Work to preserve ruins of Nine Days' Queen's home

Lady Jane Grey was born at Bradgate House in 1537

A large-scale conservation project is under way to protect the ruins of the birthplace of England's Nine Days' Queen Lady Jane Grey.

The work at Bradgate House Ruins and Chapel near Newtown Linford in Leicestershire will cost almost £200,000.

James Dymond, director of the Bradgate Park Trust, said light touch repairs had been made to the site over the years but this was the first large-scale conservation project since the building was opened to the public in the 1930s.

The first phase of work includes repairs to the windows, stone and mortar of the building, which Mr Dymond expects to be completed by June.

Repairs are being made to the outside of the chapel where mortar between the bricks has eroded or inappropriate material has been used in the past, the trust said

Mr Dymond said: "This is phase one of what we hope to be an even bigger phase of repairs at the rest of the ruins probably later this year."

This will be "an even bigger project beyond the chapel", he added.

Historic England provided a grant of £37,160 in 2023 which allowed the trust to carry out survey work which led to the current repairs.

Shared prosperity funding via Charnwood Borough Council is partly funding the works, along with a further grant of £71,000 from Historic England.

The trust is also putting in some of its own capital funds, with the total project cost just shy of £200,000.

A monument to Henry and Anne Grey inside the building is being repaired

Lady Jane, a Protestant great-niece of Henry VIII, was born at the 15th Century Grade-II* listed scheduled monument in 1537 and became queen on 9 July 1553.

She was deposed by her Catholic cousin Mary I nine days later and then executed, aged 17, in 1554.

A 400-year-old monument to Henry and Anne Grey, cousins of Lady Jane, is also being repaired and cleaned.

This includes lifting the effigy of Anne from the monument to access the internal structure, which Mr Dymond said is "quite a lot of detailed, specialist work".

He added: "We're hoping, subject to permissions and so on, to replace the whole ceiling because the ceiling's in a dangerous condition as well.

"That's really important in terms of public access for the future because there are areas at the moment that are cordoned off."