Published:
6:00 AM August 4, 2021
Work being carried out to restore the decorative pargeting on the 500-year-old Bishop Bonner s Cottage in Dereham. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY
- Credit: DENISE BRADLEY/Archant2021
Conservationists have begun work restoring a 500-year-old cottage in the heart of Norfolk.
Pargeter Anna Kettle at work removing old paint as she restores the decorative pargeting on the 500-year-old Bishop Bonner s Cottage in Dereham. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY
- Credit: DENISE BRADLEY/Archant2021
Works on the pargeting of Dereham’s Bishop Bonner’s Cottage began on Monday and are expected to be complete by the end of next week.
The pargeting which has been lime washed during the restoration on the 500-year-old Bishop Bonner s Cottage in Dereham. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY
Bishop Bonner s Cottage Museum. Picture: Matthew Usher.
- Credit: Matthew Usher
A town’s heritage museum may remain closed this summer, its chairman has warned, if maintenance work on its 500-year-old building takes longer than anticipated.
Trevor Ogden, chair of the Dereham Heritage Trust, said that work on restoring Bishop Bonner’s Cottage, which houses the museum, was ongoing.
“The town council has placed a contract for the remaining building work, and it is due to let us know what the timing is, but we haven’t got that information yet,” said Mr Ogden.
The museum has been closed since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020, and is typically open from May to September.
The 500-year-old mulberry tree at Bethnal Green
- Credit: East London Garden Society
Campaigners have won a High Court challenge over plans to move Bethnal Green’s historic 500-year-old mulberry tree planted by Bishop Bonner during the reign of Henry VIII.
The tree stands in the grounds of the former London Chest Hospital, which was bought by developers in 2017 when the NHS moved out, in the Victoria Park conservation area.
A scheme for 291 flats agreed by Tower Hamlets Council in October would have meant moving the Mulberry out of the way and getting rid of another 37 trees, including some protected and many more than 200 years old.