Town hall restoration aims to reawaken Gothic glory

Maison Dieu was founded in the 1200s by Hubert de Burgh and passed to King Henry III in 1227

A long-awaited £10.5m renovation of a historic town hall in Kent will "reawaken" the Grade I listed building.

Once the works are completed in 2025, Dover's Maison Dieu will be permanently open to the public for the first time in its 800-year history.

The project includes restoring the work of Victorian neo-Gothic architects Ambrose Poynter and William Burges.

The Maison Dieu team said the project will create "a sustainable future" for the building by bringing "redundant spaces back into commercial use".

Architect William Burges' wyvern dragon design was recently re-instated on the Connaught Hall ceiling at Dover's Maison Dieu by the team from Arte Conservation

The project was made possible through a £4.27m National Lottery Heritage Fund grant.

The restoration began in October 2022 and has involved removing and storing some 40,000 historical artefacts, including paintings, military colours, and arms and armour from the Royal Armouries.

Stained glass in the Maison Dieu has also been restored

The Maison Dieu was founded over 800 years ago as a place for poor pilgrims to stay the night.

It later became a victualling yard, making ship’s biscuits and beer for the Royal Navy. Since the late 1830s it’s been Dover’s Town Hall.

A spokesperson for the Maison Dieu said: "Over the last six months every single piece of stained glass in the Maison Dieu has been cleaned and conserved by Easthope Stained Glass of Folkestone, numbering hundreds of panels and tens of thousands of individual pieces."

The renovations will also make way for a new street-level visitor entrance to the Connaught Hall, along with improved access throughout the building and a cafe in the Victorian gaol cells.

Other partners on the renovation include Wolfson Foundation, Landmark Trust, Dover District Council, Dover Town Council, and the Dover Society.

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