COMMEMORATIVE gateposts commissioned to mark the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton are dividing opinion in Bucklebury, according to national media reports.
Rustic wooden posts resembling railway sleepers topped with carvings of acorns were recently installed in the Duchess of Cambridge’s home village of Chapel Row in Bucklebury parish. The 10ft tall gate posts mark the village’s famous daughter’s marriage to Prince William in 2011.
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An inscription on one post, says that it is “to commemorate the wedding of Catherine & William” and gives the date of the wedding in Latin. The other says: “Welcome through one of the historic gates of Bucklebury.”
The village became the centre of a worldwide media frenzy at the time of the royal wedding and the births of the couple’s’ children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
Back in the spotlight, the reports suggested that the posts had divided opinion and ignited a “ferocious debate” at a recent village coffee morning.
One villager allegedly branded them an eyesore and called for them to be “ripped down and turned into firewood”. Another complained that they did not fit in with Bucklebury and its history.
The chairwoman of Bucklebury Parish Council, Wynne Frankum, would only say that the posts had generated mixed feelings. Mrs Frankum added that they had been given planning permission and that the parish council had not held a meeting since they were installed.
Lynda Tillotson, the owner of interior design store L Interiors in Chapel Row, said the royal wedding was a wonderful thing to commemorate and that someone would always have an opinion on aspects of village life.
The posts, in South End Road near Hungerford Lane, were commissioned by the owner of the Bucklebury Estate, Willy Hartley Russell.
Speaking to the Newbury Weekly News, Mr Hartley Russell said that the national press reports were unsubstantiated and that the posts were an attractive commemoration for the royal wedding.
“I don’t know anyone who is against these gateposts,” he said. “They’re a fitting and appropriate commemoration of the royal wedding. The parish council wanted to do something to commemorate the event and I took it on to do something which we thought was appropriate.”
Mr Hartley Russell said that Bucklebury and Bradfield parish councils had raised no objections and that no one had commented during the planning process. He said that the posts had been designed by West Ilsley green oak furniture-maker Marnie Moyle using local materials.
“I hope they will be greeted with an appropriate welcome. The parish has done nothing apart from produce some mugs to mark the event.”
He added that it wasn’t every day that a local girl married the heir to the throne.
Three acorns adorn the Middleton coat of arms and were chosen partly because the family used to live in The Avenue, amid one of the oldest oak forests in the country.
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