Reopening of Magdalen Museum in Wainfleet
Visitors flocked to a 15th century former school building in Wainfleet for the grand reopening after substantial refurbishment over 10 weeks. The Magdalen College School in St John Street had been closed for a year after structural concerns were raised by the trustees who run it.
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00:00The grand reopening has taken place of a 15th century school in Wainfleet, which is now a museum.
00:07The building is the Wainfleet College School, Maudlin College School, built by William
00:32of Wainfleet in 1484, who rebuilt Maudlin College Oxford, who actually now own the building.
00:39We've had some concerns about some of the damp in the building and the brickwork, and
00:47certainly on the chimneys, one of our volunteers sent a drone up there and we could see that
00:52it was all crumbling. So we talked to Savills, who are the land management agents for Maudlin
00:58College, they commissioned a survey, from the survey went to some architects who put
01:06together a plan of what needed to be done. This is over a period of almost two years
01:13that it's taken to get this done, and then Savills commissioned, put it out to tender,
01:18and Paul Bruce, whose company won the contract, they came in about second week of January,
01:27Vertigo put up all the scaffolding, it went completely around the whole building, so it
01:33shows how extensive the work was, and they finished off the last little bits last week,
01:39so we were getting quite near to the wire, but we did it when we were here.
01:44And today is the official relaunch?
01:48Today's the official reopening of the museum, because it's been closed for well over a year,
01:53we're also launching a heritage trail walk that we've been working alongside
01:58Lincolnshire County Council with.
02:00So with this walk, is that something you're going to be doing regularly as well?
02:05We've got leaflets for people to come and take and use and do the walk themselves,
02:11but yes I'll be doing various heritage walks, in fact somebody's already approached me to do
02:16one on the 28th of June for their walking group.
02:19Keep me busy.
02:20So is this building run by volunteers?
02:24This building is leased by Magdalen Museum Community Hub, and we are all volunteers,
02:32and we have charity status.
02:34And the sun came out for you didn't it?
02:37It did, and it's clouding up a bit now, but fingers crossed it will stay away now.
02:42So in here is normally the library, we've obviously moved all the cases back,
02:47and we have a craft stalls in here visibly.
02:51Has any refurbishment been done in here?
02:54Yes, quite a lot of refurbishment.
02:56There was a lot of dump in here, so they've taken all that plaster away,
03:01and re-plastered with the proper lime plaster, and a breathable paint on it,
03:07because it hadn't been done properly before, so it caused all sorts of issues.
03:11All the windows have been checked, and any broken paint has been replaced,
03:16and they've painted it, and the poor guy had to paint it with a toothbrush,
03:19because they're so tiny, the windows.
03:22So quite a lot of work's been done down in here.
03:25This is the museum, it was the original school room.
03:28You need to look up to see the beautiful wooden ceiling, and the bosses and poor balls.
03:36We think those were added in Victorian times.
03:40So we've tried to make the museum very reflective of Wayne Fleet,
03:45so we have an original clock here, that was owned by a local family,
03:53and they moved away, but then when she died they donated the clock,
03:57but it still works, it keeps up to an amazing time.
04:00You need to come and have a look at the original town charter.
04:06So that's the original town charter, which granted its township,
04:12and then next door we have a translation of it by a local man.
04:17Oh, that's beautiful, isn't it?
04:19It is, isn't it? It's stunning.
04:21The far places, those were added in Victorian times.
04:25There is a lot of heritage, isn't there, in Wayne Fleet,
04:29that people driving through possibly wouldn't realise?
04:33Wouldn't know.
04:35There's been something here since Viking times, medieval times, early medieval.
04:43It was a port, which nobody would believe now,
04:46and apparently it was one of the safest harbours on Lincolnshire.
04:50Then obviously the river got silted up and the sea got further away.
04:57So has work been done in here as well?
05:00Yes, if you turn round, particularly the window there,
05:04that's last year, we had a massive plaster job there.
05:08So when they came and they started checking it,
05:11it got further and further away.
05:13What Maze has made, you can't see where they put the new plaster in.
05:18And then there are various other places where it needed redoing.
05:23It's all been repainted for us as well.
05:25This is the crest of Bethlehem Hospital,
05:29who owned loads of lands around here.
05:31The lands originally belonged to Sir Edmund Barkham,
05:34and when he died he left the lands to the Bethlehem Hospital in London,
05:39and that's the crest.
05:41The lands have all been sold off now,
05:43but another part of Wayne Fleet we have, Barkham Street,
05:46which is a row of Georgian houses in the middle of a small town.
05:51Weren't they supposed to be in London and somebody got all the plans mixed up?
05:56That's the local story that everybody likes to think,
05:59but basically they commissioned a London architect
06:02who just gave them a set of plans,
06:04never having visited Wayne Fleet, the houses that he'd built in London.
06:09So yes, if you go to the South Walk area, you'll see very similar houses.
06:13So are they owned by one person and rented out?
06:17When Bethlehem Hospital sold off all of their land and buildings in 1919,
06:25they were bought by the Turner family, who David you met earlier on.
06:31So some of them are sold, but most of them they still own, and they rent out.
06:36This wall over here was literally rumbling away.
06:47So here we have our Victorian kitchen.