A condition survey has been carried out on Margate’s Tudor House which has been closed for a year after damage was caused during a burglary and other repairs were required.
There has been further damage this winter with tile slippage at the property in King Street.
The property is the oldest building in old Meergate, originally built in 1525 as a yeoman farmer’s house.
Thanet council says it is a unique example of a ‘transitional house’ – bridging the gap between medieval open-hall and early-modern houses with two storeys throughout.
A 1776 map shows a sizable farmyard surrounding it. In the 18th Century, a maltings was built at the rear to make barley beer. Between the late 17th and 19th centuries, much of the land belonging to the house was sold off and the building had been subdivided into three cottages by 1867.
The remaining site was bought by the council in the late 1930s as part of a slum clearance scheme. It was due for demolition before a local builder spotted the Tudor beams and alerted the Mayor.
Restoration then took place and was completed in 1951, using mostly Tudor construction methods and materials. The house was Grade II* listed in the same year.
In 2018 Margate Museums Trust hoped to put in a bid to take over both Margate Museum and the Tudor House after the council agreed to market both sites and Dickens House and Margate Town Hall for other organisations to take over and run.
Thanet council said the action was necessary as it did not have the funds to repair and maintain the premises.
In a report to councillors it said: “Without significant investment, it is likely that the premises will be closed in the medium term. This is not a desirable outcome for anyone.”
These plans did not come to fruition and there is also no known outcome following an offer in 2022 made by collector and long-standing Margate Museum benefactor Andrew Perloff. to take a lease on Margate’s Old Town Hall, museum, Tudor House and attached units.
A Thanet council spokesperson said: “We have carried out a full condition survey on the Tudor House, and are awaiting the report.
“This will provide us with a full picture of its current state of repair, enabling us to plan any necessary maintenance or repairs.”
Last year Thanet council put out a tender to select and appoint a supplier to carry out a Strategic Review of Thanet’s Museums, with particular focus on Dickens House Museum, Broadstairs, Margate Museum and the Tudor House.
Thanet council said: “The council owned museums need to be reshaped to ensure their security and sustainability in the future.
“The council is commissioning a short review of museums in Thanet, considering where the museums are positioned, whether this has any implications on content and/or how they should be managed. This strategic oversight is needed to help understand the future of the publicly owned museums.”
The review was commissioned to take place between June and December.
The Margate Museums Trust still hopes the museum building and Tudor House can be transferred as a community asset to its charity.
Yet another construct in Thanet allowed to fall into decline, this really is common place now, a reoccurring them.
Why not just put up a ”CLOSED” sign for the whole of Margate – or at least any building associated with TDC ?
Clock Tower Toilets
Winter Gardens
Theatre Royal
Tudor House
What’s next ?
Anything TDC touch goes rotten, they think with these things they’ll have a slice of the pie….trouble is they haven’t a clue, remember the David Bryant bowls centre where the bowls is now ? I witnessed a fabulous women’s match there Btitish National event…they couldn’t leave David Bryant alone to make money for Thanet could they…oh no….
Northdown House and the seafront shelters as well. Anything TDC have responsibility for doesn’t get maintained. Instead they spend huge amounts (that should be used for repairs) on surveys and consultations to advise them what the public have already told them. A waste of public resources when regular maintenance should have prevailed.
Common sense should tell them that
Put a couple of paintings on the wall and call it an art gallery. Will then get lots of funding!
Surely some of the £20 million funding that has been received by Margate should be spent on repairs here rather than it being given to Dreamland.
I don’t see how fixing a handful of roof tiles is an expensive job. Just about anyone with a ladder could do it.
You’d like to think so, but innthe world of local government-
Survey commissioned
Meetings to discuss the report
Appoint a heritage architect to come up with a schedule of works and specification
Put this out to tender to find a suitable contractor with all the paperwork associated with local government work.
Contractor appointed, lots of meetings involving clipboards , pointing at things and agreeing what should be done.
Contractor searches out suitable replacement materials to be agreed as being suitable by architect and council.
No way the work will be allowed off a ladder, so scaffold erected probably under architects supervision.
Someone finally gets up there to do something and “sharp intake of breath- worse than we thought guv” moreninspections and meetings.
Stripped back under architect supervision and works finallly commence.
All that said Kent pegs ( especially old ones) are notoriously fragile and likely they’d insist stripping from lower levels up to damaged area then relaying it all)
It’ll end up costing a small fortune.
Go on then – I’ll lend you my one.
GRade II* Listed – tiles have to be of the same kind as the original, and this would mean a VERY specialized team of highly qualified/experienced orkmen, and such experts are rare, and therefore expensive
ms pink you beat me too it , you are dead right – mention that turner once stopped there to use the toilet , then they will change thier tune.
Yet the Turder got completely new electrics after just ten years! Wrong, very very wrong.
Ladders? The indemnity insurer, i’m sure, would love you use one as their risk will thus evaporate. The H&S canon advises all manner of steps to protect workers from such opportunistic perils. Tut tut…
When is a tile not a tile, you ponder? When you’ve spent a wretched 18 months scouring salvage yards looking to match them in size and shape only to realise they custom made for that property only. It’s a rude awakening to many an illiterate handyman’s BnQ mindset.
I suspect the only ladder Phyllis has ever been close to are the ones on her tights.