The first series of Restoration in 2003 was to bring an astonishing array of great buildings to wider public notice. Each of the historic structures was in peril from years of neglect or under-funding. And each of them was equally worthy of reappraisal and restoration.
Grade II* Listed Victoria Baths in Manchester became the first ever recipient of the Restoration prize, returning this beautiful and historic building to use serving its local community.
Locations:
- ENGLAND
- SCOTLAND
- WALES
- NORTHERN IRELAND
East
- Moulton Windmill
- Greyfriars Tower
- Coalhouse Fort
Midlands
- Cromford Mill
- Newman Bros Coffin Factory
- Bethesda Chapel
North East
- Ravensworth Castle
- Harperly Pow Camp
- Glasshouse at Wentworth Castle
North West
- Brackenhill Tower
- Victoria Baths
- Bank Hall
South East
- Broomfield House
- Wiltons Music Hall
- Darnley Mausoleum
South West
- Whitfield Tabernacle
- Arnos Vale Cemetery
- Poltimore House
Listing: Grade I
Date of building: c.1820
When it was built in the 1820s Moulton Windmill was the tallest windmill in the country. Several changes were made to the windmill's internal design in the late 1800s and early 1900s after a storm so badly damaged the mills sails that they had to be removed. The onset of the industrial revolution made windmills obsolete almost overnight but the Moulton Windmill remained a working concern well into the 1990s.
Today this spectacular Grade I listed building has retained its machinery and miller's office and has become a tourist destination attracting over 10,000 visitors in 2005. The windmill recently underwent restorative work, which succeeded in reinstating the ogee cap, repairing the overall structure and bringing the machinery back to working order. The mill now has electrically powered grindstones with which the owners intend to make and sell Moulton flour - something not seen locally for many generations. Grants received so far from the Heritage Lottery Fund total £1,080,000 but a further £280,000 will be required for the restoration of the windmill's sails.
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Listing: Grade I
Date of building: c.1300
On October 1st, 1538 at the height of Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries the friars of Greyfriars Friary in King's Lynn (or Bishop's Lynn as it was then known) surrendered to the king's troops. The 14th century friary was eventually pulled down but the tower was left standing for its practical use as a navigation point for sailors.
Nearly 500 years on, of the sixty Franciscan houses, which existed in England at the time of the suppression in 1538, only sixteen in the country have any kind of appreciable remains and only three towers remain, of which Greyfriars is the most elaborate. Probably originally a bell tower, the structure is hexagonal above its base and is the only example which features large lower windows that bring light into the crossing place.
Until recently the last major repair of the Grade I listed tower took place in 1973. Today following the receipt of numerous grants the restoration to the leaning tower of Lynn is now complete. It is hoped that the tower will be open to the public at the end of August 2006.
- Back to topListing: Grade Scheduled Ancient Monument
Date of building: c.1860
Built in 1860, Coalhouse Fort was built to counter the threat of invasion by the French. The Fort was designed to work in conjunction with two other forts, which together provided a formidable triangle of cover for the Thames. The development of heavier guns led to Coalhouse Fort being refortified in 1903 with 5-6 feet of concrete placed on top of the 1860 battery roof. By the start of the First World War, however, the primary defence line for the estuary had moved down river.
The threat of German invasion by sea in the 1940s brought the Fort a new lease of life but as the threat receded it was given over to the Home Guard. The Fort subsequently enjoyed a brief period as a naval training centre, but was then decommissioned and used for commercial storage.
Today this Scheduled Ancient Monument is considered one of the finest examples of an armoured casemated battery in England and the surviving fabric still contains many features and fittings from this important period of military development, some of which are unique. A preliminary process of restoration is due to begin in late 2006.
- Back to topContact:
Web: www.arkwrightsociety.org.uk
Listing: Grade 1
Date of building: 1771
Considered both the father of the modern industrial factory system and the world’s first industrialist, Richard Arkwright went into partnership with Jeddiah Strutt and Samuel Needs and, in 1771, opened the first water-powered cotton mill at Cromford in Derbyshire. This mill was to see the start of a massive expansion in the cotton trade and was an first important step towards full-scale factory production.
The mills at Cromford, with their powered machinery, large workforce and factory village became models for others throughout Britain and the world. Richard Arkwight II, the son and heir, was a successful banker and landowner. He kept the mills at Cromford in production, but his father’s project was not developed further.
