40,000 Bakewell bridge 'love locks' transported to Thornbridge Hall

About 40,000 "love locks" have been transported to the country estate where they will go on display after being saved from the scrapheap.

The padlocks, inscribed with messages celebrating relationships or remembering loved ones, had been fixed to the Weir footbridge in Bakewell, Derbyshire, over the years since 2011.

But when a major repair project was announced to start in September, Derbyshire County Council warned the locks would be scrapped unless people returned to remove them.

In stepped Thornbridge Hall, where staff offered to give the locks a new home.

The two-and-a-half-mile journey was not straightforward, however.

Alex Longsdon, from the estate, said: "A lorry took them over from Bakwell, and to give you an idea of the scale of it, it had two relatively flat tyres [by the time it arrived]."The locks are currently being stored in large industrial sacks, but will ultimately be displayed on a specially-designed structure in the estate grounds.

It will have a water feature and seating for visitors.Estate managing director Olivia Cridland said the response to the idea had been "overwhelmingly positive".

"We've had hundreds of messages, emails, handwritten letters from people who are just very happy that their locks aren't being melted down," she said.

The locks are due to go on display later in the year.

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