The Retiring Rooms @ The Judge’s Lodging

Anyone walking past The Judge’s Lodging Museum in Presteigne in recent months may have heard strange banging noises, seen clouds of dust or even people in bright orange work-wear up against windows. So what’s all the commotion?  The award-winning museum is very excited to announce their major new project …

The museum’s Manager and her board of Trustees have been preparing for this project for five years now, researching, fundraising and planning, until on January 6th this year, the specialist builders at Reynolds Conservation arrived to lead them through the transformation of the former Housekeeper’s Flat.

After the last Housekeeper moved out, the space had become storage and workrooms behind the scenes.  It’s an area that has never before been seen by the general public, but now, there will be a chance to stay there and truly soak up the atmosphere that makes The Judge’s Lodging so special.  With stunning colour pallets for each flat, and light fittings inspired by the museum’s period rooms, the furnishing plan even utilises some of the building’s original furnishings not used since its closure as an Assize court and lodging in 1971! They will, of course, be furnished with all of the humour and attention to detail the museum has become known for, down to the information visitors will get about former inhabitants of the flat, bespoke cosy reading areas stocked with fascinating books, and a crime-related games selection. There’s even a great new bilingual logo, created by local artist Richard Studer.

The project’s core aim is to bring to life an underused part of the building as a way of generating income to support the building.  The Judge’s Lodging is a totally independent museum, run by its own charity, and this will help provide a stable and fruitful future for it.  The work is being supported by National Lottery Heritage Fund,  UK Government’s Community Ownership Fund, Welsh Government and the Architectural Heritage Fund.

As part of the project, they are also creating a fantastic new Collection workroom and large museum store in the attic, ensuring that collections staff and volunteers have the facilities they need to care for the Presteigne Community Collection.

Work to date has even added to the knowledge we have of the building and its former inhabitants – digging down in the garden to create a space for the builders to work triggered the discovery of the Victorian rubbish dump, with hundreds of fragments of bottles and jars (some intact too), and the discovery of a glass plate photograph of a Victorian woman, buried three feet below the surface. These and other items we’ve discovered will go on display this Autumn in our tearoom.

Whilst you will be able to follow progress on the museum’s social media, you can also take advantage of some special ‘down-tools’ days.

There will be a special open weekend during the August Bank holiday, when the builders will down tools to allow anyone who wishes to see progress so far come and take a look.  Be aware, this is still very much a building site, but staff and volunteers will be on-hand to talk you through the spaces and show you fabric, colour and furnishing samples.  Be aware, this is still very much a building site, but we are very enthusiastic about our final vision and keen to share it with everyone.