From 1921 until it was abandoned in 1979 the site was taken over by a company making pigment for paint. A fire in 1929 destroyed two floors of the mill. Today, following the conclusion of a successful restoration project, this Grade I listed mill enjoys great significance as one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution and has many important surviving features from the early industrial age.
- Back to topListing: Grade 2*
Date of building: 1892
The Newman Bros Coffin factory, built in 1892 by Richard Harley, became famous for producing the country’s finest coffin furniture. The family run factory’s wares graced the funerals of many distinguished people over the company’s 100-year history including those of Churchill, Chamberlain and Diana Princess of Wales.
The company was eventually forced out of business in 1999 due to the mass production of cheap fittings for coffins made from resins and plastics. At the time of its closure, Newman Bros was one of only three remaining coffin furniture manufactures in England.
When the works closed, all the presses and metal production machinery were left in place. In addition, all the tools, moulds, furnaces, ladles, dies, sewing and cutting machines, stamps, barrelling and other equipment were retained and remain on their original benches, racks and shelves. Many of the unsold warehouse stock and trade samples survive as well of much of the company’s archives, including ledgers, catalogues, business accounts and shipping records. The Grade II* factory therefore provides a unique picture of the life of a Victorian manufacturer in the Jewellery Quarter and the social context within which it operated.
- Back to topBethesda Chapel, or the Cathedral of the Potteries as it was formerly known, is one of the largest and most ornate Methodist town chapels surviving in the UK. The building closed in December 1985 and the fabric of the building has since fallen into general disrepair.
In July 2006 a first phase of restoration began on the chapel following donations of £262,500 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, £200,000 from English Heritage, £250,000 from North Staffordshire Council and a further £20,000 raised at local events.
Phase 1 of the restoration project includes substantial repairs to the roof including the removal of tiles, rot eradication and the construction of a new roof laid with matching Welsh slate. Work to repair the paint and stonework to the front façade of building is expected to take place in the following months.
After essential interior works, Historic Chapels Trust, who own the building, hope to be able to permit limited public access. Another £2.5 million to £2.75 million will be required to complete the project.
- Back to topWeb: www.ravensworthcastle.info
Listing: Grade 2*
Date of building: 14th Century
Once described as '...the most splendid and the most picturesque monument of the romantic revival period in the country' the Grade II* listed castle complex is the result of an 800 year process of evolution on the site.
The medieval towers and curtain wall are unspectacular examples of medieval secular stonework, made significant by their rarity in the Tyne basin. The Nash Tower, meanwhile, is a ruined three-storey octagonal tower - the remains of a large 18th-century Gothic castle by John Nash. Built in sandstone and brick between 1808 and 1846 and paid for by the exploitation of coal on the estate, the tower would later, ironically suffer subsidence caused by mining. This would lead to the part-demolition of the tower in the 1950s.
Once a playground for the region's social elite, Ravensworth Castle declined after the Second World War. It is hoped that restoration could enable the Nash tower to be secured, allow the stabilisation of the medieval towers, and facilitate the stable block to be converted into offices. Since its appearance on Restoration a project development grant has been granted by the Heritage Lottery Fund to allow for conservation and planning.
- Back to topWeb: www.harperleypowshop.co.uk
Listing: n/a
Date of building: 1940s
Harperly camp was established in the 1940s primarily to house Italian prisoners of war. These first prisoners helped to transform the 8-acre site from a tented camp to a purpose built facility. By 1943 the camp consisted of around 50-55 buildings. By 1944 most of the Italian prisoners had been dispersed to workplaces in the rural community and were replaced by 900 ˜low risk" German prisoners who would provide a valuable local workforce.
Today the site includes the standing structures and associated buried remains of a World War Two prisoner of war camp - the first World War Two camp to gain ancient monument status. Many of the prisoners received a surprisingly warm welcome from the local people and it is partly this wartime spirit of interaction and cooperation from both sides of the wire that the active and ongoing re-development of the camp is attempting to showcase.
- Back to topGLASSHOUSE AT WENTWORTH CASTLE
Listing: Grade 1
Date of building: 1700s
The development of the site from a modest house to a palace set within a park and pleasure ground began at the hands of Thomas Wentworth, the first Earl of Stafford in 1708. The sham castle was built around 1727-30 as a Gothic folly and appears to have been constructed incrementally with works and repairs being recorded in the 1730's and 1750's.
