Catch up on all the latest history news from across Kent with Finn Macdiarmid.
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00:00Hello, and welcome to Kent Chronicles, where we turn back time on all of Kent's history,
00:23from the Mesolithic era to the Industrial Revolution and everything in between. I'm
00:27Finn McDermott, and join me as we turn back time and discuss all things history. But first,
00:33one of Kent's oldest National Trust houses has been celebrating its 40th anniversary.
00:38Tonbridge MP Tom Tugendhart cut the ribbon at Item Moat ahead of its opening, once again
00:42ahead of the spring season. The Grade 1 listed building dates back to the 14th century, but
00:48its team are looking to the future, with plans to add more features and items from across
00:52its seven centuries of history. I went down to the moated manor to find out more.
00:57A painting by Winston Churchill, Generations of Spies, and a building from the time of
01:02Henry VIII are just some of the items at Item Moat, Tonbridge's own moated house that dates
01:08back to the 14th century. Now it's been 40 years since Charles Henry Robinson, an American
01:14businessman, gave Item Moat to the National Trust. The anniversary was kicked off by local
01:19MP Tom Tugendhart cutting the ribbon ahead of its reopening tomorrow for the summer season.
01:23The amazing thing about it is that it tells a story not just about the family who lived here
01:29actually, but about the whole of Kent. It tells the story of wars and revolutions, it tells the
01:33story of religion, of hope and dreams, and it also shows what art and beauty can give to a
01:41community. And so I'm a huge fan of the moat. It's the best of the National Trust. Across the
01:46seven centuries of its history, Item Moat has been rebuilt and restored many times,
01:50with various eras of its history blending between different rooms. Now I'm in the new chapel,
01:56and it's called that because it's actually not even the oldest chapel here at Item Moat. It's
02:01got a medieval framework, a Tudor ceiling, and parts of Victorian history as well layered here.
02:07And it's thanks to Henry Robinson, who was an American businessman who bought the house back
02:12in 1953 to stop it becoming a hotel or a country club, and he took it upon himself to maintain the
02:18house and start buying back items from local people all the way back from the Victorian era.
02:23And it's really thanks to him that when you're walking through the different rooms of the house,
02:27it feels like you're walking through different centuries of history. But it's not always easy
02:32to keep everything in order, especially when it's so old. The house team work to make sure
02:36the house is as accurate as possible to the periods of history that it represents.
02:40Particularly in the winter, that's when we do our deep clean of the house, and we get our experts in,
02:45our conservators, who come in and we have a really good look at objects that we think need a bit of
02:50repair. And we've been, because it's the 40th anniversary of the Trust taking over the house
02:55from Mr Robinson, we've been concentrating on objects that belonged to him. So in this
03:01particular room you can see you've got a sofa, the beautiful screen, another settee. They've
03:06all been restored in the last few years. The team say they're looking forward to the next 40 years
03:11and hope to expand their collection of antiques to fill the halls of one of Kent's most decorated
03:16historical homes. Finn McDermid for KMTV in Tunbridge. Well, to find out more I was joined
03:23by Frederick Foreman, the Senior Collections and House Officer Item Moat earlier. Well,
03:29thank you so much for joining us Frederick. So first of all, what does it mean to you and the
03:33team to have celebrated 40 years with the National Trust alongside reopening the house for the
03:37summer? Yes, we're really, really glad to be reopened for the year. We're celebrating not
03:43only the 40 years and all the work we've done as the National Trust, but also the legacy and
03:49the vision that allowed the house to be given over to the National Trust by our last owner,
03:53our American saviour as we call him, Mr Charles Henry Robinson. And the story of how Charles
04:01Henry Robinson actually gave the house into the National Trust's care is an interesting one. Is
04:06it rare that the previous owner just gives the Trust just the rights to the property? Is that
04:13normally the case? There are different agreements that happen. Ours was quite late actually in the
04:20National Trust's sort of history. Most houses came during the 1920s, 30s, right up until the 1950s,
04:29whereas this house was given in 1985. It was also given outright, so there's no family that
04:34continue to live here, which can be the circumstances with some other bequests. And talk to us a bit
04:42about Charles Henry Robinson's efforts towards keeping parts of the house, keeping historic
04:49artefacts. I'm aware that he put a lot of effort into making sure that parts of the house remained
04:54accurate. Can you talk to us a bit about that? Yeah, absolutely. He never paved over or walled
05:01up different parts of the house's history. He maintained lots of the history over the course
05:08of 700 years that had happened here. So the Great Hall is still a medieval Great Hall. There are
05:14still medieval rooms, there are still rooms that retain their Tudor features, and he put a lot of
05:18effort into buying antiques and collectibles that reflected the history of these different
05:26spaces. One example that visitors will see that we've just had back from conservation work is a
05:33statue of Edward the Black Prince who fought in the Hundred Years' War. Now our first known owner
05:39was a man called Sir Thomas Corn, and he also fought in the Hundred Years' War at the same
05:44time as the Black Prince. So to us, this is Mr Robinson's vision of the earliest members,
05:50owners of this house. But for us as well, it's nice to know that Mr Robinson thought about those
05:56things. And it's not just the statue of the Black Prince, item has plenty of interesting antiques
06:01like Churchill's own painting. What's the process of finding these artefacts like? Well, I'm sure
06:08Mr Robinson underwent a similar process to us actually, because lots of things have been brought
06:17back from previous owners. The previous owners, the Collier-Fergusons, had lived here in the
06:22Victorian period, and they had sold the house with all of its contents in 1951. So he actually
06:28underwent, went into contact with people in the local area. He put adverts out in local newspapers
06:34saying, if you bought something in this sale, I'd like to bring it back. He did say he'd only pay
06:39the same price that they paid for, which is probably a wise business move. A similar thing
06:44happens with us. People might express an interest in donating something, we'll look into its
06:50provenance, we'll be especially interested if it's something that was once at this house under
06:56different owners, or has some sort of connection to itemote or Kentish history. Brilliant. And
07:02we've spoken about this 40th year anniversary. Talk to us about some of the exhibitions you've
07:07done in the past. I'm aware there was one about the Selby spies. Could you talk to us a bit about that?
