WORK begins today to restore an historic Matlock Bath bridge built to mark the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria.
Derbyshire Dales District Council plans to make the landmark structurally safe while refurbishing it to the way it looked when first opened in 1887.
Following the Easter bank holiday weekend, Derbyshire company Tomlinsons will start work on site today in a project scheduled to last several weeks.
All metalwork will be blast cleaned and defective metal re-plated, and the entire bridge will be re-painted with a 20-year guarantee. Safety tests will also be carried out on the structure.
Earlier this year local historian Rosemary Thacker unearthed a newspaper article from 1887 which revealed Jubilee Bridge was originally painted in four colours – the outer faces of the main girders in a 'warm stone', the inner parts of the girders 'blueish grey', scroll work 'deep chocolate' and finials picked out in 'golden yellow'.
These colours will be recreated using modern available paint – and the revised colour scheme, replacing the current maroon and cream scheme introduced in 1987.
A council spokesman said: "The Jubilee Bridge is getting its first facelift since its centenary year over 25 years ago and we are grateful to Rosemary Thacker for her help in ensuring the restoration will be as authentic as possible.
"We set aside money in our capital programme after local people, traders and the local media correctly made the point that the bridge was in need of refurbishment."
The work was put on hold last year when it became clear that a number of issues – including the cost of complying with Environment Agency site requirements – would have made the bridge unavailable during the District Council's 2013 Matlock Bath Illuminations season.
