After a four-year campaign with countless ups and downs, Bakewell’s 40,000 love locks finally have a new home, with the unveiling taking place in February. The structure for the mementoes has been finalised, with the construction of the ‘Love Locker’ under way as a team of 140 volunteers thread the locks onto steel beams.
The new home for the locks- Thornbridge Hall- has now finalised the plans for the ‘Love Locker’ where people can find their locks in the order they were originally placed on Weir footbridge. The unveiling of the new instalment will be held on Valentine’s Day, February 14.
The construction has been undertaken pro bono, saving the campaign “tens of thousands” after materials and labour were donated by Gripple, a South Yorkshire wire manufacturer which provided the steel wire for the locks, The Metal Store, which donated materials, RMS Construction, which is putting together the frame, and Markovitz, a construction company that is also helping out.
Emma Harrison CBE, owner of Thornbridge Hall and Estate, said: “I designed the structure myself using my degree in mechanical engineering. I had to go right back to basics to figure it out. I had to pay a structural engineer to check my calculations and they were all right. My professors would be clapping right now.
“We have the local choir coming and lots planned for the great bridge launch day. I have all my staff working on it. They should be doing other jobs but they are heaving all these bags of locks around. It’s a triumph after all these years.
“We’ve had thousands of emails and stories from people who want to help, some of them are hilarious and I am really grateful to be a part of this big project. We’ve had so many heartwarming stories from people who placed their locks on the bridge, and some funny ones, such as this guy who wanted to find his lock to throw away as he had split up with his partner, so I told him to bring a hacksaw.”
The campaign to save the locks started after Derbyshire County Council announced it was repairing and renovating the Weir Footbridge, giving the community a deadline to find a new home for the locks. This was followed by the avid campaigner for the locks, Richard Young, suggesting that the locks be held in storage until a new home was found.
Therefore, all of the locks were allowed to be removed in the order in which they were placed on the bridge and stored until a new home was found.
The design for the Love Locker
(Image: Emma Harrison)
Richard Young managed to find a new home for the locks in the eleventh hour of deadline day, when he called Emma at Thornbridge. Emma added: “Without a clue about what I was saying yes to, I had no idea what it would entail. But the thought of 40,000 memories being sold for scrap made me feel sick.”
Emma has also said that her team at Thornbridge has devised a treasure map for visitors of the Love Locker to utilise when trying to locate their locks in their new home.
The entrepreneur also announced there would be a bell for people to ring once they have found their lock, as well as a barrel of water from Thornbridge Brewery so that people can keep up the tradition of throwing their key away into the water to keep up with the Weir Footbridge tradition.
Local people from the community have also donated £1,800 for materials, with Emma also personally donating thousands to the new structure.
Emma also explained that she has been overwhelmed with the stories she has received about how the community cherished the locks, with one example of a family coming to pay tribute to their son who sadly died from cancer in 2023 at the age of five, as he “loved the locks”.
Campaigner Richard Young said: “It’s a triumph, really. We’ve had our ups and downs over the years it’s taken. I’m just happy they have found a new home to be honest. All the work has been handed over to Emma now and she is doing a fantastic job of it.”