Recent Projects: Buildings

 

A selection of projects awarded grants by the Historic Houses Foundation (formerly the Country Houses Foundation) between 2018 - 2020

Brightling Mausoleum,

East Sussex

Above the village of Brightling is a landmark visible across the Weald. Neither church tower nor folly, this pyramid is a mausoleum built in 1810 in the churchyard of St Thomas à Becket to ensure the immortality of Jack Fuller of Brightling Park. Funds from the Historic Houses Foundation will repair the failing mortar and spalling stonework of the building.

Langton Hall, 

North Yorkshire

Roofs are the vulnerable point of many country houses and the perimeter valley gutter at Langton Hall on the banks of the River Swale in Yorkshire is no exception.  Leaks have plagued the Fife family since they moved into the house in 1996 and re-roofing can no longer be avoided.  Grant aid from the Historic Houses Foundation has been the catalyst for the project.

Stonor Park, 

Oxfordshire

Roof repairs at Stonor Park, Oxfordshire will secure both part of the West Wing and the attic quarters used as a secret base by St Edmund Campion in 1581 for his Catholic mission into Elizabethan England. The work will be supported by the Historic Houses Foundation.

Hasfield Court, 

Gloucestershire

The Music Room, Billiard Room and Conservatory added to 17th century Hasfield Court  in 1885 provided the Victorian Baker family with all the fashionable rooms required for cultured living.  Repairs to the lantern roof of the conservatory, with a grant from the Historic Houses Foundation, will stop water ingress damaging the interior.

Everingham Hall Chapel,

Yorkshire

In 2017, the Historic Houses Foundation gave a first grant to Everingham Hall Chapel in Yorkshire to establish the parameters of a proposed restoration. Now further funds will repair the roof and walls.

Westonbirt Gardens, Gloucestershire

Funds will cover the restoration of three garden benches in the Victorian gardens at Westonbirt. The benches are a key feature in the gardens designed by Lewis Vuillamy for the Holford family in 1874, now looked after by Westonbirt School.

Abercamlais, 

South Wales

You can only reach the gardens and grounds at Amercamlais in the Breacon Beacons via a series of unusual bridges. Grant aid is being offered for the repair of an Elizabethan bridge which was damaged by floods in October 2018. 

Bodrhyddan Hall,

North Wales

The formal parterre at Bodryddan was designed by W E Nesfield in 1874. Urgent repairs to these charming garden features will be funded by the Historic Houses Foundation.

Gwydir Castle, 

North Wales

Follow-up funding is needed for the building of a flood wall to protect the Grade I castle and gardens from the threat of flooding from the River Conwy. A breach of the unfinished wall caused extensive flooding of the grounds and cellars in March 2019.

Tickenham Court, Somerset

Having water and snow coming through the roof of a rare medieval hall house, the sort of place lived in by a gentleman’s family over 500 years ago, is a call to action. The Historic Houses Foundation have responded with a grant towards repairs.

Nether Winchendon House, Buckinghamshire

Grant aid will cover the costs of replacing a structural beam that supports the South West turret and its Elizabethan bay window, preserving one of the Tudor features of this quintessentially English house.

Seaton Delaval, Northumberland

Funds have been granted for the restoration of the West Staircase, part of a major restoration project at Seaton Delaval Hall which will open up new parts of this palace of the English Baroque to visitors.

Letton Hall, Norfolk

Funds for essential repairs to the Georgian sash windows of Sir John Soane’s first country house commission, an elegant villa of white Norfolk brick.

Norton Conyers, 

North Yorkshire

An alarming lean to the 18th century clocktower at Norton Conyers in Yorkshire, exposes the serious degradation of the supporting beams.  The repair of the clocktower will be the latest part of a continuing restoration programme begun by Sir James and Lady Graham in 1986. Funds from the Historic Houses Foundation will enable the urgent start of work before the fabric deteriorates to a dangerous state.

Belsay Hall,

Northumberland

Belsay Hall in Northumberland is one of the earliest and most remarkable Greek Revival buildings in the country. The rainwater drainage system was more suited to the Mediterranean than the North of England and the Historic Houses Foundation will help English Heritage, who maintain this extraordinary house, to fund the repair of the roof.

Boston Manor House, 

Greater London

Late Jacobean Boston Manor House in the London Borough of Hounslow is on Historic England’s list of Buildings at Risk. Repairs to the ornate stone entrance porch will be funded by the Historic Houses Foundation.

Glyn Cywarch,

Wales

On the Western edge of Snowdonia National Park sits an old weathered house of dove grey stone, hidden behind a square of protective buildings – a gatehouse, coach house, stables and, beyond, a walled garden.  The Historic Houses Foundation’s 2019 contribution will significantly advance the restoration programme of this special building.

Springfield House, Hackney

Contributing funds to the restoration of the Regency villa that lies at the heart of Springfield Park, an important green space for today’s residents of Hackney alongside the River Lea.

The Princes

Foundation

Continuing support is provided for The Princes Foundation, where the Historic Houses Foundation has contributed to the Building Crafts programme for the past 8 years. The Prince's Foundation supports people to make the most of their community in education; projects and attractions,

Markenfield Hall,

Yorkshire

Storms over the winter have caused extensive damage to the roof of one of the 16th century barns at the entrance to Markenfield Hall. Grants have been offered to offset the cost of repairs.

Sulgrave Manor,

Oxfordshire

The ongoing restoration of this Tudor manor house, the ancestral home of the family of the first US President George Washington, will receive funding from the Historic Houses Foundation.

Heritage Funding

Directory

Raising money for heritage projects in England has been made significantly easier thanks to support from the Historic Houses Foundation which has allowed The Heritage Alliance and The Architectural Heritage fund to pool their resources and publish a directory of sources of funding.

Haddon Hall, Derbyshire

Urgent repairs to the structure of Haddon Hall’s Long Gallery and chapel window are being funded to restore perhaps “the most perfect house to survive the Middle Ages”.

Cragend Farmhouse, Northumberland

Restoring a pioneering agricultural building which formed part of a model farm owned by William, Lord Armstrong of Cragside; funds will allow visitors access to both the building and 1890s hydraulic engine.

Eyam Hall, Derbyshire

Emergency funds to repair a chimney above the Tapestry Room as the Wright family, who have owned Eyam Hall for eleven generations, take their 17th century house back from the National Trust. 

Wick Court, Gloucestershire

Repairs to the Elizabethan roof at Wick Court, one of three working farms in the UK operated by the charity, Farms for City Children.

Kelmscott Manor, Gloucestershire

Vital roof repairs at Arts & Crafts pioneer, William Morris’ home, Kelmscott Manor, where once in William Morris’ words, “the tillers and herdsmen slept".