by Trevor Dale
With the terrific news that Cranleigh Heritage Trust has been awarded a significant National Lottery Heritage Fund grant of close to £800,000, we have started talking to builders with suitable heritage experience and drawing up the detailed specification with the hope that work will start in a few weeks.
Getting the Heritage Fund grant galvanises us to work on gathering local history. Already work is under way to record oral histories, peoples’ memories of the past, while we can. The My Cranleigh website is being constructed by volunteers who would welcome help in collating oral or written memories. If you know of anyone, maybe yourself, who has lived here a while and has memories of days gone by about Cranleigh, please do get in touch.
Recently we heard about the use of the old hospital cottage as a place to comfort someone whose mother was very ill and close to end of life. The person had found this environment supportive and convivial in a time of personal distress. This fits well with the plans for the future, where the renovated cottage will be available as a venue for health and wellbeing therapy sessions and small group meetings.
We attended the Listed Property Owners Club exhibition in London recently and were able to network with many conservation experts. We first attended two years ago, when we didn’t even know the questions to ask. This year we captured attention with a live project and gathered some very worthwhile advice. A subject that was mentioned in an expert talk was The Great Rebuilding, which we believe is relevant to the cottage. You can find out more about the Great Rebuilding on the History of England website www.The history of England.co.uk
In the period from about 1570 to 1640, there was a revolution in housing, as a degree of prosperity grew and many houses were extended and modified similarly to what has happened in more recent years with house extensions.
Our cottage was built in 1446 as a medieval Hall House that had only a simple small upstairs area originally, accessed probably via a ladder and used for storage. We have the expert report of the Domestic Building Research Group from 1975, which explains many of the internal details. We have a visit planned from an expert of the Weald and Downland Museum to gain a better understanding and appreciation of how, why and when the cottage was altered. There is evidence in the wooden structure of the upper floor being inserted and then raised at a later date. We are reasonably sure that the upper dormer windows were installed when the hospital was inaugurated in the mid 1850’s, about a hundred years after the other changes.
Writing this during freezing February, it seems appropriate to mention when the upper storey rooms were installed, having been mostly open to the roof when built, the fireplaces were added. Prior to that the fire was in the middle of the floor with no chimney but air vents at either end of the gable, to let smoke out and mostly no rain in. You may wonder why there were two fireplaces. The room was divided at that time, with a kitchen area on one side and a parlour to relax in on the other. The evidence of the partition and doors all exist in the central timber joist.
We have no plans to install open fires which would be impractical nowadays, but are investigating state of the art heating solutions.
In other news, the 1000 Club is yielding cash for our charities and lucky winners. Our next draw is expected to yield £350 for the winner. Since Summer of 2024 £2400 has gone out to monthly winners and the same amount shared between Cranleigh Heritage Trust, 1170 Charity and Cranleigh Arts Centre. We have over 100 individuals signed up. Plenty of room for more, please get in touch.
FURTHER SUPPORT FOR THE PROJECT
We are actively seeking new members to join the team now that we have a live project. If you believe you have skills and time to use them that would be helpful to a heritage project, please get in touch.
Please contact us by phone, 01483 272987, letter or email to: trevor.dale@cranleighheritagetrust.org.uk
To register an expression of interest in future use of the facilities please write to us with the following information:
1. Brief description of what you offer and the benefits to clients and customers.
2. Say if and where you currently offer this service and why people would use the cottage to meet you.
3. Brief declaration of support for the project in general.
4. Return name and address and any website or social media links.
Thank you so much! Trustees Trevor Dale – Chair; Howard Barratt; Jane Briggs; Chris Bulley; Sue Dale; Nigel West. Advisors Bob Callard – architect; Joanna James – business advisor, Michael Miller and Joy Horn, history advisors.
Visit our website: www.cranleighheritagetrust.org.uk
