Big lottery grant sought for Uckfield's historic Bridge Cottage
A bid for Heritage Lottery funding to help complete the refurbishment of Uckfield’s historic Bridge Cottage (pictured) is to be made.
The town council, which owns the building, has reaffirmed its support for the Uckfield and District Preservation Society project and given formal backing to an application for a Lottery grant.
The project seeks to build on the restoration and preservation work carried out to date and to refurbish the Bridge Cottage Heritage Centre for the benefit of the whole community.
£1 million
The whole project will cost around £1million and the preservation trust, which has a lease for the building with 28 years still to run, hopes it would be completed by the summer of 2014.
Councillors were told in a report: “To achieve this aim the whole building is being refreshed to ensure that the fabric can remain coherent for future generations whilst meeting new aspirations for the building.”
The key works entail the recreation of an open hall on the first floor, just as it would have been when the building was constructed in 1436.
Open hall
This open hall will offer a meeting room for cultural and artistic events whilst the whole building will be able to cater for exhibitions and other activities.
Under floor heating will be installed,driven by a heat pump whilst the whole roof cladding will be removed to allow it to be insulated with hemp insulation before re-tiling.
The original shop on the north side will be extended vertically to form a first floor archive and plant room.
A new fire escape and small kitchenette will be incorporated whilst various other internal reconfigurations will also take place to allow a better use of the facility.
All changes will be carried out in a sympathetic manner in agreement with the district council’s conservation officer and the granted Listed Building Consent.
The Heritage Centre operation
The prime objective of the centre will be to support the community through craft, artistic and historic activities supported, where possible with material from the preservation society’s archive collection.
The preservation trust said in a report to councilors: “We envisage that these activities will to appeal to all sectors of the community including children, senior citizens and the disabled.
“We intend to build on our existing educational experience by offering supported facilities to all three sectors of education; primary, secondary and tertiary. The building lends itself to both enactment and conventional learning activities through the visibility of the structure and the created atmosphere.
Baroque style concerts
“Our intention is also to encourage use of the building for exhibitions, small fairs, baroque style concerts and general meetings using the enhanced facilities of the building.
“We also intend to maximise the revenue generating opportunities, presented by the recreated open hall, by registering the building for civil ceremonies.
“Our research indicates that there is much demand for a venue that offers a charismatic setting for these special occasions without the fixed overheads of internal catering. This is a niche we would fit into nicely without undo impact on the projected other uses of the building.
“It is acknowledged that access to all areas of the cottage may not be practicable within the confines of an ancient building. With this in mind it is envisaged that the final configuration will utilise appropriate technology to provide a virtual access to as many areas as possible.
History
Bridge Cottage, built in 1436, is a single-aisled Wealden hall house of much larger than average size. It once stood on an island in the middle of the river.
Originally it was a grand house, showing off wealth and affluence. Over the years, Cllr Mick Harker, told councillors it “went down the social scale” and in the 1800s was once part of the poor house. The lean-to, once a sweet shop, was a 19th Century addition.
Although the identity of the original owner is not known, we do know that the occupier in 1570 was Thomas Maunser and that later the building passed to Arthur Langworth and Edward Orwell, officials of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The upper floors were inserted in the mid-16th century.
In 1983 the Cottage was saved from demolition by a public fundraising campaign carried out by the Uckfield and District Preservation Society (UDPS) in partnership with the Uckfield Town Council (UTC).
In the period since 1983 much restoration work has been carried out at the cottage to provide a weather tight environment to support its heritage centre vision. During 2006 a fundraising campaign was launched for the design phase of the project, raising just under £55,000. This allowed UDPS to employ a local firm of architects to work up a restoration scheme.
See also:
Planning officer to have Uckfield base
(Added to site Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012)
.jpg "Chance to raise planning queries with council officer in Uckfield")
