The original golden gates, created by an unparalleled genius of 17th-century metalwork

Miranda Rock pens the newly restored golden gates within the gatehouse arch at Burghley House, Lincolnshire. The gates were designed by the celebrated French blacksmith Jean Tijou, active in England from about 1689–1720.

Little is known about Tijou’s background, but he was involved in some of the most prestigious building projects of the period, including St Paul’s Cathedral in London and Chatsworth in Derbyshire. His garden screen at the royal palace of Hampton Court, Surrey, cost the fabulous sum of £755 — that's around £140,000 adjusted for inflation, according to the Bank of England, but to the ordinary man it would have been even more. That cost is equivalent to almost 40 years of toil by the average worker, who in 1700 typically earned less than £20 a year.

Tijou’s work in the French taste brought about a transformation in the character of architectural ironwork in England, introducing to it the dense patterns, monograms, heraldic imagery and flowing foliage decoration seen here.

He published the design of Burghley’s gates in A new booke of drawings (1693). The ironwork was originally gilded by René Cousin, who also worked on the interiors of the house for John Cecil, 5th Earl of Exeter. In the Second World War, the gates were badly damaged by a bomb that fell nearby and were last repaired in the 1990s.

This most recent restoration was undertaken by specialist North Yorkshire firm Topp & Co, aiming to return the gates to their original form​ and make them structurally sound. They have been dismantled, cleaned and had missing elements pieced in using traditional techniques.

Visit the Burghley website to find out more about visiting.

This feature originally appeared in the September 2, 2026, print edition of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe.