This gothic fragment can be found in the public park surrounding Clitheroe Castle in Lancashire. It was given to the town by Captain Sir William Brass, the local MP, to mark the coronation of King George VI in 1937. The pinnacle was rescued from the masons’ yard after it was removed as part of the extensive repairs to the stonework of the Houses of Parliament begun in the 1930s. The ladies bowling team selflessly allowed their green to be converted into a rose garden to surround the pinnacle.

The pinnacle was restored by the Clitheroe Civic Society in 2015 and there is more information here www.clitheroepinnacleproject.org.uk

Brass boldly stated that the pinnacle was the only one to have been relocated from London in its entirety, but there’s another at Hamsterley Hall in County Durham. In the 1920s Hamsterley, near Rowland’s Gill, was home to the Hon. Standish Robert Gage Prendergast Vereker, later 7th Viscount Gort, a title in the Irish peerage. He was something of an antiquarian and during his time at Hamsterley added an eclectic range of stonework, panelling, stained glass and architectural fragments to the mansion, resulting in a fabulous and unique house.

Turning his attention to the garden in the 1930s, Vereker added a cupola salvaged from the roof of Beaudesert, Staffordshire and turned it into a gazebo. The Marquess of Anglesey had sold the fabric of Beaudesert in 1935 and the building was demolished the following year. An exact date is not known but the cupola seems have been installed at Hamsterley soon after the demolition, with the gothic pinnacle from the Houses of Parliament as a companion.

As debate rages about the cost of a 21st century restoration of the Houses of Parliament perhaps further fragments can be salvaged and sold as work begins?

Hamsterley Hall has recently undergone a painstaking restoration and the results are stunning. The house and grounds are strictly private but the hall and the the ornaments can be seen from a public footpath.