Heritage Services

Weston Park, the ancestral home of the Earls of Bradford is regarded as one of the most important country houses in Britain with an internationally regarded collection of the fine and decorative arts. Set in 1,000 acres of Capability Brown Parkland, the property is also a model of exceptional modern conservation management under the ownership of the Weston Park Foundation.

In addition to preserving Weston Park itself, the Foundation’s Learning and Curatorial department undertakes external consultancy work to share its expertise with the private heritage sector and, in doing so, to generate further income for the core of Weston Park itself.

Examples of recent heritage services work have included:

• Writing emergency salvage plans for country houses and collections, including liaison with the owners and emergency services, determining plans for emergency exits and services shut off points, drawing up priority lists of historic items, working out equipment lists and advising on salvage stores.
• Providing photographic reinstatement records of architectural and decorative features at the property.
• Devising and undertaking the re-hanging of a family’s picture collection at a private country house to offer a hang which includes Conditionally Exempted items on a public route, historic integrity and aesthetic interest for owners.
• Archive-researching, writing and producing Conservation Management Plans for historic buildings and landscapes, statements of significance for Conditional Tax Exemption applications and for planning justification.
• Advising on the preventative conservation management of historic family collections including the training of staff in best practice day to day conservation and care
• Undertaking a bespoke curatorial service to private owners whose collection cannot justify a full-time curator, including advice on remedial conservation, the display of collections, exhibition loans procedures, public access and the establishment of inventory systems and collections management.
• Offering public access opportunities for owners of Conditionally Exempt chattels using Weston Park’s Granary Art Gallery.