Another of Stowe Landscape Gardens\' stone works of art has been restored by stone and restoration specialists Linford-Bridgeman of Lichfield. This time it is the Grade I listed Lord Cobham\'s Pillar, dating from the first half of the 18th century - work that included replacing the original cupola in Doulting stone and a carving of Lord Cobham in Portland stone, the originals having been blasted by lightning in the 1950s. At that time the cupola was replaced by a glass fibre and concrete copy and the statue of Lord Cobham, which had crashed to the ground, was not replaced.

The architects of the restoration were Peter Inskip and Peter Jenkins of London, who had to evaluate the historical documentary evidence in conjunction with the results of architectural, archaeological and structural surveys to produce a Conservation Plan before work began. The Conservation Plan was both a statement of the column\'s significance and a guide to its accurate restoration.

The new cupola is an exact copy of the one built between 1746 and 1749 to the designs of Richard Batchelor. And since there was evidence of windows in the original, the new one also has windows. The column is nearly 40m high. The roof of the cupola is leaded and on top stands the 3.5m high Portland stone statue of Lord Cobham, looking out over Stowe and the Cotswolds (featured in NSS in June this year). The stonework has been finished in a limewash.

Stowe Gardens, with more than 40 temples and monuments, has twice as many Grade I listed structures as any other British Garden. Linford-Bridgeman have also recently been working on the Fane of Pastoral Poetry and Conduit House in the deer park and over the years have restored many of the buildings at Stowe. Their next project at Stowe will be the restoration of the Wolf\'s Obelisk.