St Nicholas' Chapel, Kings Lynn successful HLF bid
The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has awarded a first-round pass of £1.5 million, including development funding of £82,500 to secure the future of St Nicholas' Chapel, King's Lynn, it was announced today.
St Nicholas' Chapel has served the local community for the past 850 years. Thanks to this grant it will continue to serve the people of King's Lynn for the forseeable future.
The grant will enable us and the Friends of St Nicholas Chapel to carry out vital conservation work, and develop a high quality cultural venue that will welcome more people into the building with new activities, modern facilities and innovative ways of telling the story of this important historic landmark to visitors.
With its superb acoustics St Nicholas’ Chapel already holds over 30 cultural events every year, and welcomes over 7000 visitors. This grant will increase the use of the chapel and enable more local people to become involved in the building in a variety of ways.
Over the next 12 months we will be working with the Friends of St Nicholas Chapel to further develop our plans for the chapel towards a stage two pass, with a view to start work on site in 2012.
This will include work to the roof to prevent water getting in, timber repairs to protect the hammer-beam roof and to the carved angels, masonry repairs and conservation of the rare Consistory Court furniture and memorials. Interpretation will be installed in the chapel to help visitors learn more about the long history of St Nicholas’ and the local area.
Our Regional Manager, Rebecca Rees says “we are delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund has granted the stage one pass - it will help secure the future of this magnificent building for the people of Kings Lynn for many years to come”
Speaking for the Friends’ of St Nicholas’, Adrian Parker said “ this medieval church is one of the big landmarks in the town and needs costly repairs, but this grant will also create more comfortable conditions for the audiences and visitors – thank you HLF!”
Robyn Llewellyn, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund East of England, said:
""This first-round pass is an important step toward the future conservation of St Nicholas’ Chapel. By undertaking vital restoration works and ensuring the development of future sustainable use, these proposals will ensure that this beautiful local landmark can be enjoyed for generations to come. There is still work for the Churches Conservation Trust to do in developing their plans, but HLF will be offering them full support in taking their application further.""