Main Image: Children from Cockton Hill Primary School install the time capsule in the walls of the newly restored West Mural Tower. Photo Credit: Jamie Sproates
A team of volunteers is celebrating bringing a centuries-old County Durham building back from the brink. Extensive conservation work has saved the historic West Mural Tower, in Bishop Auckland, safeguarding it for future generations as part of The Auckland Project’s mission to revitalise the town.
The transformation has been funded primarily by The Auckland Project, with a £50,000 grant from Historic England as part of the Bishop Auckland Heritage Action Zone scheme and £5,000 from the Architectural Heritage Fund. This week the team behind the Grade I listed tower’s restoration, including volunteers Ruth Storey and Cheryl Blakey, came together to celebrate completion of the works and bury a commemorative time capsule.
West Mural Tower sits in the grounds of 900-year-old Auckland Castle. Its original purpose remains a mystery, but it may have been built as a semi-defensive gatehouse for the site, possibly in the 15th century. In recent years the tower had fallen into a state of disrepair, with rotten roof timbers and unstable walls, which led to its inclusion on Historic England’s “Heritage at Risk” register.
Image 2: Children from Cockton Hill Primary School with, (L-R), Jilly Johnston, Learning Officer at The Auckland Project, Cheryl Blakey, Volunteer at The Auckland Project, David Ronn, Project Manager at The Auckland Project, Ruth Storey, Volunteer at The Auckland Project, David Maddan, Chief Executive Officer at The Auckland Project, Clara Woolford, Historic Buildings Curator at The Auckland Project, Liz Dollimore, Head of Learning at The Auckland Project. Photo Credit: Jamie Sproates
Image 3: The newly restored West Mural Tower, which sits within the grounds of Auckland Castle. Photo credit: Jamie Sproates.
