Bangor: Historical mace saved by royal jeweller Wartski

Bangor's mace became too fragile to use after decades of wear and tear

A ceremonial mace used to mark a city's key events for 140 years has been repaired by a royal jeweller whose family has links to the area.

The civic mace had been carried by every one of Bangor's mayors going back to 1884, but became too delicate to use.

Bangor City Council feared it would be too expensive to repair.

Then a jeweller who made the King's wedding ring offered to carry out the repairs free of charge.

Wartksi of London, based near St James's Palace, spent three months carrying out the restoration.

"It had got itself into a bit of a sorry situation," said Elin Walker Jones, the mayor of Bangor.

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"It's been used ceremonially for 140 years and it desperately needed repairing," she said.

"We're absolutely in the Wartski family's debt for being so kind for their generosity."

The mace was donated to Bangor in 1883 when Queen Victoria granted the city royal charter status.

Royal jeweller Wartski, which had its first shop in Bangor, offered to repair the Bangor mace for free

Years of use loosened and broke the mace's fixings and damaged its wooden interior.

Ahead of its return to Bangor, the mace was walked past Buckingham Palace to Wellington barracks, the headquarters of the Welsh Guards where it was "saluted" by the guardsmen.

"We were delighted to have given it new life," said Wartski's joint-managing director, Katherine Purcell.

"Although Wartski is now located in London our roots are in Bangor and Isidore Wartski, the son of our founder, was mayor of the city and did so much to the benefit of Bangor."

Wartski director Katherine Purcell says the firm was "delighted" to give the Bangor mace "new life"

"He helped relieve housing poverty in the Hirael area and gifted land which is now the Nantporth sports grounds and the area known as Wartski fields," she added.

The firm's founder Morris Wartski opened his first store on Bangor High Street in 1865.

His son, Isodore, was the city's mayor between 1939 and 1944.

Wartski is still a family-owned business, and its current chairman, Hector Snowman, is the great-great-grandson of its founder.

"The last time I held Bangor's magnificent mace was to place it on the cathedral altar at the Bangor civic service years ago," said the Household Division's senior chaplain, Lt Col the Rev Deiniol Morgan.

The mace was transported back to Bangor by city councillor Mark Roberts, who helped to arrange the repairs and the event with the Welsh Guards.

Councillor Mark Roberts says until the repairs few people even knew about the Bangor mace

"Until a few months ago hardly anyone paid attention to the civic mace or even knew about it," he said. "It's been an astonishing and almost incredible journey for an artefact of ours normally locked away in a steel safe within the city hall basement."

The mace will next be used at Sul y Maer, a civic event to celebrate Bangor and its citizens, in what is hoped will be the first of many events in which the refurbished mace will be used.