Group’s delight at £570k award
Joan Bray of the Heritage Lottery and chairman Jackie Strong look out of the old school house at Cotesbach. (Picture: Andrew Carpenter/001372-19)
AN AMBITIOUS scheme to create an education centre which will tell the story of a Lutterworth area village’s contribution to a 17th century uprising has been handed a £570,000 grant.
The Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded the cash to the Cotesbach Educational Trust (CET), to support the restoration of a trio of historic buildings in the village and transform them into a centre for learning about the area’s heritage.
Once conserved, the buildings will provide a new home for the Cotesbach Estate archive, which contains records dating back to the time of Henry IV right up to the 20th century, including poignant letters from the front in the First World War.
The three buildings are the Grade II-listed 18th century schoolhouse, the Stick House – an 18th century milking parlour, and the Victorian-era Coach House.
The ambitious project aims to create a centre which will tell the story of the Cotesbach and Lutterworth area over the last 500 years.
Cotesbach had a little-known but important role in the enclosure riots of 1607, when more than 5,000 peasants gathered near the village to protest about having nowhere to graze their livestock because land had been ‘enclosed’ by landowners.
The rioters smashed down fences and filled in ditches in protest at what they felt were unfair laws. A gallows was built in Leicester to act as a visible deterrent to the rioters but it was later demolished by a mob.
Jackie Strong, chairman of the Cotesbach Educational Trust, said: “We are delighted to have received such generous financial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
“The grant will allow us to sympathetically renovate these three 18th and 19th century buildings located on the Cotesbach Estate.
“They will provide storage for local archives which have a national interest and act as a base for educational and community activities focusing on our local social, environmental and artistic heritage.”
The aim is that schools in the Lutterworth area, and from further afield, will eventually be able to visit the centre to learn more about the history of the area as well as providing a venue for events and exhibitions.
Emma Sayer, head of Heritage Lottery Fund East Midlands, said: “Cotesbach and the surrounding area has a fascinating local heritage.
“Alongside the conservation of key historic buildings in Cotesbach, the re-housing of the estate archive will give more people the chance to explore and learn about the events that shaped the social history of the area.”
The CET is looking for motivated volunteers to take part in the project and get involved in activities including cataloguing the archives, marketing and fundraising.
To find out more about the volunteering opportunities or to sign up to receive updates on the project’s progress, visit www.cotesbachschoolhouse.org.uk.
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Tuesday 22 May 2012
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