Forum topic: Help find a new home for some well loved old railings

The Triangle Toilet Railings project

The railings in their new role - an artist's impression

The cast iron railings - described by one expert as "historically important" - were installed around the entrances to the underground toilets on the Triangle island some time in the 1920s, and stayed there long after the toilets were closed, until 2013, when the stairs leading down to the toilets were filled in.

To begin with their fate was something of a mystery, but they were eventually tracked down by conservationists at a council yard in Hertfordshire.  The Friends were able to persuade the Council to move the railings back to Broomfield Park, where they are now kept in a closed storage area.

The plan developed by the Friends is to refurbish the railings - which are suffering not just from the rigours of age, but also because of the crude method used to remove them from the Triangle - then mount them on foundations, a low brick wall and two brick columns - the brick will match that used in the Conservatory itself.

The railings will need to be adapted at the smithy located not far from the Triangle.  The pointed tops will need to be made blunter for safety reasons.  The gates from the Ladies' and Gents' toilets would be rehung to form a double entrance way.

The total cost would be in the region of £9000.  The Friends have secured a grant of £5000 from the Enfield Society and can add to that another thousand pounds, made up of money raised though the Conservatory Group's fundraising efforts plus a large donation from a generous benefactor.

The remaining £3000 will hopefully come from the Residents' Priority Fund.  So please add your voice to those of others who would like to see the return of these once familiar friends.