Issue 40 winter 23 web - Flipbook - Page 85
Past Forward: Salisbury
Museum for Future Generations
The redevelopment of a Grade I listed building in Salisbury Cathedral Close
The King’s House is a Grade I listed building that dates
back to the early 13th century and is the home of The
Salisbury Museum. Over the past 500 years, it has housed
the abbot of Sherborne, a registrar to the Bishop of Salisbury, one of Wellington’s generals, and a teacher training
school before becoming the home of the museum in 1981.
Past Forward continues the journey of development at the
museum, after the creation of the Wessex Gallery in 2014.
The redevelopment of the museum is critical for people’s
enjoyment and understanding of the city’s great stories
and for the long-term protection of the King’s House and
the museum. New galleries and event spaces, and restoration of the fabric of our wonderful building, together with
an entirely new programme of engagement opportunities
for local people, will create a museum of consistently high
quality. These improvements are vital to the museum’s
ability to increase visitor numbers, recruit more and a
wider range of volunteers, and to generate the revenue it
needs to thrive.
The project originally started in the summer of 2019 after
we received a first round pass from the National Lottery
Heritage Fund. We went on to recruit the project team
later than year; appointing Michael Edwards Associates
as project managers, Metaphor/Dmitri Martin Associates
as architects and exhibition designers, St. Ann’s Gate as
conservation architects, Martin Thomas Associates as
M&E Consultants. Once we had secured the full funding
for the project, which now sits at £5.1 million, and worked
up the detailed design, H Mealing & Sons were appointed
as the base build contractor with Cliveden Conservation
for restoration works. The National Lottery Heritage
Fund have supported the scheme with grants of nearly
£3.9 million and the museum has raised match funding
of £1.2 million.
The objects and collections on display in the north wing
of the King’s House were decanted throughout the start
of 2023, with the site being handed over to Mealing in
March.
The first stage of their work involved the complete strip
out of the old displays which was completed by the end
of the month. This revealed spaces, windows and walls
that had been hidden for over 40 years - and immediately
began to show what a vast improvement the new museum
galleries and spaces would be. Conservation of the
building started with work undertaken to the 17th
century King’s Room ceiling. Cliveden then carried out a
detailed survey of the ceiling of the King’s Room which
holds some of the earliest decorative plaster in the
museum.