Tens of thousands of love locks due to be removed from a Derbyshire bridge and melted down could be saved at the 11th hour after the owner of a nearby stately home offered to relocate them.
About 40,000 locks attached to the Weir footbridge in Bakewell over the course of a decade were to be removed and recycled by Derbyshire county council so maintenance work could be carried out on the bridge.
The move, first announced in 2021, sparked outrage among local people and visitors who had placed locks there, some in memory of loved ones who had died, and they embarked on a years-long battle to save them.
With the maintenance work finally due to begin on 16 September, the owner of nearby Thornbridge Hall, a Grade II-listed stately home, has stepped in to offer the locks a “for ever home”.
Richard Young, who used to run a cafe in Bakewell and founded the Save the Love Locks at Bakewell campaign group, said: “It felt like such a weight off my shoulders. I have been fighting this for three years and we’ve finally got somewhere.
“These are not just rusty padlocks, these are memories. They are very close to people’s hearts. People keep coming back each year to reflect on that memory of the loved one or the stillborn child, or the marriage or the engagement.”
Emma Harrison, the owner of Thornbridge Hall, has offered to display the locks on a fence structure in the hall’s grounds where they can be viewed year-round.
“I saw how much it meant to everybody,” she told the BBC. “I said: if they really are going to melt them down, why don’t you ask the council to bring them up to my house and I’ll look after them, and I’ll reinstate them on wires so that people can visit them.”
Young said the group was working through the details with Derbyshire county council, but hoped to remove the padlocks and replace them on a wire fence in the hall, with extra space for the tradition to be continued.
Many people have taken their locks from the bridge in recent weeks, before they were due to be removed by the council, and they are also invited to rehang them at Thornbridge.
“We appreciate that it will not be the same as the bridge at Bakewell, but it will be a lasting final resting place for all to enjoy,” the campaign group said.
It is also hoping to place a “love lock bench” near to the bridge in Bakewell for people to sit and reflect near to where they originally placed their locks.
A spokesperson for Derbyshire county council said: “We understand a few possible options are currently being explored for the future of the locks, and we are happy to look into whether any of these are possible.”
