(Above, left to right): Kevin Hazelton (Bowes Museum), Dennis Rooney, Nathan Brown and Grace Wallace (Groundwork), Jane Whittaker (Bowes), David Dunn (Groundwork), Ron Jones (Bowes)
A museum has returned a set of six previously unseen ancient stones to the historic lime kiln where they began life 174 years ago in an ambitious £85,000 project to restore a key part of the North-East's industrial heritage.
The Bowes Museum in Durham has held the stones for decades, but they will return to the Bantling Line Kilms, near Stanley, in a recreation of their original use as a railway symbol and quicklime source for the construction industry.
Craftsmen will carry out repair works on the stones, which spelled out the name of the company which built them – Stanhope and Tyne Railroad Co' Limekilns – when they were originally installed in 1835. The surviving relics are missing the words Tyne, rail and the date.
"We plan to reinstall the stones in the structure of the kilns, along with newly carved stones where the originals are missing," explained Grace Wallace, Project Officer of the Breathing Life Into Bantling scheme for organisers Groundwork North East.
"This latest initiative is the second phase of a project that was completed in 2008, which saw two of the six kilns restored on site, along with access and information improvements. Work resumed in August this year, resulting in the completion of a further kiln."
Planners aim to turn the stones into a tourist attraction, education resource and wildlife draw, having already provided skills sessions and learning programmes for schools groups and made structural changes to ensure they offer "maximum potential" for use by bat and bird species in the area.
Jane Whittaker, Principal Keeper at the Museum, said she was "very pleased" with the re-emergence of the stones.
The Heritage Lottery Fund and The County Durham Environmental Trust have provided most of the funding for the work, contributing £30,000 each.