The Vernon Wentworth family took over the estate after the title lapsed 1791, and it is they who are thought to have made the glasshouse addition. This unique Grade II* listed glasshouse is illustrative of the affluence of the estate and the importance attached to architecture in the 19th-century.
The development of the house and the landscaped gardens continued over the following two centuries, to include 26 listed 18th and 19th-century structures, until the outbreak of World War II when it was requisitioned for military purposes.
Until recently the site, which includes South Yorkshire's only Grade 1 listed garden/park, was in a ruined and even dangerous condition. Wentworth is currently undergoing a comprehensive programme of restoration due to be completed in 2007.
- Back to topListing: Grade 2*
Date of building: 1580
The Graham clan were notorious mercenaries who didn't mind which side of the law they made their money on. When they were banished from Scotland around 1516 they settled in the border area becoming "border reivers" - outlaws operating on the outskirts of land patrolled by the monarch's men. It is likely that Fergus Graham of Mote purchased Brackenhill from Sir Thomas Dacre sometime after 1561 passing the property on to his third son, Richard (Ritchie) around the 1580s.
The tower is of Scottish vernacular design yet set in England illustrating the dual personality of the land at this period in history. Following the union of the Scottish and English crowns under James I the influence of the reivers began to fade, but it still took ten years for the area to be brought fully under the control of Great Britain.
Today this Grade II* listed the building, which is currently in private ownership awaiting planning consent, is in a very perilous condition. Dry rot has collapsed the floors and only a part of the roof remains. The tower's new owner was inspired to purchase the property after its appearance on Restoration.
- Back to topListing: 2*
Date of building: 1902
In June 1902, City Architect Henry Price took on the responsibility for managing the construction of one of the most splendid municipal bathing institutions in the country. No expense was spared, with lavish use of stained glass and ornate tiling around the three pools, 64 wash baths, and Turkish and Russian baths.
At the time of construction very few of the houses in the area had bathrooms, so the slipper baths or wash-baths were a vital amenity, providing the locals with the rare opportunity for a real bath. Victoria Baths even boasts an Aerotone, a precursor of the Jacuzzi, which was fitted in 1952.
When the Lord Mayor opened the building in September 1906 he described it as a "water palace" of which "every citizen of Manchester was proud". However, in 1993 the Grade II* Listed baths were closed amidst much local protest.
Following its triumphant appearance on Restoration 2003 the project was awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £3million augmented by nearly £500,000 raised by BBC's Restoration Fund. In June 2006, as the first step in bringing the unique Turkish Baths facility back into public use, contractors experienced in heritage conservation went on site to begin preparatory works for the first phase of the restoration process. These initial works included opening up and investigating the roof structure in the Turkish Baths, propping up the floor beneath the mosaics in the First Class entrance, as well as work on sections of the floor. The work on the Baths will require specialists in areas such as mosaic, terracotta and stained glass restoration.
Restoration Phase 1 is due to start on site in October 2006 and will completely restore the outside of the front block of the building and the Turkish Bath. It is expected that this phase of the restoration will take approximately 12 - 15 months.
- Back to topWeb: www.bankhall.org.uk
Listing: Grade 2*
Date of building: 1608
This beautiful and impressive Jacobean country house today lies hidden amongst wild, tree-filled grounds. It was built in 1608 by the Bankes on land owned by the family since 1593. It would later pass through several families until coming under the ownership of Lord Lilford II. The family moved out just before the turn of the century but to this day the house remains in the Lord Lilford estates.
Bank Hall, though leased out, continued to be a major local employer boasting a small army of staff. It also remained at the centre of county and village life, a venue for local social events, as well as for hosting grand entertainments for VIP visitors which included the Aga Khan. During the Second World War the house was requisitioned for use by the army.
The Grade II* listed house was vacated in 1962 and has remained empty ever since, Despite the attentions of thieves who have stripped away many of the original features, this exceptional house retains its air of magnificence and has huge potential for development. The hall has attracted a growing number of visitors to the site recently and a grant application is ongoing.
- Back to topWeb: www.savebroomfieldhouse.com
Listing: Grade 2*
Date of building: 16th Century
It is thought that Broomfield House takes its name from John Broomfield, a London merchant, who owned the estate until the 1590s. There has been a house on the site for at least 400 years and originally this would have been a modest farmhouse. But in the early 18th century the Jackson family transformed the interior of the house to create a grand gentleman's residence with an impressive staircase and murals. The formal park was also probably laid out at this time.
