Kirkleatham Hall Stables and Garden to Benefit from £200,000 Repair Grant
A grant of almost £200,000 from English Heritage will enable work to begin to save historic stables and gardens in Redcar.
Kirkleatham Stables Kirkleatham Stables The Grade II* listed Kirkleatham Hall Stables on the outskirts of Redcar is a significant building in the horse-racing history of the North East and is known to have housed famous racehorses such as “Flying Dutchman”. An early owner was co-founder of the Jockey Club and it was used as an early stud farm for racehorses. It has an unusual circular tower in the courtyard complete with a cupola; one theory is that this was for viewing the racing, breeding and stud horses as they were walked around the yard.
The stables, which are owned by Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council, are on English Heritage’s Heritage at Risk register because of their deteriorating condition. Since the demolition of Kirkleatham Hall in 1954, the stables along with Grade I and II* bastions (a structure projecting outward from the main wall), ha-ha walls, gate piers and gatehouses have been unused. The grant will be used to carry out urgent repairs to the stables and the landscape features most at risk as well as help find a new use for them.
A feasibility study will also be undertaken with the award of a further £16,000 from English Heritage. This will be informed by the Conservation Plan and Options appraisal completed on behalf of Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council by the North of England Civic Trust, earlier this year.
Carol Pyrah, English Heritage Planning and Development Director for the North East, said: “We are delighted to be supporting Redcar & Cleveland Council in its work to secure this important complex of listed buildings. This is just one example of our ongoing work to ensure that the region’s Heritage at Risk is saved and put to good use for the people of the North East. Kirkleatham features prominently on our Heritage at Risk register and the repairs are urgently needed.”
Redcar & Cleveland Council’s Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Tourism, Councillor Sheelagh Clarke, said: “The funding award is great news and will help is to stabilise the structures for the next few years while efforts continue to find sustainable uses for the buildings.
“This will ensure we don’t risk further decay or loss of these important elements of Redcar’s historic, cultural, archaeological and architectural heritage.
“Repair works will be completed over the next 14 months and we will continue with the necessary planning and strategic frameworks for Kirkleatham Village Conservation Area. There will be more consultation in around 2012 to help to pave the way for conservation-based reuse and redevelopment.”
Kirkleatham Hall Stables and Garden features are some of 82 Grade I and II* buildings in the region that are at risk through decay or neglect and are therefore included on the English Heritage Heritage at Risk register. Last year English Heritage allocated grants worth £1.6m for repairs to 40 North East entries on the Heritage at Risk register.
The 2009 Heritage at Risk register was published in June and for the first time contains a list of all conservation areas at risk in the North East, as well as details of all scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, grade I and II* buildings and registered battlefields at risk in the North East. Visit the
Heritage at Risk or Conservation Areas at Risk pages for more information.
