Bid to Heritage Lottery Fund submitted for proposed new archive centre

Last updated: 14/12/2012 Add to My Bookmarks Subscribe

Cornwall Council has submitted its bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for £9.8 million match-funding for a scheme to create a proposed state of the art facility to house Cornwall’s treasure trove of historic manuscripts, books, photographs, maps and recordings.

With the working title of ‘Kresen Kernow – a new home for the stories of Cornwall’, it is proposed that the new archive centre will be built on the former brewery site in Redruth and will improve access to and house the many treasures that reflect Cornwall’s long, rich and vibrant heritage and its international impact. It will also create an exhibition space to host Cornish manuscripts held elsewhere whilst safeguarding an historic building in the centre of a World Heritage Site, enhance the public realm and help regenerate the area resulting in huge economic benefits, estimated to be around £1.7million a year, for Redruth.

Cornwall Council cabinet member for culture Joan Symons said: “Our submission, which includes the fact that Redruth is already home to a number of cultural hubs, and takes into account the potential to open up and regenerate the currently derelict brewery site, will bolster Cornwall’s bid for support from the Heritage Lottery Fund at the highly competitive ‘national’ level for grants above £5million. The bid we have submitted will be supplemented by a visit from representatives from the HLF Trustees and officers in spring 2013 to see the site and hear about our ambitions for the project.  We hope that everyone will help to make their visit a success and show that the whole of Cornwall is behind the bid.”

The Trustees will visit all the projects which have made an application before meeting to assess them in April 2013.  If successful at this stage, there will be an 18 month project development period to consult researchers, staff, volunteers and potential new audiences on the building design, services and Cornwall-wide activity programme.

Cllr Symons adds: “This project is a priority in the Council’s Culture White Paper and will transform access to the extensive historic resources currently held across a number of sites. It will also offer a bespoke, modern facility which will enable new relationships with partners to provide greater public access to the key Cornish manuscripts held in the collections of those institutions across Britain and beyond.

It will also ensure that the Council meets its statutory responsibilities to care for its archives appropriately and fulfils legal requirements with regard to access to information.”

Story posted 14 December 2012