From 1907 to 1910 Broomfield House was inhabited by Southgate County School who converted the kitchens into a science laboratory. It became a maternity centre in 1917 and in 1929 another two rooms were converted into a dental clinic. During the wars when money and entertainment were scarce the park was a valuable local resource used by everyone from school-kids to pensioners. The house also enjoyed a short life as a museum but has now been derelict for several decades. In 1984 a fire damaged the roof and top floor of the Grade II* Listed property. Enfield Council is currently seeking to modify a restrictive covenant, which would then allow them to pursue restoration funding.
- Back to topListing: Grade 2*
Date of building: 1853
Wiltons Music Hall belongs to the first generation of giant pub halls that began to appear in London in the 1850s. The venue at this site began life in 1839 as a concert room built onto the rear ground floor of the Prince of Demark pub. John Wilton was to take over in 1850 and by 1853-58 he had sufficient backing to build his ambitious new music hall. At first Wiltons appealed mainly to the local community. However, attempts were made by John Wilton to compete with the West End theatres by fitting the hall with private boxes and carpeting and bringing acts to the East End that were currently successful in the West End.
The music halls thrived from 1850-1870, but had almost all disappeared by 1900. The vacant building eventually came into the hands of the London Wesleyan Mission in 1888. After which the property became a rag warehouse. Today the Grade II* Listed Wiltons is the only building in the UK where the physical reality of a giant mid-Victorian London music hall of the 1850s/70s can still be experienced. It is hoped the planned restoration will be completed by 2009 in time to celebrate the hall's 150th anniversary.
- Back to topListing: Grade 1
Date of building: 1783-1786
Designed by one of Britain's most eminent architects, James Wyatt, Grade I Listed Darnley Mausoleum embodies the Age of Enlightenment's preoccupation with the classical way of death. This grandiose Mausoleum is considered to be of international architectural significance, and the original drawings are housed in the wonderful Sir John Soane museum in London.
The Mausoleum was built between 1783 and 1786 under the terms of a detailed will made in 1767 by John Bligh, 3rd Earl of Darnley who acquired a taste for antiquity whilst on his two year Grand Tour of Italy during 1739-1740. Ironically, the Mausoleum was never actually used. Later as the fortunes of the Darnleys and their Cobham Hall estate declined, so the ability to maintain the estate's many buildings declined. Today the masonry exterior is damaged in many places from vandalism and from rusted iron cramps. The Mausoleum project is one of a wider regeneration programme of several different sites including four other Grade II and Grade II* listed buildings. Cobham Park was recently the recipient of a £4.5 million grant.
- Back to topListing: Grade 1
Date of building: 1741
George Whitfield who, along with John Wesley, was a key architect of Methodism commissioned the Whitfield Tabernacle in 1741. The modest architectural design of the building, set against the high architecture of more traditional churches, was in keeping with Whitfield’s ideology of Methodism, which believed that the Anglican Church had lost touch with the common man. The Tabernacle (meaning simply a place of worship) was originally built as a meeting room and was extended in 1802 and then again in 1830.
Whitfield was at that time only the second non-conformist chapel ever built in the world - its predecessor being the John Wesley New Rooms in Bristol, built in 1739. It was built at the time of an evangelical revival in England, which would see the birth of many different strands of Christianity including Wesleyan, Calvin, Welsh Calvinistic and Methodist. As theological differences with the Anglian church widened these strands went on to become wholly autonomous.
The Tabernacle ceased to be the area’s primary place of worship in the 19th century, however, due to declining attendance and the building of a new Victorian church. The Tabernacle is now in private ownership.
- Back to topListing: Grade 2*
Date of building: 19th century
Up until the early 19th century, it was the standard practice that most people were buried in a churchyard. However, with the coming of the Industrial Revolution and the subsequent increase in the size and population of our town and cities, churchyards rapidly became full to capacity.
In 1820 after a spate of fatal sanitary epidemics joint stock companies were formed to provide cemeteries that were independent of the parish churches. Grade II* Listed Arnos Vale was probably the second private cemetery to be built in Bristol. The look of the 45 acre cemetery is unashamedly classical set out on a hillside, detailed with Greek Temples, and set around an important Arcadian-style garden, planned with the kind of exotic flora that people then associated with exotic foreign travel. It is different to its famous contemporaries, Highgate and Kensal Green, in that it was a planned landscape. This makes Arnos Vale unique in that the buildings, gardens and overall layout were designed and constructed at the same time to create a complete and distinctive site.
