Nationally Important Monument Receives Lifeline Grant
St Oswald’s Priory in Gloucester, has received a boost from the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund to help fund vital maintenance work during the coronavirus pandemic.
Lifeline grants from the Culture Recovery Fund are designed to protect heritage sites and ensure that jobs and access to culture and heritage in local communities are protected during the months ahead.
The £25,000 grant will allow for crucial conservation work at St Oswald’s Priory, which was founded by Queen Aethelflaed in around the year 900 and is a nationally important designated monument.
The remains of St Oswald of Northumbria were interred in a crypt there following Aethelflaed and her brother Edward King of Wessex bringing them to Gloucester.
Aethelflaed and her husband, King Aethelred of Mercia were also buried there.
The work will be commissioned by Gloucester City Council which looks after the monument and will involve placing a turf layer onto the top of the walls, a long-term solution that helps to reduce the deterioration of the stone-work overtime protecting it in wet weather.
Some stabilisation and mortar repairs will also be carried out.
A thin turf layer will be taken from the grounds around the monument and reseeded with a wildflower mix.
The Culture Recovery Fund’s Heritage Stimulus Fund allocated through Historic England is given to cherished heritage sites, like St Oswalds, to cover urgently needed maintenance and repairs.
As well as rescuing precious heritage buildings in need, it’s intended that the injection of cash will protect livelihoods for some of the most vulnerable heritage specialists and contractors working in the sector.
Councillor Steve Morgan, cabinet member for Culture and Leisure at Gloucester City Council, said: “We are delighted to receive this funding from the Culture Recovery Fund. It will make an important difference to the work we need to carry out to protect this historic monument for the benefit of future generations.”
Duncan Wilson, Historic England Chief Executive, said: “Historic places across the country are being supported by the Government’s grants awarded under the Culture Recovery Fund. This funding is a lifeline which is kick-starting essential repairs and maintenance at many of our most precious historic sites, so they can begin to recover from the damaging effects of COVID-19.”