Four Welsh cultural organisations are to be funded through a partnership between the Welsh Government and the National Manuscripts Conservation Trust (NMCT).
The NMCT is the only UK grant-giver that focuses solely on the care and conservation of manuscripts in the UK.
A collection of c.2,000 drawings and paintings compiled by William Burges, the respected architect and designer, that relate to his redevelopment of Cardiff Castle from 1868 until his death in 1881. The collection is held at Glamorgan Archives and conservation of the collection will ensure informed and sympathetic restoration of the Castle itself in years to come; safeguarding one of the Capital’s most iconic landmarks
Other funded projects include:
Firing Line Museum – The King’s Dragoon Guards Recruiting Instructions of 1787 explains the process of joining the senior Dragoon Guards regiment and includes instruction on matters such as pay and purchases, health and medicine, religion, inter-regimental relations and the civilian situation of recruits. Conservation will ensure this rare piece of military history is preserved.
Gwent Archives – This collection of Risca North Colliery Pre-Shift Inspection Reports (1920s to 1960s) cover a time of great change and activity in the industry, from strikes and economic difficulties of the 1920s, through the second world war and nationalisation in 1947. This work will ensure a catalogue for the collections will be available online for researchers for the first time.
Swansea Museum – Pioneering business women, Elizabeth ‘Bessie’ Dillwyn experimented with designs and ceramic body types at the famous Cambrian Pottery (circa 1836), her sketches are to be conserved and put on display alongside the finished pieces within the museum’s collection.
Deputy Minister for Arts and Sport, & Chief Whip, Dawn Bowden said:
“This partnership, established in 2008 with Welsh Government support, continues to widen access to collections of national significance in Wales. This year’s projects will ensure greater access to Wales industrial and regimental past and ensure a greater understanding of the history of one of our Capital’s most iconic buildings, Cardiff Castle, for years to come. I am grateful to the NMCT Trustees for their continued support in preserving our rich archival heritage.”
Prof David McKitterick, NMCT Chairman, said: “Once again the NMCT was delighted to collaborate with Welsh Government to support the care and conservation of a range of material, including William Burges’s astonishing drawings for Cardiff Castle, designs for celebrated ceramics, an unusual glimpse of eighteenth-century army life and important records of the coal industry. These will now be available for public enjoyment and understanding of key parts of Wales’s history over many years to come.”
