The Historic Houses Foundation is not afraid to get involved in some of the most significant restoration projects of the era, as its grant aid to the Stowe House Preservation Trust demonstrates.

A recent triumph for the Historic Houses Foundation is the unveiling of the restored Brightling Mausoleum, a familiar village landmark for Sussex residents.

The rescue of the great house at Wentworth Woodhouse in Yorkshire is perhaps the most ambitious restoration project undertaken this century.

When the cellars and surrounding gardens of Gwydir Castle in North Wales were inundated by floods, the Historic Houses Foundation’s speedy intervention showed how important emergency funding can be.

Sometimes it takes years for the intervention of the Historic Houses Foundation to bear fruit. A major restoration project underway at Gwrych Castle in Wales traces its inception to a small HHF grant.

His Majesty King Charles, as Prince of Wales, was an active proponent for the retention of traditional building and craft skills. The Historic Houses Foundation has been proud to join in his drive to improve opportunities for young people to develop traditional skills and maintain heritage attractions through The Prince’s Foundation.

The Music Room, Billiard Room and Conservatory added to 17th century Hasfield Court in Gloucestershire 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.

The Prince of Wales has agreed to become the Patron of the Historic Houses Foundation. His Royal Highness has long been a champion of historic buildings and heritage-led regeneration, together with the retention of essential Building Craft skills.

The Historic Houses Foundation works regularly with many heritage partners. We have one recurring and notably successful partnership with the Landmark Trust with whom we have been working since 2006.

The Historic Houses Foundation is proud to once again be a delivery partner for the second round of the Heritage Stimulus Fund. Part of the Government’s £2 billion Cultural Recovery Fund, the Heritage Stimulus Fund is helping heritage places recover from the impact of the pandemic, by funding vital restoration projects.

Stand alone monuments are often in poor state of repair.  Often, the Historic Houses Foundation is one of the only sources of funds.

Five years after buying back their Tudor family seat of Pitchford Hall in Shropshire, Rowena and James Nason are starting to see it emerge from ruinous dereliction.

The Historic Houses Foundation gave 18 grants to historic buildings in the Autumn under Historic England’s Heritage Stimulus Fund. What was it like to receive one? Jason and Demetra Lindsay let us know.

The Historic Houses Foundation’s grant to Cragend Farm in Northumberland has enriched the local history of the area and revealed new details of the entrepreneurial spirit of one of the great industrialists of the North, William Lord Armstrong.

For the first time, the Historic Houses Foundation has received direct funding from Government as part of Historic England’s Heritage Stimulus Fund. A £3 million stimulus granted to the Historic Houses Foundation will allow us to support 18 individual projects in England from Devon to Northumberland.

Funding for repairs to the frame of one of Britain’s most evocative pieces of late 19th century art will allow its loan from Kelmscott House in Gloucestershire through the summer of 2020.

The Historic Houses Foundation often works alongside larger national charities in making a major restoration project happen. This was the case when, in 2020, English Heritage turned its attention to urgent work required to secure Belsay Hall in Northumberland. 

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.

Combermere Abbey in Shropshire received two grants from The Historic Houses Foundation (then Heritage Conservation Trust), between 2011 and 2015, for the cleaning and restoration of important paintings. The 2015 grant was for the Bird’s Eye View of the Abbey in 1730 by the Dutch artist Peter Tillemans.

One of the delights of Britain is that our long history has allowed the survival of charming little pockets of the past in out-of-the-way places.  The Historic Houses Foundation has sought out Tickenham Court in Somerset - just the sort of place you would never expect to find hidden from the rush of the 21st century.