Arnos Vale is currently enjoying an ongoing process of restoration.
- Back to topWeb: www.poltimore.org
Listing: Grade 2*
Date of building: Late 16th Century
Richard Bampfylde began building a Tudor mansion as far back as 1550 – sections of which remain in Poltimore House today. The house would play a significant role during the English Civil War at the hands of his successor Sir John Bampfylde, who initially sided with the Royalists. Poltimore House may well have been the headquarters for the Royalist Lord Goring’s campaign against Cromwell’s New Model Army in Exeter. Later Sir John would take up arms on behalf of the Parliamentarians.
Poltimore remained in the Bampfylde family until 1921 when the estate was broken up. The house was leased to Miss Wontner’s girls’ boarding school from 1921 to 1939, then between 1940 and 1944, the building became a temporary home for Dover College. Poltimore next became a nursing home and hospital but since 1975 this impressive Grade II* Listed house has been left empty and has subsequently suffered from the theft of many of its most interesting interior features. In Autumn 2005 a substantial project was begun to dry out and stabilise this evocative and imposing piece of English history. Recently measures have been put in place to stabilise the structure.
- Back to topScotland, Highlands
- Burra Croft
- Banchory Sanatorium
- Kinloch Castle
Scotland, Lowlands
- Victoria Lino Works
- Britannia Music Hall
- Mavisbank
Web: www.shetland-heritage.co.uk/easthouse
Listing: Category A
Date of building: c.1830
Built around 1830 Category A-listed Easthouse is one of only two original thatched crofter's cottages remaining on the Shetland Islands on a site, which, according to early documentary records, appears to have been inhabited since the 16th Century.
Originally there were more than 5000 such cottages, each built by their owners using materials locally available, usually within walking distance. For a century or more, the croft would have been at the very centre of a Shetlander's life. It was here that most spent their lives, from the cradle to the grave. In fact the cottage was occupied permanently until 1972 and thereafter sporadically until the late 1980s.
Cottages built in this manner - rubble walls filled with a stone core - are dependent on habitation for their survival. Heating is vital for preventing the onset of rapid and terminal decay, part of the reason why this type of building has now almost totally disappeared lending Easthouse its important heritage value. Since Restoration 2003, the croft has been entirely refurbished and is currently been fitted out as a local history and community centre.
- Back to topListing: Category A
Date of building: 1900
Built at a time when TB was the biggest killer in the UK the Edwardian Banchory Sanatorium was designed by George Coutts of Aberdeen. It was built in the Bavarian-style and comprised a long and narrow gabled block constructed of timber, with a tall conspicuously expensive granite water tower in the centre.
Banchory, with its luxurious styling and uncharacteristically elegant interior décor, was intended to appeal to a better class of clientele. Upon opening the sanatorium soon gained a reputation for original and successful new treatments including the use of X-rays in the diagnosis and treatment of TB. Among its many patients was the novelist Somerset Maugham.
The sanatorium closed in 1928 but the building was re-opened as a luxurious hotel in 1934. In 1941 the hotel was requisitioned by the army. After the war it was refitted and opened by the Queen as a sanatorium for ex-servicemen and women suffering from TB. In 1955 the Category A listed building was transferred to the National Health Service. There has recently been a proposal put forward to convert the building for residential use.
- Back to topWeb: www.kcfa.org.uk
Listing: Category A
Date of building: 1897-1901
This Category A-listed castle was built between 1897 and 1901 by George Bullough. Bullough was extremely wealthy, earning his fortune building machinery for the booming textile industry in Lancashire. He originally intended his home on Rum to be a summer residence, built to the same proportions of his yacht. Bullough invested his money on the kind of gadgets that were state-of-the-art for the period. This included central heating, a telephone, hydroelectric power for his electric lighting, and the Orchestrion - the Bang and Olufsen of its day (only six were ever made, and this is thought to be the only surviving model).
Bullough's eccentric exercise in pseudo-baronial splendour cost an astounding £250,000 at the time (roughly £18 million in today's terms) and extended to heated garden pools for alligators and turtles and a conservatory filled with hummingbirds.
A golden age of lavish summer parties lasted for 13 years until the onset of World War I, when financial difficulties curtailed much of his excesses. After his death in 1939 the castle was passed on to what is now known as Scottish Natural Heritage.
