Liverpool looks to recover Grade II iron gates

30/12/2008

Liverpool is taking steps to return a pair of cast iron gates back to the city, it has been revealed.

Moves by the city's council will look to recover the 15 ft high gates - which were hung on Sailors' Home from the mid-19th century to the 1970s - from their current location of a foundry in the West Midlands town of Smethwick.

It was reported that the gates were removed after Sailors' Home was demolished and they ended up in Smethwick, after a foundry there took over the Henry Pooley foundry in Dingle where the gates were created, the Liverpool Echo reports.

Furthermore, it was revealed that the gates - which are Grade II listed - feature a number of nautical themes, in addition to dolphins and Liver birds.

A spokesperson for Liverpool council said: "The owners of the factory have agreed for them to come back to Liverpool. The next move is to submit an application for listed building consent to Sandwell council."

Meanwhile, councillor Berni Turner, executive member for heritage, has called on the people of Liverpool to write to Sandwell council "to explain they're our gates and we want them back".

Earlier this month, it was reported that a pair of kissing gates are set to be erected in Henley-on-Thames to commemorate the death of a founding member of Sonning Common Health Walkers.