Dunham Massey

Cheshire

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Client: National Trust

Project completion: 2016

 

Dunham Massey in Cheshire is one of the National Trust’s most visited estates. Its extensive grounds incorporate a deer park and gardens as well as numerous listed buildings and artefacts.  Three of these buildings are grade l listed, an indication of their exceptional significance.

 

David Bonnett Associates (DBA) was appointed to carry out an Access Audit in February 2016.  This audit will update and supplement a previous audit, carried out by Oxford Access Audits Ltd. In 2004.  

 

Dunham Massey welcomes 250,000 visitors each year.  In accordance with its strapline ‘Forever, for everyone’ the Trust wants to develop a strategy that will maximise access to the house and grounds while protecting the estate’s historic significance. Some improvements will involve little or no physical intervention.  However given the number of visitors, a proportion of whom will be disabled or frail, some physical interventions are inevitable.

 

The Hall and its Service Wing were built early in the 18th century and provide a fascinating depiction of stately living over three centuries.  While many of the rooms, such as the library, are presented largely unchanged the Trust uses other rooms to stage exhibitions, a particularly popular one being the 2014 presentation of the temporary WWl wards for injured war veterans. 

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