£300,000 bill to replace the roof of historic hall (From Cotswold Journal)

£300,000 bill to replace the roof of historic hall

12:00pm Saturday 27th October 2012 in News

AN historic building in Moreton needs hundreds of thousands of pounds of repairs.

The roof of the 19th century Redesdale Hall in the centre of the town is in dire need of work and will need to be replaced within the next few years.

At this month’s meeting of Moreton Town Council, vicechairman Councillor Rod Hooper said the council had received estimates of £300,000 to repair the roof.

“We can’t afford that either now or in a few years’ time,”

he said. “We need to find out just what sources of funding are out there for us to apply for.”

He added that about half of the tiles on the roof could be re-used and that the council should start looking for grants or ways to raise the funds.

Town council chairman Coun Colin Hancox said, although grants would provide some of the funding, the council would need to find some way of raising some of the funds itself.

“A lot of these people will say ‘yes, we’ll give money, but what are you putting towards it?’,” he said.

“The timescale is a little up in the air because we could have a gale in the winter which could blow the whole roof off.”

Coun Alison Coggins hoped Moreton residents would step forward to help in the fund-raising.

“Moreton does have a community spirit,” she said. “For example, at Christmas time when we have the Christmas market people come out and support it. Maybe we could have events such as that to raise money.”

The council resolved to work to identify sources of funding and to arrange fundraisers.

The Redesdale Hall was built in 1887 by Lord of the Manor of Moreton, Sir Algernon Bertram Freeman- Mitford, grandfather of the famous Mitford sisters, in memory of his cousin John Thomas Freeman-Mitford, the first Earl of Redesdale.