Nottingham Cathedral has been awarded a £1.69 million grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund as part of its £2.3 million Restoring Pugin Project.
The project aims to restore the Cathedral’s east end “to its former glory” while also "engaging" over 20,000 people from across the city “in this exciting work”, say those leading the endeavour.
“This is the first major National Lottery Heritage Fund award for a Catholic Cathedral in recent years," says Sophie Andreae, architectural historian and vice-chair of the Patrimony Committee of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.
“The conservation programme to restore Pugin’s original decorative scheme will be transformational. Both the Heritage Fund and the Diocese of Nottingham are to be congratulated for their vision and determination to take this project forward.”<br><br>Nottingham Cathedral, a Grade II listed building, was designed by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin in 1841. Pugin is widely acknowledged as the father of the Victorian Gothic Revival. Through his architecture, publications and close collaboration with the architect Sir Charles Barry in the design and decoration of the Houses of Parliament, Pugin is credited with helping to bring the Christian Middle Ages to life, in all its richness, colour and detail.
At the heart of the Nottingham Cathedral Restoring Pugin Project is the restoration to Pugin’s original vision and design of the three chapels and ambulatories at the east end of the Cathedral. The expert conservators Cliveden Conservation have found evidence of Pugin’s original decorative scheme – from starry ceilings to floral motifs, emblems, texts and foliage – that has become hidden beneath layers of ageing grey paint.
"This is a rare and significant find," claim those coordinating the restoration project. "Recreating the original stencils and using authentic pigments these vibrant designs, rich colours and gold leaf will be fully restored."
Bishop Patrick McKinney, the Bishop of Nottingham, said: "I am delighted that we are going to be able to Restore Pugin’s beautiful original design work to the Cathedral’s chapels over the coming years.
“This grant will also enable Nottingham’s Cathedral to become ever more engaged with the wider population of the city, and especially those most in need, aligning with my vision that churches across the Catholic Diocese of Nottingham become ever more outward facing and engaged locally.
“In restoring Nottingham Cathedral to its former glory, it is my ardent desire to attract more and more people of all ages and backgrounds, especially local people, to experience the cathedral as a place of beauty, living faith and peace in the midst of the city and [as] a sign of hope in these difficult times we live in.”
Alongside the restoration work, there are also ambitious plans to "develop further the cathedral’s profile" within Nottingham city "as a place of welcome for all, enabling new and existing audiences to enjoy and learn more about its unique heritage".
New installations and activities that are planned will include new information panels, touchscreens, printed materials, audio visual materials, a virtual reality experience and a wide range of creative activities and innovative events for people to get involved in over the next two years, say the restoration project's organisers.
Furthermore, the project will offer a number of opportunities for heritage training and skills development for people of all ages, from school children to older volunteers. These will include the roll out of an innovative video game called "Pugin’s Revival", aimed at promoting careers within the heritage sector for young people in schools across the region, including SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability) students.
The video game was developed last year by the cathedral’s project partner Nottingham Trent University Department of Digital Architecture, as part of the Development Phase of the Restoring Pugin Project. Students at local schools, including SEND schools, helped design the game.
The awarding of the grant in 2025 coincides nicely with the year marking 175 years since the large Catholic church that Pugin designed in Nottingham was elevated to cathedral status. In what it calls "this significant anniversary year", Nottingham Cathedral emphasises that it "is deeply grateful to The National Heritage Lottery Fund and to Lottery players for this award of funding which will see the Cathedral restored to its former glory".
Liz Bates, a director at the National Lottery Heritage Fund, remarked: "We are pleased to support Nottingham Cathedral with funding for their ambitious plans to bring the building’s beautiful historic interiors to life.
“This project sums up how investing in heritage can bring widespread benefits: important conservation skills will be developed and new opportunities will welcome thousands into the cathedral, helping ensure that this important heritage has a secure future.
"It’s thanks to National Lottery players that we’re able to fund this transformative project.”
<em>Photo: The spire and leafy environs of Nottingham Cathedral (image from <a href="https://www.stbarnabascathedral.org.uk/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">stbarnabascathedral.org.uk</mark></a>).</em>
