PROJECT PROFILE

PROJECT PROFILE

RETURNING

TO THE HALL

Discover the splendour of Gainsborough Old Hall and fi nd out more from some of the volunteers and staff who have been instrumental in its successful reopening. ►

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THE RETURN TO THE HALL

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Explainer volunteer Nick Pal tells us about some exciting discoveries tells us about some exciting discoveries at Gainsborough Old Hall and how he plans to share these with visitors.

After such a long closure, it was great to be invited back into Gainsborough Old Hall. We volunteers were offered a tour the day before the press day, so there was a strong attendance.

Amazing details Because the work was not yet fi nished, there was an English Heritage expert at work in every room – please be careful where you walk! And very interesting experts they were too. Here I could ask the questions that had been building up in six years of volunteering. So many amazing details came out; for instance, the hall of 1460 was built on the foundations of an earlier hall, which it seems, no-one had previously suspected. If only they had kept proper records back then. Most of the clutter had been removed so now the building was to be seen in all its wobbly glory. The biggest shock, though, was upstairs. The two rooms had been reunited into one long gallery and painted. Walls that had been a dirty pale colour had been analysed to discover the original colour and there it was in all its sunlit glory of sky blue under a warm brown. A two-tone distempered gallery! Cleared of its mannequins and glass display cabinets, it was a space we had not known existed in the hall.

Glorious story for our visitors I can now give visitors a taste of the glorious story of this fi ve-hundred-yearold building and the extreme rarity of the medieval kitchen. I hope the stories about the lives of ordinary people who lived and worked in it back then contrast quite strongly with the lives of our visitors today.

The building was to be seen in all its wobbly glory

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THE HALL IN SAFE HANDS

Andrea Selley, territory director in the North, on the reopening of the hall.

From my perspective, I was delighted to be present when we reopened the Old Hall on 1st July. When we took back the keys in

November last year, we weren’t sure when we’d be able to reopen, or how much of our planned improvements we would be able to carry out.

Luckily, as our fi nancial situation became clearer in January, we were able to commit £300,000 to reopening the Old Hall and quickly set to work. This modest investment is hopefully just the beginning of a new chapter in the long history of this incredible building under English Heritage management. The Old Hall is a much-loved local landmark and, quite rightly, a source of immense pride, and I hope that through English Heritage the

Old Hall can get more of the national recognition that it deserves. ►

Images Previous pages Gainsborough Old Hall These pages 1. An aerial view of the hall 2. Nick Pal 3. Lynn Deeney, administrator volunteer 4. Visitors help raise the fl ag at the hall 5. A lion carving in our care at the hall 6. Visitors explore the hall 7. The tower

PLAN YOUR VISIT Visit the newly reopened hall with its updated visitor facilities. For more information visit www.english-heritage.org.uk/gainsborough-old-hall 7

QUICK QUIZ

How much do you know about Gainsborough Old Hall?

(Answers on page 34)

1. Gainsborough Old Hall is one of the biggest and best-preserved ___________ in England. a) barns b) medieval manor houses c) motte-and-bailey castles

2. Gainsborough Old Hall has an __________. a) impressive medieval kitchen b) enormous fi replace c) ornate wooden ceiling in the great hall

3. How many steps are there to get to the top of the tower? a) 100 b) 59 c) 73

Rick Berry

BACK AT THE HALL

Rick Berry, explainer volunteer at Gainsborough Old Hall, tells us why he is looking forward to regularly guiding tours again.

Ifirst visited Gainsborough Old Hall sometime in the 1990s and was blown away by its historical magnificence. Walking around a building that the eyes of two famous kings, Richard III and Henry VIII, had seen, had a great impact on me. Many years later, around 2007, I was lucky enough to volunteer there on their school’s educational programme.

I had previously experienced the Old Hall when

I attended with my daughter through her local school visit.

Testing the water After retiring from Notts Fire and Rescue Service, I briefly worked at the Old Hall before moving on to new challenges but they kept me on as a tour guide. After some years, things changed and I seemed to stop guiding. When English Heritage recently took Gainsborough Old Hall under its wing, I thought I’d ‘test the water’ to see if I still had the passion for the Old Hall and, indeed, I did. Although at the moment I am a room guide (explainer), I aspire to become a group tour guide once again, having the honour of showing coach tours around our beautiful building. Looking back and revising my old guiding notes has been fun, and along with the new interpretation I look forward to regularly guiding again at the jewel in Gainsborough’s crown, Gainsborough Old Hall. ■

GET IN TOUCH To find out more about volunteering at this site, email us at volunteer.enquiries@english-heritage.org.uk