Sadly time has taken its toll on the castle and the very fabric of the building is at risk of crumbling to the ground.
HRH the Prince of Wales became aware of the castle's plight through the original broadcast of Restoration in 2003. Today, following his intervention, interest in the building has increased dramatically and a variety of uses for the castle are currently being considered.
- Back to topListing: Category A
Date of building: late 1800s
The Victoria Lino Works is thought to be the oldest purpose-built factory in the world. Sadly the East Block building - an extension added in 1882 - is now all that remains of the original linoleum complex built in 1875. Category A-listed in part due to its remarkable height - which was needed to suspend the newly printed linoleum in giant U-shaped lengths of 90ft each - the structure boasts eye catching circle-headed windows. The three largest of these measure 42 feet high from the sill to the crown of the arch.
By the 1930s most linoleum printing had stopped. At this time five reinforced concrete floors were installed so the building could be used for storage. The building enjoyed a number of later roles including producing the largest bombs ever used in action by the RAF, creating 10 million square yards of bituminised felt used to repair bomb damage during the Blitz, and producing 300 miles of Hessian for making the bunk beds that filled London's Underground Stations during air raids. Now derelict the remaining building has remained unused since 1986. While a variety of end uses are still under discussion, the building remains under threat of demolition.
- Back to topListing: Category A
Date of building: warehouse conversion in 1857
Category A-listed Britannia Music Hall is something of a buried treasure. In 1938 the new owner had its balcony and stair access covered over to create a warehouse and then forgot about what lay beyond.
Built in 1857, Britannia Music Hall is today the oldest surviving early music hall in the UK. The comedy actor Stan Laurel gave his comic debut performance at the music hall in 1906 and Archie Leach is said to have performed there before his metamorphosis into the Hollywood legend Cary Grant. It also housed freak shows, waxworks, carnivals and a zoo and in 1904 acquired what must now be one of the oldest projection boxes still in existence.
In theatrical terms this is a unique survivor and the most complete and unaltered of the handful of early-Victorian music halls that now remain - a fascinating remnant from a bygone age and replete with its own unique stories and ghosts. The music hall is currently the subject of ongoing restoration work.
- Back to topWeb: www.egbt.org.uk
Listing: Category A
Date of building: 1723-1736
Saved from years of misuse and the brink of demolition in 1988, Mavisbank is one of the country's earliest neo-classical houses and is widely regarded as one of Scotland's finest buildings. The very first Palladian villa to be built in Scotland, Mavisbank demonstrates the bridging point at which Scotland began to move away from the older Baroque tastes towards a re-embracing of the classical.
Now Category A-listed the house was built between 1723 and 1736 - a co-design between the owner Sir John Clerk and the architect William Adam. The house became an asylum in 1815 and in the 1920s was substantially altered and added to. However, in 1954, a medical superintendent, Dr Harrowes, was so charmed by the house that he acquired it and supervised the demolition of all the alterations and add-ons.
In 1973 Mavisbank was ravaged by fire, and remains to this day in a derelict condition. However the landscaping remains very beautiful despite years of neglect. Mavisbank is currently the subject of a major funding application.
- Back to top- Parys Mountain
- Llanelly House
- Vaynol Old Hall
Web: amlwchhistory.co.uk
Listing: Scheduled Ancient Monument
Date of building: Port developed 1748
Copper mining has probably taken place on Parys Mountain since the Bronze Age. The market for copper and exploitation of it was such that by the late 18th century, Amlwch enjoyed the second largest population of any town in Wales. At this time Amlwch's fortunes became inextricably linked to the success of the mine and a prosperous port came into being.
The area's era of prosperity was sadly short lived. Once the most accessible seams of copper ore were exhausted, the mine began to suffer competition from cheaper overseas sources. The industry went into decline and by the late 19th century the mine had been abandoned. The closure led both to the decline in the area's shipping industry and the slipping away of its population.
Today the mine, a Scheduled Ancient Monument, is dilapidated, but still evokes through its remaining buildings the rich industrial heritage of the area. The Amlwch Industrial Heritage Trust has been building reciprocal relationships with an area of similar industrial heritage in Ireland and has recently been the recipient of a substantial European grant.
