Block 4: The Austere Library

The rather imposing Victorian (Gothic Revival, according to the leaflet) library, while majestic, was rather imposing and as it needed some renovation to the towers and the arch round the door was falling down and couldn't be saved in situ.  Rather than replace it with a replica, the heritage council wanted it to be obviously new and so a competition was held to find a suitable replacement.  First place was awarded to a brightly-coloured arch and this was installed just after the restoration of the towers was complete.  The original arch has been taken to a stone mason and there are hopes that it can be restored and reinforced and can form the centre piece of a small park in the town.  The new arch has had an unexpected (but welcome) on visitor numbers as everyone wants their photo taken in front of the appealing facade and the library cleverly only gives permission for this if the person registers for a library card and borrows a book a month for six months (or, in the case of out-of-county visitors, donate a small amount to 'sponsor' a book in the library, which then has a plate in the front with their name and home town on and a pin goes in the map on the library wall so that visitors can see how far the appeal of the coloured arch has spread).  Visitor numbers have never been so high!