Trustees of a Jacobean mansion linked to the founding of the first US colony have dropped an ambition to build a modern visitor centre to instead focus on securing the future of another historic property.
Custodians of Kiplin Hall, between Northallerton and Richmond, are seeking North Yorkshire Council’s consent to convert the property’s grade II listed former fruit store and coach house into a new welcome centre.
Planning documents lodged with the authority highlight how the hall was built as a hunting lodge by the Secretary of State to James I, the 1st Baron Baltimore, who with his descendants, was instrumental in founding the first US colony and the state of Maryland.
The move follows the hall’s trustees being granted consent last year for a new build welcome centre in the nearby drying yard, despite the impact it would have on the nearby highly protected grade I listed hall.
Trustees had said the museum and heritage attraction, which is set to celebrate its 400th anniversary in 2025, needed more space after seeing visitor numbers surge by 65 per cent after the pandemic and a more effective place to stop thousands of people walking in without paying.
However, the proposal has been dropped after the University of Maryland ended its lease on the property’s grade II listed fruit store and coach house, which it had used as a study centre.
The documents state the trustees were faced with “an empty listed asset that is well-sited at the beginning of the visitor journey and well-laid out to offer convenient facilities and a strategic point to establish a secure ticketing line”.
The application states: “The proposal to refurbish the existing study centre into welcome centre instead of constructing the new build scheme is a sound and timely one to secure the long-term sustainability of one the estate’s grade II listed buildings while achieving the hall’s aims to provide enhanced facilities to cater to growing visitor numbers.”
The proposals will also free up historically significant spaces in the hall, which will be made publicly accessible as exhibition and interpretation spaces.
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In what represents a significant scheme for a listed property, the ground floor of the fruit store and coach house would accommodate spaces for ticketing, a shop, a tea room, kitchen and exhibition.
Staff offices and collections storage will be relocated from the grade I Listed Hall to the former fruit store’s first floor, while the external courtyard will be made more accessible to a wider range of visitors and will provide interpretation and commercial opportunities.
The proposal also features a programme of repairs to address long-standing structural and building fabric issues “to prevent further deterioration”.
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