Comment: Important Next Step Approved for Museum Project

Published on: 20 Oct, 2019
Updated on: 22 Oct, 2019

By Gavin Morgan

Guildford Heritage Forum

An important step for the future of Guildford Museum was taken by Guildford Borough Council at its recent full council meeting (October 8).

It voted unanimously to move to a new, important phase and starting talks with the National Lottery Heritage Fund. It also voted to underwrite the match funding gap for the project.

This is further than the project has ever got in the past and a further decision on lottery funding will be made in the spring.

At £18 million, the cost of the project is more than many people originally thought necessary. However, the various reports produced for this project show that if we want to make a big difference to the town we need to be ambitious. The project also needs to capture the imagination and make an impact if it is to attract potential donors.

Plan of one of the three redeveloped floors at the envisioned new Guildford Museum showing, on the right, the critical entrance to the well used Castle Grounds.

This is much more than a plan to revamp some tired galleries or add a café to the Castle Grounds. The new visionary museum will benefit the town as a whole. It will promote Guildford, support the High Street and encourage tourism.

This is aligned to the Guildford Corporate Plan, Economic Plan and the Guildford Visitor Strategy 2014-2020 and it is very much part of the council’s long-term vision for the town.

As our town’s economy evolves, especially the retail sector, it is important we play to our strengths including the attraction to our precious historic character and heritage. This is what makes our town different and more attractive than others to many residents and visitors.

Guildford Museum front entrance on Quarry Street.

The new museum will benefit the people of Guildford in many ways. The modern museum profession positions itself around the strapline “Museums Change Lives”. We have seen a good example of this at Guildford House where our museum team worked with Syrian refugees and specialists to create a seventeenth-century garden.

They bridged divides to create something that enriches the lives of all of us. The Guildford Museum project will allow the town to do similar projects on a larger scale.

The scheme has a long way to go and its success will depend on the community getting behind it as much as the council funding it. And the project will evolve. Already there has been a change in scope.

The Carrollian Trust (which promotes the life and works of Charles Dodgson famous as author Lewis Carroll) no longer wants a dedicated section of the museum but will contribute to the exhibitions, and the Henry II Chamber will not be part of the development, although the plan is to clean it up so it can be used as an events space. The project team decided that potential opposition from English Heritage to the chamber’s development might scupper the entire lottery bid.

But fears for the Victorian schoolroom have been removed. This popular museum asset used by schools from all over the district will be moved into the main museum building.

The new museum will form part of a wider Guildford Castle historic “hub” site.

Finally, the Castle and Castle Grounds have been brought into scope. I am delighted by this as a few of us from the Guildford Heritage Forum wrote a report identifying how more can be made of the castle. It was a good example of how local knowledge from the community can benefit the project.

Website: http://www.guildfordheritageforum.co.uk

To contact Guildford Heritage email: guildfordheritageforum@gmail.com