A £262,000 grant for 84 Plymouth Grove

As several news websites report (The Telegraph, BBC News...), Elizabeth Gaskell's house in Manchester has been awarded a £262,000 grant for urgent repairs by English Heritage. But the project is much more ambitious: (Picture source: Ardwick Heritage Trail)

After decades of slow decline, work is to start on a £3 million project to restore the Victorian novelist's unique Manchester villa to its former glory.
Now suffering from a leaky roof, rotten windows and cracked walls riven with dry rot, the building is a far cry from the ornate 1838 Italianate villa that Gaskell moved into with her husband William.
On taking up residence in 1850, she wrote ecstatically to a friend: "And we've got a house. Yes! We really have. And if I had neither conscience nor prudence I should be delighted, for it certainly is a beauty."
Sadly, the house has not been well maintained in recent years. Manchester University bought it in 1969 but in the late 1990s it fell into disuse.
Eleven years ago it was put on the first Buildings at Risk register to be compiled by English Heritage, the Government body responsible for Britain's historical sites.
In 2004 the university bequeathed it, together with an endowment, to the Manchester Historic Buildings Trust (MHBT).
Now English Heritage has donated £262,000 towards £700,000 of essential remedial work which will stop water getting into the roof and windows and halt the spread of dry rot through the walls.
The work, due to start in June, is the first step in what the owners believe will be a £3 million project that will end in it being opened to the public.
Henry Owen-John, north west regional director for English Heritage, said the 'Cranford effect' had helped convince funding bodies that 84 Plymouth Grove in Ardwick, Manchester, had a future.
He said: "The publicity attached to Elizabeth Gaskell after the adaptations of North and South and Cranford has been of considerable benefit.
"It would have been much more challenging without the literary association. It's an important part of the historical significance of the building. There's no doubt that it has gained a higher profile as a result."
Gaskell, 39 when she moved in, wrote most of her work at the house including Cranford, North and South and The Life of Charlotte Brontë.
She also entertained Brontë and Charles Dickens, who were friends as well as literary colleagues. On one occasion Brontë, apparently shy of other guests, is said to have hid behind curtains.
Mr Owen-John said that the house was also remarkable architecturally, being one of the last examples of an early to mid 19th century Manchester villa that remained largely intact inside and out.
"The architectural details are quite striking," he said.
But most visitors will be drawn to it as the place where Gaskell penned her most important works.
Dame Judi Dench, who starred as spinster Miss Matty Jenkyns in the BBC 2007 adaptation of Cranford, about Victorian life in a fictional Cheshire town, said she was "delighted" that work was starting to save the property.
Dame Judi, patron of the MHBT, said: "This is a major historical building and it will be wonderful to see it restored to its former glory."
Janet Allan, chairman of MHBT, said the body would be lodging an application with the Heritage Lottery Fund in the autumn.
She said: "Gaskell was one of the most important female novelists of the 19th century. Her books are still relevant and widely published today." (Stephen Adams in The Telegraph)

EDIT: BBC News also has a video reporting this which includes shocking images of the sad state of disrepair the house is in. However, it's been nice to see the rooms and interior of the house.

Categories: Elizabeth Gaskell, In the News