conservation – Page 2 – Industrial Heritage Networks

Industrial Heritage Sites Benefit from New Conservation Grants

August 11, 2025mikenevell

Industrial Heritage sites in England are amongst 37 heritage sites set to receive £15 million in funding as a part of the Government’s ‘Heritage At Risk’ fund. The funding will go towards repair works and the conservation of heritage buildings at risk, and is a part of the Government’s £270 million ‘Arts Everywhere Fund’. The fund has prioritised projects that will restore heritage sites serving disadvantaged communities and which demonstrate strong local benefits, from job creation to cultural events.

The industrial sites receiving funding are:

Woodhorn Colliery Shaft Heads, Ashington, Northumberland – £997,265
National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port – £250,000
Treadgolds, Portsea, Portsmouth – £485,200
The Folk Pin Factory (Grade II), Gloucester Civic Trust – £142,871

Follow this link for further details: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/37-local-heritage-sites-to-benefit-from-15-million-boost-to-breathe-new-life-into-communities-across-england

*National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port, is owned and run by the Canal & River Trust. Image copyright Dr Michael Nevell.*

National Trust Secures £2.75m for Castlefield Viaduct Expansion

August 4, 2025mikenevell

The National Trust has announced major funding to double the length of its Manchester’s Castlefield Viaduct “sky park” from 150m to 350m. The £2.75m needed will come from National Highways (£2.4m), Manchester City Council (£100k), Greater Manchester Combined Authority (£100k), and Railway Heritage Trust (£150k).

Opened in 2022 the extended ‘sky park’ will add improved accessibility via a new western entrance with lift access, making it a through-route for the first time. The expanded park will also feature WaterAid’s gold medal-winning garden from the 2024 RHS Chelsea Flower Show. It s expected to open in summer 2026. The viaduct is open Wednesday – Sunday 10am – 5pm, with no booking needed.

The Castlefield viaduct was built in the late 1870s by the Cheshire Lines Committee railway to service the former Central Station and was opened in 1880. Further details on the project here: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/cheshire-greater-manchester/castlefield-viaduct

*Designs for the planned extension at the Castlefield viaduct. Image courtesy of National Trust.*

Mills Archive Trust Launch ‘Caring for an Icon’ Crowd Funder

July 11, 2025mikenevell

The Mills Archive Trust need your help locating the records of past millers and millwrights, preserving them in their archive, and making them accessible to modern craftsmen. With this in mind they have launched a new crowd funding appeal – ‘Caring for an Icon’.

The Trust are looking to preserving these records in their archive and make them accessible to modern craftsmen, thereby helping to train the next generation. In order to do that they need to raise significant sums to safe guard the future of these archives.

Folow this link to donate ot the ‘Carings for an Icon’ appeal: https://new.millsarchive.org/caring-for-an-icon/

The Mills Archive Trust is the custodian of the history of mills and milling. They safeguard the stories, skills, and traditions that mills embody. This expertise allows the Trust to protect, interpret, and open access to this rich history. Mills shaped the foundations of the modern world, and the Trust ensure’s that their legacy continues to inspire.

*A millwright at work. Image courtesy of Mills Archive Trust.*

Beamish Wins Art Fund Museum of the Year 2025

July 3, 2025July 2, 2025mikenevell

Beamish, The Living Museum of the North, has won the Art Fund Museum of the Year for 2025 and has been presented with £120,000 – the largest museum prize in the world. The 350-acre site impressed the judges away with its ‘joyous, immersive, and unique’ exhibitions.

Beamish’s commitment to preserving local heritage was recognised by the Art Fund, with Rhiannon Hiles, Chief Executive of Beamish, being presented with the award during a ceremony at the Museum of Liverpool.

Jenny Waldman, Director of Art Fund and chair of the judges for Art Fund Museum of the Year, said: “Beamish is a museum brought to life by people – a joyous, immersive and unique place shaped by the stories and experiences of its community. The judges were blown away by the remarkable attention to detail of its exhibits across a 350-acre site and by the passion of its staff and volunteers.”

Beamish, which opened in 1970, is an open-air museum that brings to life the North East of England’s Georgian, Edwardian, 1940s and 1950s history, through immersive exhibits where visitors engage with costumed staff and volunteers, and experience regional stories of everyday life. In 2024, the museum welcomed over 838,630 visitors and remains the region’s most visited attraction and museum.

