£3m grant to restore grounds of historic hall
THE grounds of a Georgian country house in South Yorkshire are to be restored with the help of almost £3m of lottery money.
The 70 acres of park and gardens surrounding the historic Cannon Hall near Barnsley will be transformed using £2,925,200 secured from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Big Lottery Fund’s Parks for People programme.
The money will be used to restore and repair original features, some of which have never been seen by the public, with the aim of placing the visitor attraction firmly on the tourist map.
An intact ice house built in the 1700s will be revealed and a two-acre area of woodland behind the walled garden will be cleared and opened up for educational tours and activities.
The lakes of the park will be dredged and restored.
Work will begin in early 2017, with completion scheduled for early 2020
Two years of planning, research and consultation went into the funding application, called ‘Restoring the Glory’, and over 100 people were involved.
Volunteer group The Friends of Cannon Hall have raised over £40,000 by holding major events, fayres and activities at the hall for match funding. The total partnership funding is £740,567.
Richard Emerson, chairman of The Friends of Cannon Hall, said: “The grant is a major boost for a historic recreational site and is absolutely fantastic news for the Barnsley community and beyond. This incredible result follows years of long hours and detailed preparation and is vitally important, enabling much needed restoration and improvement of the park and gardens. Our local heritage is of great importance to us all, it defines who we are and the character and identity of our communities and must be protected.”
Cannon Hall was owned by the Spencer-Stanhope family for 300 years and its grounds were designed in the 18th century by renowned Georgian landscape architect Richard Woods. The hall opened as a museum in 1957.
Popular visitor attractions in the grounds include the deer shed, recently licenced for weddings, and the Cannon Hall pear tree collection, which is housed within the historic walled garden and contains over 50 varieties – making it one of the largest in the north of England.
Cannon Hall and its grade two listed grounds are part of the Barnsley Museums portfolio, owned and operated by Barnsley Council.
Cllr Roy Miller, of Barnsley Council, said: “The HLF funding is the result of many hours of hard work by a wide range of people, including community volunteers, and we are all delighted with the result. We hope this investment will lead to Cannon Hall and its park and gardens becoming one of Yorkshire’s top cultural visitor attractions.”
