Photos by Frank Leppard
Margate Caves in Northdown Road is moving closer to re-opening this year.
The site’s archivist has been researching past owners and looking into the origins of the cave murals.
Graphic Alliance is working on plans for the Interpretation on the site and High Peak Geotechnical are in the Caves carrying out stabilisation works and, at ground level, the doors and windows have arrived.
The reopening this year, which is hoped to be in the Summer, will be the culmination of a long and determined journey by The Margate Caves Community Education Trust.
Following a six year campaign the trust secured funding to create a landmark building that includes community facilities such as a cafe, alongside a visitor centre that will provide access to the restored Caves, which were closed in 2004.
In November 2013 The Margate Caves Community Education Trust (TMCCET) was formed and registered with the Charity Commission.
The building, designed by award-winning architects Kaner Olette, received planning permission in 2015.
Thanet District Council granted the Margate Caves Community Education Trust a long lease for the historic Northdown Road site in 2017.
The lease meant the Trust could access a £1m grant gained from the Heritage Lottery alongside the £420,000 granted by the Big Lottery Fund in 2016 for work to get the Caves open.
Excavation took place in February 2018 and, on the last day of the dig, an Iron Age skeleton was discovered.
The build is well underway and Margate photographer Frank Leppard has documented the progress.
