More funding secured for Newstead Abbey repairs

Grants of more than £1.6m have been secured to help fund urgent repairs at Newstead Abbey.

The site, which is owned by Nottingham City Council and was the former home of poet Lord Byron, has been on Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register since 2004.

The project has now secured a further funding boost, with grants of £1.55m from the Arts Council England Museum Estate and Development Fund and £66,114 from the Historic Houses Foundation.

Nottingham City Council is expected to accept the second phase funding and repairs plan at an executive board meeting on 22 September, reports the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Newstead Abbey was founded as an Augustinian priory by Henry II in 1170 as penance for the murder of Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Beckett, and was inherited by John Byron, who fought on the side of the Royalists in the English Civil War.

In 1808 it became the home of the 6th Baron Byron, more widely known as the poet Lord Byron, who lived there until 1814, and in 1931 it was gifted to the Nottingham Corporation - the predecessor to the city council - by philanthropist Sir Julien Cahn.

Over time, the building has fallen into disrepair.

Some funding has already been secured for the first of six phases of work, with senior figures from the council agreeing in October last year to accept further funding.

This money is being spent on replacing the expired lead and copper roofs, while a second phase of repairs will make the building windproof and watertight.

Nottingham City Museums was successful in securing the two additional grants, along with match funding from council reserves and a fundraising campaign.

The abbey has managed to retain its original medieval cloisters, one of only a handful of surviving examples in the country, while the west front is the original façade of the old priory church and dates as far back as 1274.

Rachael Evans, museums development manager at Nottingham City Council, said a survey in 2014 found the site needed "urgent" roof repairs, with further work needed through wear and tear after another decade.

"The condition of the building caused by further ingress has deteriorated to the degree that propping of internal public areas has become necessary due to the danger of ceilings collapsing," she said.

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