Funding Secured For Boston Manor House
Historic Houses Foundation grant will allow restoration work to proceed
The porch of the house to benefit from funding for restoration
|
Boston Manor House iset to receive much-needed funding towards essential restoration from the Historic Houses Foundation. It is one 18 nationally important properties across England selected to benefit from these funds. The amount of the grant has not been specified.
The Historic Houses Foundation is a beneficiary of the Heritage Stimulus Fund, recently announced by the UK Government and Historic England, which will provide support for restoration work on some of England’s most important and vulnerable historic buildings. Over the past 17 years the Foundation has distributed over £11 million in grant aid to nearly 250 vital restoration projects in England and Wales.
With the funds Boston Manor House will now be able to set in place a programme of urgent work that would not otherwise have been possible.
Boston Manor House, one of the earliest examples of a neo-classical house of the English Renaissance, now belongs to the London Borough of Hounslow. The grant will cover the restoration of the Jacobean Revival stone porch part of the regeneration project planned for 2020 which can now go ahead. The house and its exceptional Jacobean interiors, first created for Lady Mary Reade in 1623, will now be on track to become an important community resource 400 years later.
Work will begin immediately and continue over the winter months before the start of the new tourist season in Spring 2021 and is expected to provide employment to a range of traditional craftsmen and building professionals in addition to other local employment opportunities.
Cllr Samia Chaudhary, Cabinet Member for Leisure Services at Hounslow Council said, “We are delighted that Boston Manor House has been selected to receive this grant enabling us to fully restore the deteriorating porch at this magnificent Grade 1 listed Jacobean Revival manor house. With public finances under severe pressure, without funding such as this generous award from the Historic Houses Foundation, it is hard to see where we would find alternative funds for this essential restoration work.
“We have a duty to the borough and to future generations to conserve and maintain Hounslow’s unique heritage assets. The skills required to complete conservation work also need to be protected and this project will support employment for highly skilled artisan specialists.”
Norman Hudson OBE, Chairman of the Historic Houses Foundation says “Our grants go to historic buildings in all categories of ownership, so range far wider than the National Trust. That we have been selected as a Delivery Partner for this money indicates that the Government likes what we do and recognises the exceptionally cost-efficient way in which we achieve it. It is good news for historic buildings and good news for jobs and the local community”
Boston Manor House is currently undergoing other major capital works and is currently closed to the public.
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |
November 16, 2020
