CONTEXT 176 : JUNE 2023 3 of limestone mines that sheltered criminals and, in the second world war, partisans. ‘Odesa, a free city, a world city, a legendary port that has left its mark on cinema, literature and the arts, is thus placed under the reinforced protection of the international community,’ says Unesco director-general Audrey Azoulay. ‘While the war continues, this inscription embodies our collective determination to ensure that this city, which has always surmounted global upheavals, is preserved from further destruction.’ Louise Priestman, senior conservation architect with Wighton Jagger Shaw Architects Dockyard church conserved Sheerness Dockyard Church, at the entrance to the former Royal Dockyard on the Isle of Sheppey, is being restored. Designed by George Ledwell Taylor, surveyor of buildings to the navy, the Grade II* listed church was built in 1828 and gutted by fire in 2001. The building will be brought back into use as a business incubator hub for young people, while conservating its remaining historical features, including its structure of cast-iron columns. Funds raised by the Sheerness Dockyard Preservation Trust include a £4.2 million grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The heritage plasterwork specialists are Artisan Plastercraft. Coventry’s Charterhouse Coventry’s Grade I listed Charterhouse has reopened to the public after more than a decade of fundraising and restoration work by Historic Coventry Trust. Funding included £6 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Featuring three conserved wall paintings of national importance, the 14th-century building is the only Carthusian monastery in the country with surviving interiors. Founded by Richard II in 1385, it later became a private house owned by Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and has had many other roles over the years. It was bequeathed to the people of Coventry by its last resident in 1940 as a museum and park, and the building’s most recent use was as part of Coventry College until 2011. Historic Coventry Trust, supported by local residents, was formed to acquire it with the aim of opening it up to the public. The surrounding land forming part of Charterhouse Fields that remained under Coventry City Council’s control has since been reunited with the Charterhouse in trust ownership, to be used as part of the heritage park, which will be accessible to the public. The new visitor attraction will include interactive displays charting the site’s history, and the relandscaping of the inner precinct as a walled garden. Work in progress on Sheerness Dockyard Church (Photo: Church Artisan Plastercraft) Charterhouse was founded in 1385 as a Carthusian monastery. One of the three wall paintings that have been conserved at Charterhouse
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgyMjA=