Acknowledgements

Opening the Undercroft has required commitment in both practical and financial terms from many people and several organisations. We are indebted to Ptolemy Dean, Conservation Architect and Adviser to the Project, and to Catha Keegan who obtained the original Scheduled Monument Consent in 1997.

Applications for funding to allow the restoration project to proceed listed the following key aims each of which has been achieved…

The restoration of the historic fabric of the undercroft itself

• Improvements to the access to the Monument (which lies below the front garden of a private dwelling) to enhance community access and ownership
• Glazing of part of the front elevation of the Undercroft to enable it to become a very visible element within the street scene and an integral part of the part of the village
• A programme of educational visits and the publication of an information leaflet to allow this unique link to the village’s medieval past to be used as a resource for historical research.
• The improvement of community access and use of the Undercroft for the benefit of the community as a whole and for those visiting the village, including the many walkers for whom Wye is a popular stop along the North Downs Way.

Substantial funding was obtained from English Heritage (now Historic England) and from the Sustainable Development Fund as administered by the Kent Downs AONB Unit (now the Kent Downs National Landscape). Support was also provided by Wye Parish Council and Wye Historical Society, alongside the very substantial financial contributions by the owner Patrick Keegan that were required to draw down the public funding.

We also acknowledge the efforts of Catherine Hughes Associates Planning Consultants in drafting applications and all ground-works teams, surveyors, stonemasons, engineers, builders and electricians who have brought this project to fruition.