Tens of thousands of love locks that were due to be removed and melted down from a bridge in Derbyshire were saved at the last minute after the owner of a nearby mansion offered to relocate them.

Around 40,000 locks fitted to the Weir footbridge in Bakewell over the course of a decade were to be removed and recycled by Derbyshire County Council so that maintenance work could be carried out on the bridge.

The move, first announced in 2021, sparked outrage among local residents and visitors who had erected locks there, some in memory of deceased relatives, and began a years-long battle to save them.

With maintenance work finally due to begin on September 16, the owner of nearby Thornbridge Hall, a stately home under historic preservation order, stepped in and offered the locks a “permanent home.”

Richard Young, who used to run a cafe in Bakewell and founded the campaign group Save the Love Locks at Bakewell, said: “It was like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I’ve been fighting this for three years and now we’ve finally made progress.”

“These are not just rusty padlocks, these are memories. They are very dear to people’s hearts. People come back every year to remember the memory of their loved one or stillborn child, wedding or engagement.”

Emma Harrison, the owner of Thornbridge Hall, has offered to display the locks on a fence structure in the hall’s grounds, where they can be viewed all year round.

“I saw how much it meant to everyone,” she told the BBC. “I said: if they really want to melt them down, why don’t you ask the council to bring them to my house? I’ll look after them and put them back on the wires so people can come and visit them.”

Young said the group was in the process of finalising the details with Derbyshire County Council but hoped to remove the padlocks and replace them with a chain link fence inside the hall to create more space to continue the tradition.

Many people have taken their locks off the bridge in recent weeks before they were due to be removed by the city council and are also invited to hang them back up in Thornbridge.

“We recognise it will not be the same bridge as the one in Bakewell, but it will be a permanent final resting place for all to enjoy,” the campaign group said.

In addition, a ‘love lock bench’ will be installed near the bridge in Bakewell, where people can sit and reflect on the spot where they originally placed their locks.

A Derbyshire County Council spokesman said: “We understand that a number of possible options for the future of the locks are currently being considered and we are happy to consider whether any of these are possible.”