At our June Trustee meeting, we were delighted to award 11 grants coming to a total of £210,000 from our Preservation and Conservation programme. Below we share a little about each grant and its purpose.
Heron Corn Mill is a well established industrial heritage site based in Cumbria. It runs a Grade II* listed working watermill, producing specialist flours and a community barn. Our grant of £12,000 will go towards the cost of a twelve-month training bursary for a millwright trainee.
The Guild of St Mary’s Centre Lichfield is a multi-use heritage and arts centre located in a former 19C church building. Our grant of £12,000 will go towards work to the tower bells allowing them to be rung again and helping the Guild establish a Bell Ringing Training Centre.
Friends of Highgate Cemetery Trust was established in 1975 to rescue Highgate Cemetery, a 36-acre Grade I listed funerary landscape At Risk. Our grant of £25,000 will be used to open up eight of the vaults in the Grade I Circle of Lebanon to allow a full structural survey and key conservation work.
Historic Churches Scotland saves redundant historic churches at risk, and tries to secure a sustainable future for the buildings. They own the Sir Ninian Comper masterpiece, St Margaret’s Church in Braemar, which has operated as a successful performance and arts and music venue. Our grant of £30,000 will help towards the first phase of emergency stabilisation and repair works to mitigate the risk of closure.
Cromarty Harbour Trust is a trust port, a not-for-profit run for the benefit of its stakeholders and the community. Our grant of £15,000 will help towards the final phase of restoration work on the original inner stone harbour area (also known as the East Pier.) by the renowned engineer John Smeaton.
Cromarty Harbour, Credit: Garry Mackay
Kepier Trust is responsible for the Grade II** listed Kepier Hall in Sunderland. The building serves as an invaluable resource for the local community. Our grant of £17,000 will go towards a planned schedule of restoration and repair works to safeguard its future.
Winchcombe Arts & Community Hub was established in 2023 to save the former Winchcombe Methodist Church building for community use and repurpose it as an arts, youth and community hub. Our grant of £6,500 will go towards restoration of the Victorian stained-glass windows.
The Boston Preservation Trust was founded in 1935, to protect and improve the architectural heritage of Boston and the local area in Lincolnshire. Its main asset is Fydell House, a Grade I listed Queen Anne House. Our grant of £27,500 will go towards conservation repairs of some of its key historic features.
Stanley Arts is a community-led charity in Croydon which runs cultural programmes in the Grade II Stanley Hall in South Norwood. Our grant of £15,000 will go towards the conservation of historic decorative tiling, with training for an emerging conservator.
Gwrych Castle Preservation Trust was set up to rescue the grade I listed at risk castellated mansion in Conwy, North Wales. Our grant of £30,000 will go towards the works to the West Wing which will help ensure the structural stability of the Castle.
The Harris Museum, owned by Preston City Council, is a Grade I listed Greek Revival building in the centre of Preston, Lancashire. It houses fine and decorative, social history and fashion collections. Our grant of £20,000 will help fund the conservation and redisplay of the Alexander Frieze. The plaster frieze is a 19th century copy of the 1812 frieze by Danish neoclassical sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen.
If you’d like to learn more about these grants or any of our grants, you can read more on Recent Grants Awarded.
Feature image – Gwrych Castle. Photo credit: Gwrych Castle Preservation Trust