Installing salvaged railings

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Fencing adds a finishing touch as old buildings expert Marianne Suhr discovers when she installs salvaged railings at her own 16th-century cottage.

Over the last couple of years, as well as following other people’s period house projects, I’ve been working away on a few of my own. We have a 16th-century, timber-framed house that we bought in a severe state of disrepair. In fact, my husband Richard used to refer to it as ‘The most expensive pile of rotten old twigs in the whole of Oxfordshire’.

After a couple of years of intensive repair, we finished the bulk of the work about three years ago. It was always our intention to put a boundary fence around the front of the house as we are on the main road. Now with two little sons to consider, this particular project made its way to the top of the priority list last year.

ABOVE (left-right): Marianne with husband Richard and sons Max and baby Charlie; The rusty old railings, as Marianne originally discovered them in a scrap yard.

Wood versus metal
We originally thought of putting a wooden picket fence around; in fact a photo of the house from the 1920s shows just that. But when we started to look at wooden fences, I soon felt that it would close off the view of the house from the pavement.

After deliberation, we decided to go with a different option: metal railings. Wrought-iron railings had their golden age in the 18th and early 19th centuries and as my house was ‘modernised’ in 1740, their presence didn’t seem to be out of kilter with the character of the property.

By chance, I happened upon some old rusty railings one day at a scrap yard. I knew that they would suit the house perfectly, but they were only long enough to make up two thirds of the total length we needed. Luckily, a local metal fabrication firm, Crossman Engineering, came to the rescue. They were able to modify the old railings to the right height, and make up the missing lengths to match. We even managed to source matching finials from North Valley Forge to make up the new section.

ABOVE (left-right): Straightening out a finial; Cutting the old panel to the perfect size.

Take your time
We had to wait several months for planning permission to erect the railings, as is the norm when putting in a new boundary. Handily, this gave us plenty of time to finish them nicely, sending them to CY Finishes to be grit blasted to remove any surface corrosion, then zinc sprayed and powder-coated. When the day finally came to erect them, two local builders we’d got to know on previous projects, Mike Jones and his son Alex, dug down through the chalkstone and cast concrete pads in the ground.

A couple of weeks later they returned to screw down the bases of the posts and set the railings between them. It was almost a perfect job, except the final panel was 20mm too long to fit the space between the posts. Undeterred, Mike plugged in his angle grinder and trimmed the end.

Another job off the list and a worry off my mind, knowing our children are safely behind the railings. Now I’m waiting for a good moment to tell Richard about the next challenge I have in mind.

ABOVE (left-right): Using an angle grinder Mike trims the newly fabricated railing panel to fit; Marianne’s tried and trusted builder Mike Jones, and his son Alex, lift the new panels into place.

Find out more about what to consider when installing salvaged iron railings...
Find out how to maintain and repair iron railings...

WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHS MARIANNE SUHR
Featured in the October 2011 issue of Period Living