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.
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November 16, 2020