Long Sutton and District Civic Society appeal to find final resting place for century-old hearse gathers pace garnering interest from 13 bidders

A group’s appeal to find a permanent resting place for a century-old ornate hand drawn hearse has gathered pace — with more than a dozen bidders lined up.

Long Sutton and District Civic Society appealed for help to find a home for the wheeled carriage, which could otherwise be faced with ‘cremation’ or being sold on eBay.

Private collectors and funeral directors have since been in touch and there are now 13 bids in the pipeline for the item.

Tim Machin, from the society, said: “We had 13 bids from across the south of the country.

“We wrote to them all with an information pack earlier this week with a request of confirmation of interest by July 22nd.

“With so many quality bids we are confident of a positive outcome but now need to go through a selection process.”

The beautifully made glass door wheeled carriage was built by Waltons, a Long Sutton coach builder, in 1918 which makes it 106 years old.

Waltons, a significant employer in the area, manufactured vans and lorries. It also provided additional trades in brass, metal and woodwork.

It has had a number of temporary homes in recent years at an undertakers, St Mary’s Church and Lincolnshire Museum of Country Life who had it for twenty years up until 2016.

At one point the carriage, which is in relatively pristine condition, was stored in Heacham and has been kept around in garages but not used.

A private collector in Rochester, Kent who has four hand drawn hearses in his collection already, had also shown an interest.

Long Sutton could lay claim to being one of the area’s leading carriage and coach-building centres and at one time there were four wagon-works, Walton’s, Bingham’s, Scott’s and Curzon’s.

Mr Machin hopes that it will have a permanent home and that by August a decision will have been made about where the hearse will find its final resting place and celebrate the heritage in coach and wagon building.

For further information contact Tim Machin, communications officer for Long Sutton and District Civic Society, by emailing civic.society@yahoo.co.uk and telephone enquiries can be made to Wendy Jeffries on 01406 362310.

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