For more details follow this link: https://www.beamish.org.uk/news/beamish-wins-120000-art-fund-museum-of-the-year-2025-award/

Edwardian street scene at Beamish. Image courtesy of Beamish, Living Museum of the North.

The Long Shop Museum Recieves £14,000 Aim Grant for Revamped Gallery

June 14, 2025June 13, 2025mikenevell

The Association of Independent Museums (AIM) have announced the winners of the inaugural Museum Fundamentals grants. Funded by the Pilgrim Trust and The Julia Rausing Trust and launched in December 2024, the AIM Museum Fundamentals grant is designed to respond to the varied needs of AIM members.

Amongst the initial round of 12 grants is a succesful application from The Long Shop Muaseum in Suffolk to redesign and redisplay the ‘Made in Leiston’ gallery. The design and content of the new exhibition is based on audience research conducted over the last two seasons. The new displays will focus on unlocking the social history of the town and the people who lived and worked there over a 250-year span, and on technological change. The Long Shop Museum was founded in 1984. It is housed in a cluster of historic buildings in the Suffolk market town of Leiston. The buildings are survivors of the original 19th century engineering works site of Richard Garrett and Sons who specialised in famring machinery. Further details here:

https://www.longshopmuseum.co.uk/

The AIM Museum Fundamentals grant is funded by the Pilgrim Trust and The Julia Rausing Trust, and launched in December 2024. It combines the valued collections care and conservation funding supported by the Pilgrim Trust with new funding from The Julia Rausing Trust. AIM members can apply for up to £20,000 for funding to undertake a collections-based project. If you’re interested in applying to Museum Fundamentals, expressions of interest for the next round are welcome until Friday 8 August. Further details here: https://aim-museums.co.uk/news/first-aim-museum-fundamentals-awards-made/

*Long Shop, Leiston, Suffolk. Image copyright The Long Shop Museum.*

Ironbridge ‘Getting Us Winding Again’ Appeal Recieves Significant Donation

June 7, 2025June 7, 2025mikenevell

The Winding Engine at Blists Hill Victorian Town is one of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust’s earliest and most significant exhibits. One of the very few preserved steam winding engines – and of even fewer able to wind up and down a historic mine shaft – it has been out of action since 2018. To repair and restore this machinery will cost £100,000. A fudn was setup in 2024 to raise this amount, and it has recently recieved a genrous donation from the 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust.

*Winding head gear at Blists Hill, Ironbridge. Image copyright Dr Michael Nevell.*

When it is working, the Winding Engine exhibit can bring the sounds, smells and sights of a working engine to life for our visitors. It helps us tell the story of the men, women and children who worked in Shropshire mines and the daily dangers they faced. It also demonstrates a vital feature of mining and the development of mining and engineering during the Industrial Revolution.

The phased plan for work will see the pit head, boiler house, and engine house refurbished, the mine shaft inspected and cage refit. The work will primarily be carried out by IGMT’s Steam Team, expert volunteers, supported by our Steam Engineer and outside contractors.

More money still needs to be raised, so if you would like to contribute to getting the engine winding again follow this link:

https://www.ironbridge.org.uk/about-us/support-us/get-us-winding-again/

*The winding engine at Blists Hill, Ironbridge, spring 2025. Image coyrigth Dr Michael Nevell.*

Crowdfunder Launched for New Footbridge Next to Bennerley Viaduct

May 20, 2025May 19, 2025mikenevell

As part of increasing access to the Bennerley Viaduct and its surrounding environment, the Friends group want to build a new footbridge over the River Erewash. They also want to secure the riverbank to prevent its erosion. The Friends already have support from a variety of funders for this project, but need to raise the rest of the amount needed to build the new footbridge bridge.

All the monies raised will go towards to providing the materials for the bridge and river erosion works, which will involve supportive sustainable material used to protect the bank from erosion. They are planning to use local volunteers and students from the University of Kent to help build the footbridge. This new bridge will provide an important access route to the structure and its surrounding environment, so people can enjoy this hidden gem from top to bottom.

The Friends of Bennerley Viaduct were formed in 2019 as a community charity to help save and make accessible the Bennerley Viaduct and its surrounding environment. The Bennerley Viaduct is a Grade II* listed former Railway Viaduct sandwiched between the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire near the towns of Kimberley and Ilkeston.

