Accessible self-catering holiday cottage in Northumberland
Situated at Bingfield near Hexham Northumberland
The Hytte gets a Chandelier!
Chandelier in original state
In August 2009 we spotted a chandelier on ebay and instantly fell in love with it.
It is made from deer antlers, which are shed naturally every year (so no animals were harmed making this light!).
Bidding over "we won it!" for the princely sum of £67 (a bargain) the only problem we had was that it was in Manchester! (Two and a half hours drive away).
The seller kindly delivered to our friends and shed some light on its history.
The story behind it is not very historic. It came from a pub on Deansgate, Manchester called the Pig and Porcupine, it was undergoing refurbishment and the chandelier had been thrown into a skip.
The seller's husband actually salvaged it from the skip when he noticed several people looking at it (she thinks they also wanted it but nobody could carry it!). Fortunately her husband had a van.
The pub was also used for quite a few Coronation Street scenes (although it was some time ago). So you never know it might be there in the background somewhere.
The pub has since changed again and is now an Indian restaurant. She has no idea where it came from before that.
Chandelier on roof rack
A huge thank you to our friends Kerr and Janet who live in Stockport and very kindly agreed to store it in their garage until they were heading north.
A few weeks later Kerr was driving to Dumfries so we arranged to meet him in a supermarket car park near the Carlisle turn off the M6 motorway.
He duly arrived with the Chandelier on his roof rack commenting about the strange looks he had been getting from motorists on the motorway. (I can't imagine why!).
Chandelier in car park
It did look a bit sorry for itself, all crooked and with carrier bags over the light fittings.
Chandelier metals supports
When we got it home and had a good look at it, the metal supports were all very bent and appeared to have been painted with a black lacquer. On closer inspection and a bit of a scrape and polish we discovered they were actually brass and copper, blackened by years of grime.
Polishing and straightening
Several weeks later and many hours of polishing and straightening, the brass and copper supports were as clean and as straight as we could get them.
Our friend Michael (electrician) did a wonderful job painstakingly rewiring it and declared it ready to hang.
Chandelier initial hanging
December 2009: Simon carefully removed two pieces of tongue and groove from the ceiling and the old light was removed.
Chandelier bulbs
A huge hook was fixed and braced into a solid timber rafter.
We managed to source some 9w low energy flame tip bulbs and replacement candle drip collars.
Chandelier from below
The ceiling was carefully put back together
Completed Chandelier
The seller was interested to see the light once restored and commented.
"It's amazing what people throw away. Like you I love to recycle things. It's nice to see the light fitting in all its glory"
