How Old?

"... stylish, elegant, and bespoke metalwork ..."

<< Blog; 15th July 2018 >>


This was a rather interesting commission for a set of railings beside the moat of a medieval manor house in Cheshire. The original part of the house was built around 1330, the first extension is Elizabethan and the second extension is twenty first century!

Listed buildings can be challenging enough to work on but the grounds of this property are a scheduled ancient monument; any type of groundwork is severely restricted. Because of this, the terrace is cantilevered away from the house to avoid disturbing the ground beneath and the forged bronze railings were designed to suggest the prow of an ocean liner.

I simply adore bronze, it's by far and away my favourite material to work with. It forges wonderfully and can take a deep rich polish or display an infinite variety of tones, textures and patinas. In this case the metal was initially polished to highlight its worked texture and has since been allowed to do its own thing and weather and patinate naturally. Talking of bronze ... which I do ... OFTEN, I've recently been developing a range of bronze sculpture. Here be the odd dragon or so, along with birds, conkers and figurative work!

Contemporary bronze and oak railings for a moat