The Yorkshire Post revealed last month the gates from Huddersfield Narrow Canal will recall the county’s proud industrial heritage in this year’s Welcome to Yorkshire show garden.

The entry will be the first time that genuine lock gates have been used at Chelsea and garden designer Mark Gregory said he hoped his design would be “the perfect showcase for Yorkshire”. It includes a canal which flows next to a wild perennial meadow and a lock keeper’s lodge with a cultivated garden.

The two-tonne gates were donated by the Canal & River Trust after coming to the end of their lifespan. They are now being adapted at the trust’s Stanley Ferry Workshop, near Wakefield, where they were first made 20 years ago, with the help of apprentices Vanessa Coakley and Adam Cluny.

Mark Gregory 2019 Welcome to Yorkshire RHS Chelsea Garden Designer, Adam Cluny, Craft Operative at Canal & River Trust and Vanessa Coakley Craft Operative at Canal & River Trust with genuine Yorkshire canal lock gates donated by Canal & River Trust which will be the main feature of Welcome to Yorkshires 2019 RHS Chelsea show garden. Picture Tony Johnson.

Workshop supervisor Steven Brunt, who has worked at the site for 40 years, said: “Each lock has a unique heritage, meaning every lock is bespoke and hand-finished. Vanessa and Adam have been specialising in carpentry and joinery, to learn traditional techniques.

“We’re delighted to be able to share our skills and expertise to help showcase the county’s spectacular waterways to the world.”

Lock gates to have pride of place at Chelsea