07:11Yes, that was an exhibition we did last year, where we explored the political connections
07:17that led a family from the north of England to come all the way to Kent and move here.
07:22I'm sat right now in what was once their grand bedchamber, which is now
07:28a conference room. But there are lots of spaces around the house that have been
07:32shaped by them, really. They came into connection with Queen Elizabeth's key politicians
07:39during the 1580s, and that led them to get the lease and the sale for itemote in
07:46somewhat suspicious circumstances. So it really pays to have people in high places.
07:51Absolutely. But I'm very curious about exactly the nature of their spy work. Could you talk to
07:57us a bit about that specifically? Yes, so a lot of it was in the north of England. So once they
08:02bought the house in 1591, they continued to have lots of properties and political positions
08:09in the north of England. So they spent a lot of time travelling from Berwick and County Durham
08:14and Northumberland to Kent. And they'd pass lots of messages to the court and some of
08:21them served in Parliament as well. So they would bring knowledge of the situation on the ground
08:28in the north, because it's a very remote area. Travelling on horseback would take at least two days.
08:35So information doesn't travel very quickly, so you need people on the inside. They were tasked with
08:41investigating different uprisings, and essentially they were passing these messages
08:47about the situation in the north of England. They were bringing them down to London, and that's
08:52how they ended up in Kent. Wow. And they're not the only interesting owner of item. I mean, we
08:58touched on Charles Henry Robinson. I believe there's a very interesting story about when he first
09:02saw the house. Could you tell us a bit about that? Because he was from America originally.
09:06He was. He first came over to England probably in the First World War or just after. But we know
09:12that he came across the house at some point in the 1920s. He'd actually seen it on a postcard
09:18first, and then he was on a cycling tour of Kent, in this part of Kent, West Kent. And he
09:25just came across the property. So that was the first time in the 1920s he'd seen it. It wasn't
09:30until 1953 that he'd actually bought the house. So it was almost 30 years before he'd come across it.
09:37And he sent a very lovely letter to the owners of the house to just say how amazing it was
09:44and how infatuated he was with the house. Brilliant. And talk to us a bit about the
09:49future. What can we expect from item now that you've reopened for the summer? What's new?
09:53Yes. Well, we've been really, really lucky to focus on these areas that Mr. Robinson lived in
10:00and the areas that his collections are primarily found in. So his bedroom, his library, and along
10:06with staples like the Great Hall, these have all had lots of conservation work on items, some of
10:12this being remedial repairs, some of this being refurbishment to brighten the presentation
10:18standards. There will be various bits of information about these items and the rooms,
10:24as well as Mr. Robinson's life, what inspired him to buy Itemote, his vision for Itemote,
10:29and why he gave it to the National Trust. Brilliant. And talk to us, just going back
10:33to that 40th anniversary, what was it like on the day to have Tom Tugendhart come down and to
10:40have the opening ceremony? Well, it's great to have support from people in the local area
10:47and our representative. It was great actually to, one thing that we focused on, we invited lots of
10:54volunteers who had long service awards, so people that had volunteered from anywhere
10:59five to twenty years, and to recognise their contributions, give them an early preview,
11:06and give them their long service awards. This was, this is kind of, these are the people that allow
11:11this place to tick over, so it's lovely to put back into that. Well, now the clock has hit its halfway
11:18mark, but there's still more history to be uncovered. Join us after this short break, where we'll take a
11:23look at the restoration of Folkestone's Lees Lift. It's one of only three water lifts of its kind in
11:29the country. I'll be joined by the CEO of the lift to talk us through what the community project
11:35means to the culture of the town. Thank you so much for watching, and I'll see you very shortly
11:40after this short break.
