AN exciting project which will have ?far reaching benefits? for Tavistock is being predicted, following the news a decision has finally been reached regarding the future of an historic town centre building. Tavistock Local History Society says it is delighted the town council has given it the thumbs up to extend the town?s museum into Court Gate Cottage ? a move which could attract thousands of pounds of grant funding. Roderick Martin is secretary of the society which runs the museum, in partnership with the town council, which owns its Listed Court Gate premises. He said: ?We are really very pleased with this agreement ? I would even go so far as to say it?s the major decision the council has made this year and will have very far reaching benefits for the town.? Use of the cottage not only means much-needed extra space for the museum ? it will also allow disabled access to the ground floor of the premises. The agreement of a 12-year-lease to the society should pave the way for an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a grant of around £60,000 to carry out a programme of work and renovations to upgrade the building. Mr Martin said: ?Nearly every town in Devon has recently had a Heritage Lottery grant towards their museums and it?s good that Tavistock, as the premier market town, will also have this opportunity. ?Having the cottage will enable us to move in a different dimension, it preserves the building for the town and if we get the grant, it enables us to restore it properly ? when we first moved into Court Gate, the two rooms we had were in a pretty awful state. ?We actually hope to get the building, including the cottage, up and running partially by next Easter and hopefully fully the Easter afterwards.? The history society intends to carry out an extensive building programme, including new accesses to the museum, new reception area, new staircase to the first floor of the cottage, new kitchen facilities, replacement doors and windows and general redecoration work. The society also wishes to create a video presentation room, where visitors can view a short film about Tavistock and its history. Mr Martin said the ?whole panorama? of the town hall, Guildhall and Court Gate were ?fairly unique? for a small town and the society was very pleased at the council?s decision to allow the museum to play such an important role in Tavistock?s focal area. The council gave the society the green light to extend into Court Gate Cottage during its full meeting last Tuesday. A proposal by Cllr Alison Clish-Green to use the cottage as a hostel or emergency housing, given the acute shortage of affordable houses in Tavistock, fell, after most councillors agreed that in this case, best value for the cottage fell on the side of community use by the museum, rather than commercial use. Although sympathetic to the needs of the homeless, they felt the Listed cottage, in the centre of a collection of public buildings, was not suitable for residential use. l Tavistock Museum is open on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday every week, between 11am and 3pm. There are currently four major exhibitions on display, featuring the town?s stannary history, the history of the town?s foundries, the market charter exhibition and Tavistock during the second world war.
