THE refurbishment of a historic mayoral chain could cost around £10,000.

Bodmin Town Council’s mayoral chain dates back to 1894, when it was made by one of the top regalia makers of the time, Thomas Bragg of Birmingham.

However, in recent years, owing to it not having had any meaningful work done on it for a long time and the fact it remains a working tool, the council have been seeking quotes to ascertain how much it would cost to repair it.

Damage to the chain includes cracked and broken links and repair to the regalia it contains within the 15-carat gold it is made from. In addition, pieces are missing from the chain.

At the most recent full town council meeting, the council heard from Mr Trevor Buck, a local goldsmith, jeweller and diamond mounter, who submitted a quote of £10,780.80 for the total repair of the mayoral chain.

He detailed the history of the chain from enquiries he had made to Birmingham Asset Office and other sources in order to understand the background of the chain, which is among the oldest still being worn by mayoralty.

Mr Buck proposed the restoration of the chain, in addition to keeping it as a wearable working tool, including the addition of another link at a cost of £844.80, which would go on the back of it.

Cllr Phil Cooper, who was mayor of Bodmin for two terms up until being succeeded by Cllr Liz Ahearn in May 2024, approved of the plans.

He said: “I think this is a priceless piece of Bodmin’s history and I think this work needs to be done. It has been in a questionable condition for a number of years and money has been previously allocated to repair the chain, but it wasn’t done for various reasons.”

However, not all councillors were in agreement about repairing the chain to retain it as a wearable item.

Cllr Andy Coppin, mayor between 2014/15, said that the chain hadn’t been in such a state when he was a mayor, adding: “It wasn’t that long ago that Seaton made headlines for spending £8,000 on their chains and residents didn’t like them doing that.

“Is it not better to retire this chain and put it into a museum, where it can be looked at and looked after and buy a new chain for the mayor to use at events?”

Councillors debated two proposals, firstly, to accept the quotes from Mr Buck, or to approve the motion by Cllr Coppin to replace the chain completely.

They chose to accept the quote from Mr Buck to restore the historic chain, which will take approximately six weeks while agreeing to revisit the proposal from Cllr Coppin at the next budget setting meeting.