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| Hexham abbey gets the builders in again | Hexham abbey gets the builders in again |
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| The pretty Northumberland town of Hexham has two temples which contribute to its prosperity: the Egger factory which makes chipboard and provides jobs, and the abbey which dates back in part to Saxon times and brings in both pilgrims and tourists. | |
| It is the latter which is full of good cheer this morning, with the news that the Heritage Lottery Fund has given £1.8 million to allow the church to acquire and restore the Carnaby building, a grade one listed mediaeval house which was once the home of the prior. Now this will become part of a complex costing some £5 million overall, including a new visitor centre and a discreet modern take on monastic cloisters. | It is the latter which is full of good cheer this morning, with the news that the Heritage Lottery Fund has given £1.8 million to allow the church to acquire and restore the Carnaby building, a grade one listed mediaeval house which was once the home of the prior. Now this will become part of a complex costing some £5 million overall, including a new visitor centre and a discreet modern take on monastic cloisters. |
| The abbey is a flourishing place of worship but also the keystone in Hexham's growing success in attracting visitors. The Tyne valley in which the town stands is one of the loveliest of the north's quieter, lesser-known beauty spots; and within easy range of one of our most famous: Hadrian's Wall. | The abbey is a flourishing place of worship but also the keystone in Hexham's growing success in attracting visitors. The Tyne valley in which the town stands is one of the loveliest of the north's quieter, lesser-known beauty spots; and within easy range of one of our most famous: Hadrian's Wall. |
| The grant is one of a group announced today which are all seen by the HLF as seedcorn for wider economic revival. The Fund's chair Dame Jenny Abramsky, formerly director of BBC radio, says: | The grant is one of a group announced today which are all seen by the HLF as seedcorn for wider economic revival. The Fund's chair Dame Jenny Abramsky, formerly director of BBC radio, says: |
| We know that projects like these are often the driving force for wider heritage-led regeneration schemes and can in turn help attract further investment. We are proud to fund these sorts of informative and multi-faceted projects which get to the very heart of our nation's uniquely complex history and unlock stories of historic turning points that have shaped the world we live in today. | We know that projects like these are often the driving force for wider heritage-led regeneration schemes and can in turn help attract further investment. We are proud to fund these sorts of informative and multi-faceted projects which get to the very heart of our nation's uniquely complex history and unlock stories of historic turning points that have shaped the world we live in today. |
| Hexham abbey is part of the inspiring story of the Christian church in Northumberland which is numinous with shrines to the simple Celtic version of the faith; one which – in so far as we can judge after such a long interval – seems to have had more awareness of poverty and less of pomp than most of its successors. Hexham marks a turning point in this tradition through its associations with St Wilfrid, who preferred the grandeur of Roman liturgy, garb and menus to what he called the 'Irish errors', and unfortunately won the day against Celtic simplicity at the Synod of Whitby in 664AD. | Hexham abbey is part of the inspiring story of the Christian church in Northumberland which is numinous with shrines to the simple Celtic version of the faith; one which – in so far as we can judge after such a long interval – seems to have had more awareness of poverty and less of pomp than most of its successors. Hexham marks a turning point in this tradition through its associations with St Wilfrid, who preferred the grandeur of Roman liturgy, garb and menus to what he called the 'Irish errors', and unfortunately won the day against Celtic simplicity at the Synod of Whitby in 664AD. |
| Today's grants also include smaller sums to assist larger, longer-term bids: £65,000 development funding for a proposed bid by Wakefield council to spend £3,000,000 on restoration work at Pontefract castle; £75,900 to play a similar role in Salford's pending £3,500,000 bid to restore the Bridgewater canal in a project with very strong community involvement; and £284,400 to help Everton library in Liverpool with a £3,800,000 bid to convert into a youth and community centre with all manner of imaginative goings-on. | Today's grants also include smaller sums to assist larger, longer-term bids: £65,000 development funding for a proposed bid by Wakefield council to spend £3,000,000 on restoration work at Pontefract castle; £75,900 to play a similar role in Salford's pending £3,500,000 bid to restore the Bridgewater canal in a project with very strong community involvement; and £284,400 to help Everton library in Liverpool with a £3,800,000 bid to convert into a youth and community centre with all manner of imaginative goings-on. |
| Hexham abbey's new project follows in one of those extraordinary traditions which often lie behind apparently very ancient and tranquil English buildings. Although Saxon work remains, much of it using plundered Roman stonework, the church was razed in 875 by the Vikings, rebuilt after the Norman conquest, rebuilt again in the 12th and 13th centuries and heavily restored by a Victorian incumbent. | Hexham abbey's new project follows in one of those extraordinary traditions which often lie behind apparently very ancient and tranquil English buildings. Although Saxon work remains, much of it using plundered Roman stonework, the church was razed in 875 by the Vikings, rebuilt after the Norman conquest, rebuilt again in the 12th and 13th centuries and heavily restored by a Victorian incumbent. |
| It has no fewer than four choirs and an intriguing Roman tablet which mentions both sons of the emperor Septimius Severus, Caracalla (which means the Hoodie) and Publius Geta. The former murdered the latter after their father's death in York, and ordered all the many inscriptions and coins carrying both their names to have that of Geta erased. At Hexham, they didn't do a very good job and you can still read it. | It has no fewer than four choirs and an intriguing Roman tablet which mentions both sons of the emperor Septimius Severus, Caracalla (which means the Hoodie) and Publius Geta. The former murdered the latter after their father's death in York, and ordered all the many inscriptions and coins carrying both their names to have that of Geta erased. At Hexham, they didn't do a very good job and you can still read it. |