News - Newark gets £3.5m fund to create national Civil War museum

Buildings in a Nottinghamshire town are set to become a National Civil War Centre after a £3.5m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund was secured.


Newark and Sherwood District Council plan to restore Newark's Magnus buildings into a museum about the 17th Century war.

The project will cost £5.4m in total and will open in September 2014.

The centre could attract more than 60,000 visitors each year, according to the authority.

Councillor Roger Jackson, the district council's cabinet member for leisure and culture, said: "The new museum will provide a hub for tourism, directing visitors to attractions across the district and Nottinghamshire."

Newark Torc
Newark and Sherwood District Council said it has applied to other grant-funding bodies to make up the rest of the money needed.

The authority has worked with the Heritage Lottery Fund to put together plans to renovate the Magnus buildings, part of which date to 1529.

The Royalists surrendered Newark following a siege in 1646 towards the end of the civil war, which resulted in the defeat of King Charles I by the Parliamentarians.

In addition to Civil War displays, exhibition galleries will focus on the local history of the towns and villages of Nottinghamshire.

The Newark Torc, an Iron Age necklace found using a metal detector near the town, will also be displayed in the centre.

It will be the first time the item will be displayed in the district after being loaned to the British Museum.

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-18267068

News - Newark's £5.5m Civil War museum plans move forward

Plans to turn historical buildings in a Nottinghamshire town into a £5.5m national centre about the English Civil War have moved a step closer.

Newark and Sherwood District Council wants to restore Newark's Magnus buildings into a museum incorporating exhibiting about the 17th Century war.

The authority has now submitted a bid for £3.5m of funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

It will learn if the application has been successful in May.

'Exciting time'

Councillor Roger Jackson, the district council's cabinet member for leisure and culture, said the museum and learning centre could be opened in 2014 if the funding bid was successful.

He said: "It's a very exciting time for Newark. We've got a business plan put together and hopefully we could generate an income from having the museum. 

"Hopefully it will bring a lot more people into the town as well and bring more money into the town."

The council has been working with the HLF to put together plans to renovate the Magnus buildings, part of which date back to 1529.

The Royalists surrendered Newark following a siege in 1646 towards the end of the civil war, which resulted in the defeat of King Charles I by the Parliamentarians.

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-16808781

Article - Vermuyden in Perspective by Colin Ella part 9 - Settlers found the going hard

MANY of Vermuyden’s countrymen, working their acreages of reclaimed land, soon found it no easy matter, and indeed, the experiences of many of them were unhappy to the extent of disaster.

They did not make enough income to pay their bank loans or their land rates. Furthermore, they could not raise enough to pay their workers’ wages.

It should also be remembered that there was still a barrage of lawsuits and bickerings resulting from the drainage operation. Some of the settlers made poor farmers as they lacked the necessary agricultural skills.

They were left to make the most of their own hasty workmanship, for which Vermuyden and his advisors must take the major blame.In the face of all this, many of the participants soon returned to Holland, poor, disgruntled, and embittered by the venture into which Vermuyden had led them.

And yet Vermuyden received a Knighthood for his efforts in Hatfield and Axholme, but likely including his earlier record too. Today in the South Yorkshire region we see institutions, streets, etc, named after Vermuyden, but significantly, in Axholme, such accolades are few and far between. Here, it was unlikely that the inhabitants of Axholme were happy to see Vermuyden knighted.

Over the years, the aftermath of what the Dutch engineer initiated has seen considerable acclaim, but again, much more so in Yorkshire.

During and after the Drainage work there was an unyielding stubbornness on both sides - and Vermuyden certainly did not help this situation in that, right from the start, his actions provoked the long lasting outrages.

The early erection of a gallows at the Sandtoft Stockade, with the threat to hang protesting commoners as well as later, the use of the infamous Star Chamber for their prosecution made clear the attitude of Charles I and the Drainage Management.

Under the power of this monarch the dreaded Court of the Star Chamber built up a fearsome reputation and became a byword for misuse and abuse of power, and the Isleonians’ case stood little chance of a fair hearing here. Small wonder that this biased Court was abolished by The Long Parliament in 1641.

As the Isleonians battled on through court case after court case their righteous cause was gradually vindicated and from being deprived of 13400 of common in 1630, some sixty years later, only 2868 acres of this land still remained in the hands of the settlers.

Next week in Part 10 - Battling for Justice.

From: http://www.epworthbells.co.uk/community/nostalgia/vermuyden_in_perspective_by_colin_ella_part_9_settlers_found_the_going_hard_1_3460802

News - Notts Palace step nearer renovation dream (Southwell)

THE medieval palace of the archbishops of York in Southwell is a step nearer being restored to its former glory.

The former home of Cardinal Wolsey, next to Southwell Minster, has got through the first round of the Heritage Lottery Fund's (HLF) restoration application process.

It will now receive £155,000 from HLF and be able to apply for a further £1m to support its restoration plans.

The palace rests on part of one of the largest Roman villas in the country, and was where the surrender of King Charles I was organised by his Scottish captors.

The building is now partly in ruins.

The Great Hall within the palace is in regular use by the Minster's young choristers, visiting school parties and community groups from across Notts.

A proposed wide-ranging revamp of the Great Hall will include the tackling of structural problems and decorative decay while improving public access. The ruins will be stabilised and the whole palace, once renovated, would be more widely available as an education and community resource.

The Dean of Southwell, The Very Reverend John Guille, said: "These initial funds are a fantastic boost and will enable us to begin planning for the work to preserve and restore this hidden historical gem for future generations and for the wider benefit of the community now. I am deeply grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund for this development award."

From: http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/news/Notts-Palace-step-nearer-renovation-dream/article-3377978-detail/article.html