VISITORS are few and far between when you are perched 146ft above the ground. So it was a special day yesterday for the four-metre high lady at the top of a column at the National Trust’s Gibside estate.
Representing Liberty, she was put in place by estate owner George Bowes between 1750-57.
Yesterday, steeplejacks used ropes to scale the Column to British Liberty at Gibside to survey the condition of its stonework and estimate its conservation needs. The inspection takes place every five years.
The liberty lady also had visitors eight years ago when experts from the same firm, Stone Technical Services of Darlington, climbed the column to remove vegetation because plant roots can work their way between stone blocks and cause damage. The plants grow from seeds in bird droppings.
As well as repairs to the weathered stonework and the need to replace Liberty’s arm – only the thumb remained attached to its wire framework – the copper cap on top of her head showed signs of rifle fire damage.
This is likely to have been from the Second World War, when Gibside was a training ground for the local Home Guard and several historic buildings were utilised for target practice.
The column, designed by Daniel Garrett, was part of coal baron George Bowes’s grand improvement plans for his estate, which also included the chapel, banqueting house, stable block and octagonal pond. When built it was the tallest column in the land after Sir Christopher Wren’s Monument in London at 202ft.
Bowes had raised a cavalry regiment in 1745 to defend County Durham against the invading Jacobite army and he raised the column to show his support for the Hanoverian regime and the Whig Party.
The column cost approximately £1,000 to build at the time, the equivalent of about £120,000 today.
The statue of Liberty which stands on top of the column was carved in situ over five months. A wooden shed was constructed at about 140ft above ground level to protect sculptor Christopher Richardson from the elements.
Mick Wilkes, Gibside’s property manager, said: “The Column to Liberty is a local landmark that you don’t have to visit Gibside to enjoy – it stands out for miles around.
“So we want to assure local people, who may see work taking place, that it is in no danger. This is a routine conservation survey that we conduct every five years.”
The National Trust is using this week’s conservation survey offers to take bird’s eye view photographs of the estate and the 360 degree film footage will be uploaded on Gibside’s website.
