Listed Derbyshire stone pillar knocked down for 12th time in decade

Villagers in Tissington have been left exasperated after a Grade-II listed stone pillar, which forms the gateway to the Derbyshire village, was knocked down for the 12th time in a decade.

The pillar, which was last repaired in March at a cost of £15,000, was destroyed on Sunday by “an errant farmer bringing in his hay”, said Sir Richard FitzHerbert, whose family owns Tissington Hall and the surrounding estate.

“I’ve kept a diary of the incidents over the past 10 years and it’s becoming a joke,” he said. “This gateway was built for the horse and cart and now we have lorries, tractors, milk lorries, coaches, buses, you name it coming through and some people clip them, it’s very easy to knock them over.

“It’s just so frustrating. It’s another £15,000. But is there any point in me getting the stonemason to put it up again when I know at some stage in the future it’s just going to be knocked down again?”

The gateway, built in the 1780s, sits at the entrance to Tissington village at a crossroads with the A515, and is a “tight squeeze” although manageable for most drivers, FitzHerbert said.

It was last knocked down in January 2023 and finally repaired in March by Mark Eaton, a local stonemason. “What’s so frustrating about Sunday’s incident is obviously the farmer has made an error, and everyone has accidents, but it’s only three months after we put them back at vast expense,” said FitzHerbert.

He said the long-term solution would be to get the gates moved or widened, but doing so would require listed building consent from the Peak District national park authority.

The costs involved are estimated to be £70,000, he said, and were only just tenable for the estate. “I don’t own the roadway, the council does, so I would have to do it in conjunction with them,” he added. “There are so many hoops to jump through.”

On social media, many local people called for the gateway to be widened, with one saying: “Here we go again.”

“I’m surprised no one has been flattened by them being knocked over, it happens so often. It would have no impact on the beauty of the gates if they were an extra 2ft wider. Utterly ridiculous!” read one comment.

A Derbyshire county council spokesperson said: “We are sorry to hear that the gates have been knocked down again.

“The gates do not belong to the council, but we are happy to work with Sir Richard to see if we can find a solution to stop them being damaged in the future, although any changes would need to be agreed by the Peak District national park authority.”

A spokesperson for the authority said: “We share the frustrations of recurring damage to the gate posts and officers are awaiting further instruction from Sir Richard’s team to take forward any potential proposals, by application, that may support mitigating against similar damage in the future.

“This could include moving the posts to set back and increase the width of the entrance area.”