Victorian seat restored
Keen eyed gardnener Sue Atherley working in our Walled Garden, spotted an old, slightly delapidated looking green painted bench with some unusual metalwork in the frame. After some careful research and detective work, Sue realised that this was an original Victorian 'Twig and Branch' garden seat, which appeared in a photograph picturing Lady Sefton in the garden. The original bench appeared to be painted, complete with built in canopy.
Funded by the Friends of Croxteth Hall and Country Park, the Victorian 'Twig and Branch' bench was removed to a specialist restorer - Alan Jackson of the Liverpool Furniture Restoration Centre at Smithdown Road Liverpool, and has just nicely been returned to its place in the Walled Garden looking magnificent, with fully refurbished seat made from seasoned English Oak timber treated with Danish hot oil to preserve the wood. The metal frame - cast in the form of pruned twigs and branches has been restored and is now looking like new.
The likelihood is that this bench was cast in later Victorian times and was part of a set placed around the pleasure grounds of Croxteth Hall.
The bench's new home is in an open aspect in front of the rose beds within Croxteth Hall's Victorian Walled Garden, offering visitors the opportunity to sit and take in the calm and restful atmosphere of the garden.
Many thanks to the Friends of Croxteth Hall and Country Park for making this project possible, reclaiming a bench which will now last for the next 100 years.
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