An unusual lot of a matched pair of half-size wooden gates mounted on wrought iron spigot hinges with sprung long lever latches will be offered at Christie's, King Street, estimated at £500 - £800, on 31st January.
 
One gate is made from softwood, the other from native hardwood, each 18ins high and both mounted on a single sole-plate. The five-bar gates are both pegged and braced.
 
The gates come from the collection of the Beaumont family, Viscounts Allendale, of Bywell Hall, Northumberland. Bywell Hall, a Palladian mansion designed by James Paine (1789), was purchased in 1810 by Thomas W Beaumont. This house was improved in 1827, with the assistance of the architect, John Dobson, and further work was undertaken later in the 19th century. The second Viscount Allendale inherited around £2m from his father who owned thirty square miles of lead and coal mining land in Hexhamshire.