and cheek drive resulted
in
finding them there still in all their glory – The acetylene torch
wielding workmen of the 1940s had, perhaps, got lost in the Devon lanes
and the gates were reprieved! Garton & King not only made the fine
gates but also the equally ornate and matching Railings.
Little
Silver Gate drawing
The
Icing on the Cake was discovering, in July 2009, that an untitled
photograph from amongst scores in the archives showed a set of gates
proudly on display outside (since verified by further research) the
Waterbeer Street Premises and place for the photographer to capture
prior to delivery and hanging, they are of the Little Silver Gates as
comparison will show – who disappeared off with the Little Silver
Gate
Shields I wonder?
Holcombe
Manor, drawing
There were drawings for the Greenhouse, the Company
sold the owners the cooking ranges (see section COOKING & HEATING)
one of the pair originally supplied still remains where it was first
installed. Outside the gates still guard the entrance and you can
see the plan drawing and a photograph of them still in place in 2007 as
I am sure they still are in 2009.
Holcombe Manor,
Holcombe Rogus
This
is a gem of a place – not just architecturally but also from the
point of past owners being good customers of Garton & Jarvis as
well as Garton & King.
The Church of St Mary
in Honeychurch
This church, which is north of North Tawton in Devon,
dates back to the 10th Century. It is described as “... having one of the simplest and most
unsophisticated country interiors in the whole of England”
Unspoilt by Victorian “restoration". One thing Victorian is
of note is the Gate to the Graveyard for which the congregation no
doubt contributed as it is a small parish of some 607 acres and without
a Squire. A Drawing of the Gate appears amongst the records saved
by Henry Holladay although no details of the location were given. In
2007, I visited the Devon Record Office and glanced through the
collection of plans and drawings and this caught my eye, on
returning home that evening I realised that I had seen the gate in
reality many times without knowing its connection with Garton &
King – why? – I was living at Middleton Farm, the property
immediately adjacent to the church, less than 50 yards away!
Commemorative Gate
This
gate commemorated the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887.
St Thomas
Pleasure Ground
These gates once adorned the Hinges at the St
Thomas Pleasure Ground but like so many examples an early end came
their way in the 1940s.