Wimpole Estate is a large estate containing Wimpole Hall, a country house located within the Parish of Wimpole, Cambridgeshire, England.
Wimpole is part of an ancient landscape, a recent archaeological excavation revealing a Late Iron Age to Early Roman (c.100BC – 150AD) rural settlement.
The remains were extremely dense, representing several phases of changing land use over a few hundred years; two roundhouses were revealed, one with its central hearth intact with livestock enclosures, farming plots and evidence of settlement reorganisation.
Wimpole hall has had many familys over its time up until 1976 where Mrs Bambridge bequeathed the house to the National Trust on her death aged 80.
MBL have worked closely with Wimpole Hall for many years, restoring locks, hinges, architectural ironmongery and manufacturing hand cut keys. Works have also been done on the restaurant, stables and farm complex.
Gothic Folly
The Gothic Tower, designed to look like a picturesque medieval ruin, is based on a sketch by the architect Sanderson Miller in 1749 for his patron, Lord Hardwicke, the owner of Wimpole.
The design was later realised in an amended form under the supervision of the great landscape designer Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown from 1768-72.
In the following centuries, the ruin suffered extensive and gradual damage with many important characteristics being completely eroded while public access to the Tower and landscape was near enough impossible.
Located in the magnificent parkland of Wimpole Estate, the Gothic Tower presented a complex conservation challenge for the National Trust. The work called for repair of the structure, stabilization of the stonework and reinstatement of missing components of the building, while preserving the weathered beauty and original ‘ruined’ appearance.
Here at Mid Beds Locksmiths we restored the historic locks back to full working order with hand cut original keys. We also installed modern deadlocks with small sympathetic keyways to allow staff quick easy access and reliable access.
