New funding for Newstead Abbey repairs confirmed

Newstead Abbey is known for being the home of poet Lord Byron

Funding for urgent repair works to help remove a Nottinghamshire landmark from the heritage at risk register has been confirmed.

The Grade I listed Newstead Abbey, which is managed by the city council museums and galleries service, is famous as the ancestral home of poet Lord Byron.

The project to develop a programme of repairs, mainly focussing on weatherproofing roof areas, will cost £130,000, with £104,000 coming from Historic England and the remainder from Nottingham City Council.

The plan is expected to be finished by February 2025.

Longstanding concerns about the condition of the site came to a head in 2018 when parts of the medieval church buildings began to fall away.

Repairs to these were completed in 2020 but attention has shifted to the roof of the 18th and 19th Century buildings.

In some areas, particularly in storage areas, ceilings have collapsed and the museum collections have been relocated to protect them.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service has seen council documents which state: “Currently the building suffers from long-term ingress resulting in internal areas becoming unsafe for staff, visitors, volunteers and collections.”

“The grant award of £104,000 from Historic England will enable the service to contract a professional team.

“Individual contracts will be awarded to a conservation accredited architect, structural engineer and quantity surveyor to develop up the programme of repairs to support future funding applications whereby the programme of repairs can then be delivered.”