Our photograph this week takes us back to 1967 and the gates of the triumphal arch at Wilton House. This establishment is one of the show places of England and has been the home of the Pembroke family for hundreds of years. In the picture men can be seen carrying out work on the lovely wrought iron entrance gates which needed some urgent repair.

The gates, which form part of the Triumphal Arch, had become badly corroded and they have an interesting history. The gates were bought by Sidney, Lord Herbert of Lea, in Italy in the first part of the 19th century, and they were then taken to his Irish Estate. They came from Ireland to Wilton House in 1931.

It is through these gates that thousands of visitors to the house pass each year and they learn from their guide books that the arch was designed by Sir William Chambers round about 1755. The arch originally stood on the top of a hill on the South side of the park and was moved to its present site and re-erected as the main entrance. Surmounting the archway is an equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius. The steps and the lead flashing at the base of the statue, and the balustrade parapet over the two lodges on either side of the entrance also received an overhaul during the early part of 1967.

Wilton House was rebuilt in the Palladian style in 1647 by Inigo Jones and John Webb, with further alterations made by James Wyatt in 1801, the chief architectural features are the 17th-century state apartments and the 19th-century cloisters, which house an impressive collection of Greek and Roman statuary.

The house and wonderful gardens have been open to the public since 1951. The estate is often described as England’s most beautiful country house.