Powderham Castle to receive lifeline grant towards restoration of its towers
Powderham Castle in Devon is set to receive a lifeline grant towards essential restoration of its iconic castellated towers from the Historic Houses Foundation.
The Historic Houses Foundation is a major beneficiary of the Heritage Stimulus Fund, recently announced by the UK Government and Historic England, which will provide invaluable support for restoration work on some of England’s most important and vulnerable historic buildings.
The Historic Houses Foundation will now be able to set in place a programme of urgent work that would not otherwise have been possible. 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.
The Historic Houses Foundation is one of the leading funders of architectural conservation and one of the only bodies able to support buildings in private ownership. The nationally recognised expertise of its eight volunteer Trustees makes it ideally suited to identifying those projects most in need of support and after careful consideration, 18 nationally important properties across England were selected to benefit from these funds – of which Powderham Castle is one.
Powderham Castle is the ancestral home of the Earls of Devon and is one of England’s first neo-gothic buildings. Constructed at the end of the 14th century in homage to the French castles besieged by its builder Sir Philip Courtenay during the 100 Years’ War, it consisted of a medieval great hall flanked by six towers. The castle was modernised and expanded during the 18th century into a grand gothic mansion with rococo interiors, but its castellated roofline and towers continue to define its baronial aesthetic. The tops of these towers and their crenulations are in urgent need of attention and can now be restored.
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 welcome employment to a wide range of traditional craftsmen and building professionals in addition to other local employment opportunities.
Charlie Courtenay, Earl of Devon, commented: “We are thrilled to be able to complete these much-needed repairs to Powderham’s four surviving towers and we are very grateful to the Historic Houses Foundation for its support. This complex and essential program of works will ensure the castle is weatherproof, safe and secure for our visitors. We are excited to work with such skilled professionals and craftsmen to deliver this high quality restoration project.”
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”
For more information about the Historic Houses Foundation, please visit https://www.historichousesfoundation.org.uk/
For information about Powderham Castle, please visitwww.powderham.co.uk.