- Back to topListing: Grade 1
Date of building: Early 1700s
Grade I listed Llanelly House has been called "Wales's finest early Georgian house." It was begun in the early 1700s and inherited in 1705 by Margaret Vaughan who, with her husband Sir John Stepney of Pendergast, was responsible for the radical rebuilding of the house. The architectural details, design and the date on the ornate hopper heads suggest that the work was completed in 1714.
After passing through the family, and during the 19th century serving as offices for many worthy causes, in 1965 the house came into the ownership of the Borough Council. At this time various wall linings and false ceilings were added and sadly the fabric of the building was neglected. It is thought that an on-going process of restoration may well discover some of the original internal fixtures and fittings beneath the 20th century add-ons. Plans in consideration for the house's use include an art gallery, a museum town, and an educational facility. It was recently announced that the street upon which the house stands is to be pedestrianised. It is hoped this will aid a bid for restoration funding to be made in 2007.
- Back to topListing: Grade 1
Date of building: c.1550
At its height the Vaynol Estate covered over 35,000 acres of land stretching from the Menai Straits into Snowdonia and the Lleyn Peninsula. The earliest reference to the occupation of the estate dates back to the 14th century. Then in around 1550 the Old Hall was constructed and by 1572 it had become the home of Thomas Wyn ap Willim (known as Thomas Williams), high sheriff for Caernarfonshire.
The house passed through the Williams family and then from 1695 through many generations of the Smith family and was eventually sold at auction in 1980, By the late twentieth century much of the greater Vaynol Estate and all its slate quarries had been sold off.
Today this beautiful Grade I listed hall encapsulates the design transition between Tudor and Elizabethan eras. The once grand interiors boast original wattle and daub internal partitions, a 17th century wooden staircase, and original stone fireplaces, but has sadly fallen into general disrepair. Vaynol has recently enjoyed renewed interest as the venue for Bryn Terfel's music festival.
- Back to top- Crescent Arts Centre
- Lissan House
- Herdmans Mill
Web: www.crescentarts.org
Listing: Grade B1
Date of building: 1859
In 1859, Margaret Byers, a pioneer for women’s education in Ireland started her ‘Ladies Collegiate.’ A fervent believer in education for women she borrowed money to construct a purpose-built school. The result, The Victoria College, built in 1873 and named by Queen Victoria, remained on this site until the 1970’s.
In 1978, the Crescent Youth Resource Centre leased the building from the Department of Education and it became a fully-fledged arts centre in 1984. Four years later the board of the Crescent bought the property and embarked on much needed first phase of refurbishment.
Today the Grade BI listed Crescent Arts Centre, which is rapidly approaching its 25th anniversary. is a diverse Arts Centre running classes, exhibitions, festivals and workshops in music, dance and the visual, performing and verbal arts. Until recently, due to considerable dry rot affecting floors and ceilings of the first-floor classrooms, half of the building was closed and considered unsafe for public use. Recently the Arts centre received grants in excess of £2 million, and restorative work is due to begin on receipt of planning approval.
- Back to topSince Restoration last filmed at Lissan in 2003, the then owner Hazel Dolling has sadly passed away. After a long battle against cancer, Hazel died in April 2006. Determined, however, that her battle to save Lissan House should go on, shortly before her death Hazel passed full ownership of Lissan House to the trust – The Friends of Lissan House, under the guidance of Stuart Graham. They have received a project planning grant of £45,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to help them plan for the future, which is to see the House restored and re-tasked as a multifaceted complex of accommodation, galleries and studio space. The total budget required for the planned restoration is £5 million.
- Back to topContact:
Listing: Grade B+
Date of building: c.1835
This Grade B+ listed mill, built in 1835, is today owned and run by the fifth generation of the founding Herdman family and is now the last wet-spinning flax mill in Ireland.
The mill was opened during the potato famine, and the Herdmans used their new enterprise to begin a social experiment providing housing, schooling, recreational facilities and churches for their workers, all in an integrated community of Protestants and Catholics. By the end of the century, the village was called Sion Mills and then consisted of more than 200 mill workers' houses and the owner's house, Sion House. In the 1960's, the Herdmans sold off the village houses to the occupants at prices ranging from £60 to £180.
The population of Sion Mills is now 2,500, much the same as it was 100 years ago, and, as then, this tight-knit community works, plays and lives together creating a strong feeling of identification with the Mill and the family who started it all. The Sion Mills Buildings Preservation Trust is now in the process of finding funding to restore the enormous mill buildings with £1.6 million so far raised towards a £25 million target.
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