‘Urgent’ repairs to be carried out at listed visitor attraction
Cannon Hall Museum, a Grade II* listed Georgian country house in Barnsley, has received a grant of £898,405 from the Museum Estate and Development Fund (MEND) to carry out “urgent” roof repairs.
The project is intended to ensure the protection of the hall and its collections, as well as improving the visitor experience and the environmental sustainability of the museum.
The rock asphalt roof over the main block of the hall was found to be failing, posing a risk its collections, which includes ceramics, furniture, paintings and drawings, as well as being home to the De Morgan Museum.
Roof repairs should safeguard the collection for future generations and enhance display conditions in the galleries.
The project will start on 19 August and be complete in early 2025. It will involve replacing the existing defective roof with a fully ventilated lead roof with new patent glazed rooflights.
It will also include stonework repairs, replacements and repointing to the chimneys, parapets and cornices of the hall, which dates back to the 18th century and is listed on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens by Historic England.
Cannon Hall Museum will remain open to the public throughout the duration of the work.
The scheme is being led by conservation architects Donald Insall Associates, who supported Barnsley Council to successfully apply for the MEND grant.
The grant is part of a £40m fund from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) administered, awarded and monitored by Arts Council England to support vital maintenance and repairs in museums and galleries across England.
Daniel Elkington, associate at Donald Insall Associates, said: “This is fundamentally about maintaining a safe environment for Cannon Hall’s significant collection and visitors.
“But it’s also about making the building better, more robust and reinstating a traditional material.
“The building will become more resilient to changing climate conditions and increasing levels of rainfall, benefiting from widened gutters and downpipes which will help the council maintain it for many years to come.”
Councillor Robin Franklin, cabinet spokesperson for regeneration and culture, said: “The museum is a jewel in the crown of Barnsley’s cultural offer and visited by hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.
“The roof repairs will not only preserve the historic building and its collections, but also improve the visitor experience and importantly support our environmental sustainability.”
Pete Massey, director Yorkshire and the Humber, Arts Council England, added: “Our Museum Estate and Development Fund supports essential infrastructure work on beloved museums and cultural buildings and I’m pleased that we are helping to fund the roof repairs at Cannon Hall Museum.
“The museum, based in an 18th century building, attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to Barnsley every year and it’s vital to ensure the collections and the building itself are protected and preserved so that the local community and visitors can continue to enjoy the exhibitions and events in the future.”
