At the end of the month the County Hall museum will close for redevelopment. The staircase is not going to be altered, although in the early days the idea to sink a lift up the central shaft was suggested.
The staircase has been used in recent years to display a brief history of Abingdon.
One display says ‘Entrusted to mother earth’ and tells of the collapse of Roman rule and the coming of the Saxons.
Then about half way up the stairs one reaches the Sessions hall where the main exhibition, reception desk, shop and coffee shop are currently to be found …
Is it correct that alot of the ‘planned’ work/transformation is now not happening, or has been changed to what people think is happening?
The big disapointment to everybody is that the lift to the sessions hall was blocked at the last minute by one of the project partners. All the essential maintenance will happen to keep the building going for the next half century. The museum will be improved and expanded on three levels. So the Heritage Lottery fund are still happy to fund the project. But only the cellar area will have a lift now. Virtual tours from down there are the best people who cannot climb the stairs will have. The lift would have made all of the building accessible. So that has been lost.
The lift to the sessions hall is not happening because English Heritage put the kibosh on it, but the ‘lift’ will go down to the basement, providing access to the multiple facilities which will be provided there, not least audio-visual access to the exhibition above, a cafe, facilities for school visits and real-time emulation of the water-pump which use to provide water for Abingdon.
Is it wrong to be happy about the lift being put in? I think it would have ruined the beauty of the building…
A Stannah Stair-Lift would keep everyone happy. Especially Thora Hird.
it would take lots more than that to please thora now.