Permission sought to repair Ralph Allen Drive pillars

Richard Wyatt

[Photo taken from Sally Strachey Historic Conservation report]

Hooray! Good to see a planning application has gone into B&NES at last for the restoration of the Ralph Allen Drive pillars – including the dismantling and rebuilding of the west gate pier – forming the upper entrance portal – in a new location,” allowing highway modification to mitigate repeated vehicle impact and incremental degradation of a heritage asset.”

This former gated entrance to Ralph Allen Drive has taken quite a battering over the years. The latest vehicle strike left the east pillar in a bit of a mess.

Photo taken from Sally Strachey Historic Conservation report. The pillar on the left would be dismantled and rebuilt slightly to the west.

In a detailed report from Sally Strachey Historic Conservation it is stated: ” If the west pillar is not moved to create more space for modern vehicle requirements, then both of the pillars are left at a very high risk of further damage by vehicle strikes and could ultimately end up as piles of damaged and neglected stones surrounded by weeds, for example. Considering this scenario, it would not feel that the responsibility to protect the pillars would have been fulfilled.”




Published by Richard Wyatt

Freelance Journalist, broadcaster, columnist and local historian. Director of Bath Newseum. Married and lives in Bath. Interested in local history, architecture and visual display in museums and urban spaces.

3 Comments

  1. Excellent news but one can’t help but wonder if a more sustainable long-term option wouldn’t be simply to move them – say to the entrance of Prior Park?

    1. They already have them at the entrance to Prior Park – both the school and the National Trust garden.

  2. Who pays for the repeated damage to these pillars. ……hopefully the drivers?

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