Work has been completed on two major projects in the gardens at Blenheim Palace.
The historic Bellcote in the Walled Kitchen Garden, which dates back to the early 1700s, used to notify workers when to start and finish work when the garden was built to feed workers during construction of the palace itself.
During a three-month project the lower section of the Bellcote was totally rebuilt in locally-sourced oak, the bell and brackets cleaned and new steels, corbels, sole plates and cladding created.
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Blenheim Palace’s clerk of works Chris Monaghan said: “Having personally worked on the Estate for 30 years, it’s lovely to see how this would have been used in the past and gives me a great sense of pride and achievement, knowing that this will be here for future generations to see.”
Meanwhile the 1920s centrepiece in Blenheim Palace’s Rose Garden, a statue of a young woman sitting on the shoulders of a centaur holding a conch shell, observed by a winged young child, was removed for restoration in late 2023.
It has been thoroughly cleaned, the arm reattached, her nose repaired and the fountain jets replaced.
The Rose Garden is being transformed back into the ‘rosarium’ that the 7th Duke of Marlborough, John Winston Spencer-Churchill, would have enjoyed in the 19th century.
Blenheim Palace’s Head Gardener Andy Mills said: "Whilst removed, the Rose Garden seemed flat and quite dull. As soon as ‘she’ returned, the focal point was restored."
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