The restoration and transformation of three of England’s most important historic sites – Clifford’s Tower in York, Marble Hill in Twickenham, and Richborough Roman Fort and Amphitheatre in Kent – are amongst the exciting projects English Heritage will be unveiling in 2022, the charity announced today (Thursday 17 February). English Heritage will also be investing millions of pounds in conservation projects across the country, celebrating milestones such as the 1,900th anniversary of the start of the building of Hadrian’s Wall, and with the London Blue Plaques scheme, commemorating working class lives and experiences.

Kate Mavor, English Heritage’s Chief Executive, said: "This year we’re focusing on what we do best: bringing history to life for millions of people. English Heritage cares for the nation’s incredible and inspiring collection of historic sites and in 2022, we’re excited to be opening up even more of them and sharing more of their stories. We’re using new design to transform a York landmark, displaying previously unseen treasures from our collection, celebrating the Romans as well as bringing a Georgian villa in London back to life. In short, there’s something for everyone this year at English Heritage."

Highlights of 2022 include:

Sites launching to the public

Clifford’s Tower, York – opening April 2022
On 2 April 2022, one of York’s best-loved landmarks, Clifford’s Tower, will re-open to the public, following a major £5 million project by English Heritage to conserve and radically transform the interior of the 800-year-old landmark. Whereas previously the tower was an empty shell, the charity has now installed a free-standing timber structure within it, protecting the ruin and creating a new roof deck to provide magnificent views over York. On the tower’s lost first floor, dramatic aerial walkways will open up hidden rooms for the first time since Clifford’s Tower was gutted by fire in 1684.
www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/cliffords-tower-york

Marble Hill, Twickenham – opening May 2022
In May, the historic house at Marble Hill in west London will re-open, completely restored by English Heritage thanks to National Lottery funding, and with its all-but-lost garden – inspired by those in ancient Rome – reinstated. Home to Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, Marble Hill is one of the last survivors of the 18th-century villas and gardens that once bordered the Thames. The Palladian villa and landscape were designed by fashionable connoisseurs, including the poet Alexander Pope, and Marble Hill was intended as an Arcadian retreat from crowded 18th-century London. In more recent decades, Marble Hill had lost a lot of its lustre; opening times for the historic house were limited and much of the park’s historic character had vanished into the undergrowth. English Heritage’s meticulous restoration of the house and reinstatement of the gardens will bring to life the story of Henrietta Howard – too often cast as 'merely' King George II’s mistress – and the fascinating times in which she lived.
www.english-heritage.org.uk/marblehill

Richborough Roman Fort and Amphitheatre, Kent – opening Autumn 2022
Richborough was the site where the first Roman soldiers landed in Britain in AD 43. In Autumn 2022, the Roman fort and amphitheatre will re-open following a major re-presentation by English Heritage. A refurbished museum will display previously unseen artefacts from the site while a new 8m-high authentic recreation of a Roman gateway and rampart will provide visitors with panoramic views and a real sense of the fort’s original scale and significance. Visitors will also be able to access the amphitheatre site where following excavations in 2021, new interpretation will shed light on what lies beneath. All in all, visitors will have a transformed experience of one of the most important settlements in Roman Britain.
www.english-heritage.org.uk/richborough

Anniversaries and events

Installations and events for Hadrian’s Wall 1900 anniversary
This year is 1,900 years since the start of the building of Hadrian’s Wall. To mark the anniversary, English Heritage will be running a series of events, activities, and exhibitions at its various sites along the wall. Highlights include an exhibition shedding light on the anonymous Edwardian labourers who excavated Corbridge Roman Town; a collection of original Roman treasures returning to the Wall for the first time; and we have commissioned artist and designer Morag Myerscough to create a contemporary artwork at Housesteads Roman Fort, one inspired by the gatehouses guarding the wall’s military forts (subject to the necessary permissions).
www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/hadrians-wall

