Forty Halls Future

Forty Hall celebrates as £2 million pledged in restoration grants

Monday 3rd November 2008 will go down as a momentous day in the history of Forty Hall as the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) announced that grants worth almost £2 million will be given towards the project to restore the Grade I listed house to it’s former glory.

The HLF has granted £1,832,000 towards the restoration of the property, with an additional £167,500 earmarked to help Enfield Council create a detailed development plan for the project.

Visionary Project

Wesley Kerr, Chair of the London Committee for the HLF, said “It is a delight to allocate funding to this visionary project to restore this remarkable Jacobean mansion. Forty Hall has many outstanding features, with archaeology going back to the Tudor times and royal history, as well as fine interiors. It is a building of importance not only to Enfield but to the whole of London.”

Mr Kerr and Cllr Michael Lavender, Cabinet Member for Sustainable Communities, Employment and Place Shaping, were brought through the gates to Forty Hall on a magnificent horse and dray and were met by Sir Nicholas Rainton, the man who built the Hall in 1629.

The HLF and Enfield Council both envisage an influx of visitors once the project to restore the building is completed, improving Forty Hall’s regional and national standing. The Hall is very much Enfield’s ‘Heritage Jewel in the Crown’ and is currently in use as a local museum, arts and community venue but the restoration work will enable Enfield Council, which is contributing £2.8 million to the project, to turn it into a centre of excellence for education, events and exhibitions.

Improve Access

One of the central improvements will be the plan to restore the main staircase to one similar in design to the 17th Century original. This will allow the ‘flow’ of the Hall to be much more in keeping with how it was originally designed. A lift will also be installed to improve access for families, disabled people and those with mobility issues. Currently, only 45% of the Hall is open to the public; the development work will allow access to almost 75%, to areas members of the public will never have seen before.

Another key aspect of the restoration will include improved signage and interpretation at the site to explain the history of the Hall and its past inhabitants. The grounds to the Hall are equally important when trying to understand Forty Hall as a ‘place of interest’ and are the subject of another grant application currently under consideration by the HLF under the Parks for People scheme.

New Era

Commenting on the grant announcement on behalf of Enfield Council, Cllr Lavender said “The news that we have secured this grant gives a tremendous boost to the future of Forty Hall. This gives us a unique chance to remodel the Hall completely to make sure that every aspect of it is planned and coordinated to make it the top visitor attraction that it should be.

Instead of just making small piecemeal changes, this allows us to undertake coordinated work such as planned maintenance and improvements such as the insertion of a lift, plus changing the stairway and layout of the hall. It also allows us to invest in making the house an exciting place of learning, the arts and culture, with a thriving programme of activity and events. This is the dawn of a new era for Forty Hall.”

Enfield Council is seeking to widen the number of projects within the borough that apply for funding through the HLF. Heritage is not limited in its interpretation to historic houses, museums and parklands. It can be anything to do with the preservation of cultural traditions or a sense of community. The HLF has previously awarded 60 grants to the London Borough of Enfield, totalling over £5.2 million.

This document was last updated on 2008-11-24 14:37:22 published by the Cultural Services team. Document Reference:LBE_133576