Follow this link to contribute to the new footbridge: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/new-footbridge-next-to-bennerley-viaduct

Saving Basuto: Canal & River Trust Launch Crowdfunding Appeal to Save Historic Clyde Puffer

May 15, 2025May 14, 2025mikenevell

The Canal & River Trust (CRT) have launched a Crowdfunding Appeal for an urgent conservation project to save the Clyde Puffer Basuto, one of the UK’s most unique and historically important vessels.

Built in 1902, Basuto played a vital role in industrial Britain transporting iron across the country, before then coaling naval vessels during World War I, and supporting wartime efforts in World War II. With a rich and varied history, she has been a working vessel, a coal barge, and a steam-powered cargo ship. She remains one of the oldest vessels of her kind still afloat today, and is recognised as an important vessel on the National Historic Ships’ Historic Fleet Register, alongside esteemed vessels like the Cutty Sark and HMS Victory.

However, time and the elements have taken a devastating toll on Basuto. Currently sitting in the lower basin at the National Waterways Museum in Ellesmere Port, this iconic vessel is sinking and must be continuously pumped to stay afloat. Due to her construction Basuto cannot be repaired while in the water, and without immediate action she risks sinking completely, which would further damage her structure and threaten the water quality of the surrounding area. Having secured generous initial funding from the National Heritage Memorial Fund to undertake this conservation effort, CRT need your help to secure the remaining funding and to raise awareness of this historic conservation effort.

To make a donation to help cover the final costs of the conservation works follow this link: Saving Basuto – a Charities crowdfunding project in Ellesmere Port by Canal & River Trust

*The Basuto at the National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port. Image courtesy of CRT.*

Europa Nostra UK : Shrewsbury Flax Mill Free Webinar, 24 April 2025

April 23, 2025April 24, 2025mikenevell

Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings recently won a European Heritage Award/ Europa Nostra Award 2024 for Conservation and Adaptive Reuse. A free webinar has been orginsed with the architects who led the project, Geoff Rich and Tim Greensmith, who will share with the fascinating story of the project.

Established as a Flax mill in 1797, the site of Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings includes the world’s first iron-frame building which has been described as the ‘grandparent of skyscrapers’. Its combination of cast iron beams and columns, brick arches, and cast iron ties made its construction fireproof, while large windows admitted natural light for its numerous employees. A century later, it was converted into a maltings through a second state-of-the-art design, with windows either blocked up or made smaller, boiler houses demolished, a timber hoist and new tower added, and a large kiln built.

The brief for this project called for an exemplar of sustainable refurbishment to support the next 100 years of use for a building with a particularly innovative design heritage. Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios (FCBStudios) have conserved the enduring elements of both uses to provide four floors of flexible working space, while weaving in a contemporary layers to accommodate a visitor centre and café.

The online meeting will end with a Q&A session. Please find more information about the project and the speakers below. To register please follow the link on Eventtbrite (though hurry as the webinar is at 5pm on the 24 April!):

Museum Renewal Fund Opens & Timetable for MEND Round 5

April 18, 2025April 16, 2025mikenevell

Arts Council England (ACE) has opened a new £20 million fund to support local authority museums. ACE have also published the timetable for Museum Estate Development Fund (MEND) Round five.

The Museum Renewal Fund targets museums owned and directly maintained by local authority funding, or with a governance link to a local authority. The programme is intended to help museums meet the shortfall between operating costs and income throughout their 2025-26 budget, where the shortfall results in reduced programming, footfall, and days open to the public.

Museums can apply for a minimum of £10,000 up to a maximum of £1million. The application deadline is 22 May with outcomes expected by 26 June latest. The funding period runs from August 4 to 31 January 2026.

ACE have also released the timetable of Round 5 of the Museum Estate Development Fund (MEND). This capital fund targets non-national Accredited museums and local authorities based in England. It covers funding to undertake vital infrastructure and urgent maintenance backlogs which are beyond the scope of day-to-day maintenance budgets.

The total fund is worth £25million and grants range from £50,000 to £5million. Expressions of Interest for Round 5 open at 9am on Monday 12 May 2025 with a deadline of Thursday 5 June.

For further details of both fund ing streams, including the application processes, follow this link: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/our-open-funds

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