Hexham Abbey Wins £138,000 Lottery Grant to Conserve Its Medieval Treasures

Some of the most remarkable medieval survivals anywhere in the country sit quietly inside our own parish church — and they are about to get the care they deserve. Hexham Abbey has been awarded £138,088 in development funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund for a project called "Old Treasures in a New Light", which aims to conserve and better display its collection of medieval panel paintings and grave covers.

For residents, this matters on two counts. First, the Abbey is not a museum behind glass — it is a working church at the heart of the town, welcoming an estimated 100,000 visitors a year. Anything that safeguards its contents helps secure both a treasured place of worship and one of Hexham's biggest draws for the local economy. Second, the Abbey is said to hold the UK's largest collection of medieval panel paintings, so this is heritage of genuine national significance sitting on our doorstep.

The grant announced is development funding, meaning it pays for the detailed planning stage rather than the works themselves. Should those plans win approval, a second-round application would seek a far larger grant of £994,022 to deliver the full scheme.

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The Abbey was founded in 674 AD, making it one of the earliest stone churches in England. Its Saxon crypt was built partly from Roman stones carried from nearby Corbridge.

The proposed works go beyond conservation. Plans set out in the application include upgraded lighting to protect the artwork, digital interpretation of the crypt and panels, a refurbishment of the slype to improve the visitor welcome, and new interactive displays and accessibility improvements, alongside an activity programme designed to reach a wider audience.

As reported by the Hexham Courant, the Reverend Canon David Glover said the Abbey was "thrilled to have received this initial support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund". Helen Featherstone, the Fund's Director for England, North, was also named in connection with the award.

Grants above £250,000 are assessed in two rounds, which is why this first tranche funds the planning work before any decision on the much larger sum. For now, it is an encouraging step for a building that has stood at the centre of Hexham life for more than thirteen centuries.

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