We paint metal gates, railings and handrails at homes in Towcester, NN12, about 8.2 miles south-west of Northampton. Towcester's records describe stone walls and gateways more than historic ironwork, so this is mostly work on individual properties, where traffic dirt from the A5 is a big part of why metal wears out.
How much ironwork does Towcester have?
Less than you might expect for a Georgian market town, at least on paper. The listing and conservation records we rely on talk about stone forecourt walls, gateways and garden walls rather than runs of decorative railings. The Chantry House at 88 Watling Street, for example, is listed with its attached forecourt walls and gateway, and those are stone. So we do not assume a particular style of historic railing in Towcester. On individual homes you are more likely to find a gate between brick piers, a short run of railings on top of a low wall, a handrail beside front steps, or a modern steel driveway gate on a newer house.
That variety is why the first job is always to identify the metal. Older wrought or cast iron, modern mild steel and galvanised steel each need different preparation and a different primer, and getting that wrong is a frequent reason a fresh coat fails within a year.
Traffic grime on Watling Street metalwork
Anything metal that faces Watling Street sits beside the A5’s through traffic. Air quality in the centre is poor enough for the council to manage it as an Air Quality Management Area, and road spray carries a film of exhaust and grit onto railings, gates and handrails along the frontage. That grime holds moisture against the paint, gets into the scrolls and joints, and speeds up the breakdown of the coating. Rust then starts at the edges and the bottom rail.
Before any rust treatment, we wash the metal down to remove that oily film, because wire brushing over it only spreads it. Then it is scraping and wire brushing back to sound metal, a rust treatment where pitting is too deep to clear, a metal primer matched to the material, and a durable top coat. On frontages beside the pavement, Dean keeps the work area small and guarded, since passers-by will be brushing past wet paint.
Gates and handrails within the conservation area
A large part of the town falls inside the Towcester Conservation Area, including the Victorian streets added in 2012. Gates on a road frontage are one of the items the council lists as potentially covered by Article 4 directions, and a number of Towcester addresses already have such a direction. Repainting a gate in the colour it already is will rarely raise a question. Changing the colour, or replacing a timber gate with metal, is worth checking first. Black remains a safe, traditional choice on older houses, but it is not the only acceptable one. Where a gate hangs between brick or stone piers, we mask the masonry carefully, because rust-stained or paint-splashed stone in the conservation area is far harder to put right than the gate itself.
Newer homes south and west of the centre
On the estates, metalwork is usually fabricated mild steel or galvanised steel: driveway gates, side gates and step rails. Galvanised steel needs a specific primer, because ordinary paint will not bond to the zinc. Powder-coated gates that have chipped can usually be keyed and overpainted with a suitable system rather than sent away for recoating.
Our main metal gate and railing painting page goes through each metal type and the rust treatment process in detail. For the rest of the work we cover in the town, see our Towcester area page, or call Dean on 07539 779 036.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
