Historic Chapel Restoration Project Awarded £36k

A restoration project on a historic chapel in Kent has been awarded a grant of £36,000. The former 15th-century chapel is no longer in use and had been converted into a house early in its history, but has long been unoccupied and now in urgent need of repair.

BBC News reports that St Andrews Chapel in Boxley, Kent, is on the Heritage at Risk Register and was bought by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) in 2018. The former chapel once formed part of Boxley Abbey, and have been unoccupied since 1970.

The Grade II-listed chapel, which has been constructed using Kentish ragstone, has had many varied uses throughout its history, once being home to Tudor poet Thomas Wyatt, and was the Boxley village post office between the 1930s and 1960s.

The grant, awarded by Historic England, will help fund the design of an engineering solution to reinforce the west corner of the chapel, as well; as investigations into the causes of structural movement, which the building has experienced over the last 500 years.

Marion Brinton, from Historic England, said the organisation was ‘delighted’ to support the SPAB with the sensitive repair of the historic building.

“The many layers of history are evident in every room and by properly investigating the best way to support and repair the structural issues identified, we can ensure the correct solution is found to allow this building to live on,” he said.

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