THE restoration of a Victorian park has been completed with the installation of a two-tonne entrance gate.

Mowbray Park, in Sunderland, has been given a £13m makeover designed to restore it to its former glory.

The gate, designed by local artist and jewellery designer Wendy Ramshaw, was put into place on Monday.

The ornate metal gate includes designs of a pit wheel, flowers, leaves, seashells and sunshine over the sea.

It was made in six sections, by Process Systems, in Washington, using a process in which a computer-controlled high-pressure water jet cuts the metal.

When the gate slides open, it forms a decorative pattern with the neighbouring wall.

Sunderland City Council public art officer Piers Masterson said: "We commissioned Wendy Ramshaw to design a new gate for the park in 1998 as part of the £13m development of Mowbray Gardens.

"This is the final piece in the jigsaw of the park's ambitious public art programme and, indeed, the Mowbray Gardens project itself.

"It is also one of the most prestigious and technically difficult commissions and we are looking forward to seeing it successfully in place.''

Mowbray Park reopened in May last year after the restoration, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The Mowbray Park complex also contains the newly-created Winter Gardens, which has attracted more than 350,000 visitors since opening in July