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Arch - materials
& restorations
Restoration.
Stroud Urban District Council spent over £1,000 on repairs
raised from voluntary donations, following a campaign to save
it from demolition. By 2000 the Arch was again in need of repairs.
A local group ‘The Anti-slavery Arch Group’, led by
Anne
Mackintosh, raised funds of £25,000 for a community
project. This included major stone repairs to the arch and works
to the footpath, a bronze plaque, a leaflet, a website and a community
play.
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Material
project
The Arch is built of a local oolitic limestone with
the top constructed in a durable fossiliferous limestone.
In 2001 stone repairs and cleaning were carried out
by Nicholas Quayle of Tetbury using specialist conservation
architect Annie Page of Andrew Townsend Architects of
Faringdon.
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| Above: Completed arch |
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During restoration of the arch |
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| SW arch pier before restoration |
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SW arch pier after restoration |
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| Base before restoration |
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Base after restoration |
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A
grand design
Described by David Verey in Pevsner as a “Stone Arch,
flanked by coupled pilasters and crowned with an entablature
and a dentilled cornice”, it is listed as grade II.
It has two inscriptions: ‘erected to commemorate the
abolition of slavery in the british colonies, the first of
august, a.d. mdcccxxxiv and ‘dedit deus libertatem detur
deo gloria’ which translates as ‘God gave freedom.
May glory be given to God’.
The original wrought iron gates are now at Doddington Hall.
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