Celebrating the 125th anniversary of Dracula at Whitby Abbey
Published in 1897 and one of the biggest selling novels of all time, Bram Stoker’s Dracula was inspired by the seascape and atmospheric streets of Whitby. Many of the key scenes are set in the town, including Dracula’s dramatic arrival from Transylvania on board the Demeter, from which he leaps in the form of a black hound and bounds up the 199 steps to Whitby Abbey. English Heritage is marking the anniversary with a full season of events, starting in May and culminating in Whitby Abbey being lit up for an 11-night Illuminated event over Halloween. Volunteer-led Dracula-inspired guided tours and new interpretation panels will highlight the connections between the abbey, the town and Stoker’s Gothic masterpiece.
www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/whitby-abbey

Conservation projects

Preserving Dover Castle’s northern defences
This year sees English Heritage entering into the final, intensive phase of a three-year £2 million project to conserve Dover Castle’s northern defences. Amongst the most significant parts of Dover Castle, the northern defences were the focus of successive historic building campaigns and illustrate how the medieval castle was adapted to become a Georgian artillery fortress. As well as masonry work to preserve the curtain wall, the project has also included work on the underground passages linking the defences which, compared to any other castle of this date, show an unparalleled level of sophistication in active defence through the use of tunnels. Repairs have also been carried out at Constable’s Gate, the largest castle gatehouse in England, to ensure the building is water tight and to stop water causing damage to the decorative interior finishes and architectural details.
www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/dover-castle

Protecting Orford Castle’s delicate mudstone walls
A £1 million conservation project is underway at 12th-century Suffolk landmark, Orford Castle, to protect its almost thousand-year-old delicate mudstone walls (which have been weakening since the 16th century) with a base layer of lime render. The work is the culmination of 13 years of research, trials and consultation to find the best way to guard the castle’s deteriorating external walls and delicate stonework from the elements. The works will allow visitors to access the grounds around the castle, which are currently fenced off due to the crumbling masonry, for the first time in many years.
www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/orford-castle

Repairing and conserving Lincoln Medieval Bishops’ Palace
This year sees the culmination of a £2.5 million project to conserve Lincoln Medieval Bishops’ Palace, the former home of the Bishops of Lincoln and centre of power for the largest diocese in medieval England for nearly 500 years. One of England’s most important buildings, the palace has been in ruin for over 350 years since it suffered damage in the Civil War and, exposed to the elements, its limestone walls have begun to deteriorate. The work, which will include repairs with traditional mortar and soft-capping, allows English Heritage to halt the decline of the building’s historic stonework and help stabilise and repair it for the future.
www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/lincoln-medieval-bishops-palace

Witness conservation in action at Belsay Hall, Castle and Gardens
Widespread conservation work is underway at Belsay Hall in Northumberland, repairing and regenerating the site for future, whilst keeping the site open to visitors. The extensive work includes re-roofing the hall and, from March to September 2022 as part of Belsay’s Conservation in Action programme, visitors will be able to don hard hats to tour the scaffolding, watch the contractors at work close up and then whizz back down a slide at the end.
www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/belsay-hall-castle-and-gardens

New unveilings

World-class miniature collection arrives at Kenwood
An important collection of portrait miniatures, which has been gifted to English Heritage via Arts Council England’s Cultural Gift Scheme, will go on display at Kenwood in summer 2022. Comprising 65 miniatures, The Lady Cohen Collection is of outstanding importance and includes work by many of the foremost miniaturists of the 18th and 19th centuries.
www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/kenwood/

Blue Plaques to the working classes
This year, English Heritage’s London Blue Plaques will celebrate working class figures with exceptional stories. Amongst those to be unveiled in 2022 are plaques commemorating The Match Girls’ strike of 1888, the Ayah’s Home for stranded South and East Asian Nannies, the self-taught physicist Oliver Heaviside, and the former Hanwell Asylum where Dr John Conolly transformed the care of mental illness.
www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques