Heritage at Risk in London Revealed

Boston Manor House is a Grade I listed Jacobean manor house built in 1623 and extended in 1670. The historic site is owned by the London Borough of Hounslow which has led a major four-year restoration project to conserve the building and increase public access.

The Manor House has fine interiors including original 1623 decorative plaster ceilings and friezes. Work was needed to renovate the roof, restore fragile interiors and make improvements.

The Manor House is set to reopen to visitors in early 2023. 

The Victorian south lodge to Grim’s Dyke Hotel was severely fire damaged in April 2020. Fortunately, a faithful reconstruction was possible, including the use of handmade clay tiles from one of the few UK producers that makes them to the imperial size required.

Grim’s Dyke Hotel was originally designed as a private residence in 1870-72 by Richard Norman Shaw for the artist Frederick Goodall. It was later owned by writer and librettist W S Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan fame. It takes its name from Grim’s Ditch, an ancient defensive earthwork and scheduled monument which runs nearby. 

The Victorian drinking fountain on Hayes Road is in need of repairs. It originally stood near Kew Bridge and Brentford Market grew up around it. When the market closed in 1974 the fountain was relocated to its current position by the new Western International Market.

The fountain is a handsome survival but in recent years it has suffered from anti-social behaviour, fly-tipping, and littering.

Local community group Brentford Voice is working in collaboration with the London Borough of Hounslow to determine next steps.

St Bartholomew’s church in Stamford Hill was designed by W D Caröe and completed in 1904. Caröe was a major figure in the Arts and Crafts movement.

St Bartholomew’s has an interesting history as it has been built and rebuilt multiple times. The current building replaced a 19^th-century church on Moor Lane, which itself replaced Christopher Wren's St Bartholomew by the Exchange.

The principal problem is the roof. It needs urgent attention to prevent further problems and decay.

As a first step in the regeneration of Crystal Palace Park, the historic Subway (opened 1865) is being repaired and restored as a new cultural venue. The staircases which led up into the Palace have been uncovered and reinstated, historic brickwork repaired, and a new roof to the courtyard will be installed early next year.

The Subway, with its forest of columns supporting the Crystal Palace Parade above, is a spectacular architectural gem and the only surviving element of the famous Crystal Palace, which burnt down in 1936.

The reopening of the Large Mansion in 2018 as a local museum was a milestone in the transformation of Gunnersbury Park but further work is needed to bring all the historic buildings on site back into good condition and use.

Funds have been raised to undertake urgent repairs to the Small Mansion and East Stables, which were both deteriorating. Repairs to the roof and parapets of the East Stables are complete, and other works are approaching completion. A feasibility study and public consultation to assess future viable and sustainable uses has been carried out.