Conservation & Heritage Issue 50 Winter 2025/Spring 2026 - Flipbook - Page 90
The Conservation of the
Quenby Hall Entr ance Gates:
Integr ating Tr aditional Cr aft
and Modern Technology
The early eighteenth-century wrought iron entrance gates of Quenby Hall, Leicestershire,
represent a rare and significant example of English decorative ironwork.
1672 by the fourth George Ashby (1656–1728), the estate
was transformed with formal gardens, reflecting Ashby’s
personal investment in landscape design and his sobriquet
as ‘the planter’. George Ashby designed the gates to create a
strong sense of arrival at the estate. The elaborate ornamental
vocabulary of the gates, combined with the armorial bearings
and ciphers of the Ashby family, symbolically communicated
ownership, social status, and power.
Introduction
In 2017, the gates were placed on the ‘Heritage at Risk’ register,
highlighting the urgency of conservation intervention. This
article documents the comprehensive conservation project
undertaken by Calibre Conservation, funded through the
Heritage Stimulus Fund administered by Historic England,
with contributions from Leicester City Council and
Leicestershire County Council. The work sought not only to
stabilise and restore the gates physically but also to recover
their historical and symbolic significance within the context
of heritage preservation and the wider Leicester Conservation
Area. Currently situated in the gardens of Newarke House
Museum (Skeffington House), the long-term plan envisages
relocating the gates to the new memorial garden at Leicester
Royal Infirmary.
Over the centuries, the gates were relocated multiple times.
After Waring Ashby sold Quenby Hall in 1759, the gates were
donated to Leicester Infirmary in 1768 and remained there
until 1901. Subsequently, they were moved to the entrance
of New Walk Museum and Art Gallery. Each relocation was
accompanied by repairs, modifications, and in some cases
inappropriate interventions, resulting in the partial loss of
original features, replacement of elements with lowquality
replicas, and misinterpretation of iconography. These
historical changes, while themselves part of the gates’ lifecycle, distorted their intended visual and symbolic impact.
Historical Context
Quenby Hall gates were originally installed at the main
entrance of Quenby Hall, near Cold Newton and Hungarton,
Leicestershire. Following the inheritance of Quenby Hall in
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