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15:04Hello, and welcome back to Kent Chronicles live on KMTV, the show all about bringing history into
15:10the modern day. I'm Finn McDermott. Now, here is our next story. The Lees Lift in Folkestone is one
15:17of the oldest water lifts in the UK. It dates back all the way to 1885, and it's now being
15:23refurbished. Now, a water weight uses the weight of water to move its carriages, making it extremely
15:29energy efficient, as it has very little carbon footprint. The Lees Lift was closed back in 2009,
15:35but after campaigning, it's begun to make its return. Our reporter Daisy Page went down to the
15:39lift in Folkestone to find out more. A water balance lift along the Lees Promenade closed
15:44nearly a decade ago. But today, the two passenger cars are being raised off their tracks for a
15:49refurbishment after a successful campaign to restore the site raised 6.6 million pounds.
15:55This day today has been preceded by many years of surveys, of modelling, looking into the viability
16:03of reopening the lift, and a lot of fundraising. At the end of 2023, we got the big funds together
16:10to go ahead. So last year, we have been preparing, we sent out the tender for the big
16:17contract, the restoration project contract, and by the end of last year, we were able to appoint
16:23our main contractor, Apex, and today is really the first phase of that big restoration project.
16:30It operates through the use of water and gravity, and with the new project set to start,
16:35there will be some new improvements. So this really is a historic start to the project,
16:40and it allows us now to begin that work to create the new cafe and bring the lift back into use.
16:46They're also going to be adapting the inside of the carriages to allow them to be accessible for
16:51people in the future. When they come to the upper station, they can then actually, people in
16:54wheelchairs will be able to use the lift, which isn't something that's been possible before.
16:58The lift was built here along the Folkestone coast in 1885, and now today, the two carriages
17:03have been lifted from the tracks and are set for their new project. The railway and its buildings
17:09were placed on the National Heritage List, but that's not the only unique aspect of the system.
17:1415 funicular lifts in the UK in total still operating today, but only three water balance,
17:20and we're one of them. So that's very unique already. So it's really working with the
17:26principles of gravity and water and a little bit of electricity. It's amazing, and an amazingly
17:32green mode of transport as well, considering how old it is. It also works with a band break system,
17:38which is the only system remaining in the world. So that makes it even more unique.
17:44When the lift first opened until it closed, it carried more than 36 million people. It is hoped
17:50that once reopened, it is used by visitors to travel between the Leeds Promenade and the beach below.
17:56Daisy Page for KMTV.
17:59Well, I was joined by Flortia Howitt, the CEO at the Leeds Lift earlier today.
18:05So thank you so much for joining us, Flortia. And I suppose my first question is,
18:08where did the restoration of the Leeds Lift really start? Tell us that whole origin story.
18:13Yeah. So the Leeds Lift is almost 140 years old. Actually, this year, it has its 140th anniversary.
18:20So it opened in 1885 and pretty much ran until 2017. In the last years, it was managed by a group
18:29of very committed and passionate volunteers. But unfortunately, it failed a safety test,
18:34so it had to close in 2017. Another group of volunteers came together after that and said,
18:41it's a real shame that this iconic heritage asset is no longer working. Let's see if we can get it
18:47back on the track, so to say. And they started fundraising to basically conduct a viability
18:55study to see if it was able to repair, to make the necessary repairs for the lift. And also,
19:01if it would be able to become a financially sustainable endeavor. The answers to all those
19:08questions was yes. So after that, the fundraising started in all earnest to get the money together
19:15actually for the restoration works. And they are about to start now. So that's where we are at the
19:20moment. Brilliant. I was going to ask, so what stage is the restoration at? Is it about to start?
19:27And what's the plan going forward? Yeah, so end 2023, we received a notification from the
19:37National Lottery Heritage Fund that we were granted 4.8 million, which is an incredible amount
19:43for the restoration project. We raised another 1.8 million in match funding, and that brought
19:50us to the budget that we needed to restore the lift. It's quite a complex restoration project.
19:56It's a combination of restoration of the existing buildings, the rail infrastructure, the carriages,
20:04and the Victorian pump infrastructure. So bringing all that back to its former glory.
20:10And then it's also in part quite an engaged civil engineering project, because we are going to
20:17excavate the part of the cliff side to the left side of the lower lift station. And the space
20:24that becomes available by the excavation will then be used to build a new cafe. So it's restoration,
20:30civil engineering, and construction. Yeah, a very complex project, but it's all starting now.
20:36It does sound, absolutely. I'm curious. So during your restoration, and you mentioned a Victorian,
20:41was it a Victorian water pump you mentioned there? Are there efforts even within the restoration to
20:46ensure kind of historical accuracy? Like, are you making it as it was made? Oh, absolutely, yes.
20:51Yeah, no, absolutely. We're bringing it back to the way it was. So it's one of 15 funicular lifts
20:56remaining in the UK, one of three water balance lifts, which means that the lift is powered by
21:03water, gravity, and electricity, which is a very modern and green way of running this
21:11mode of transport, even when it's a very old lift, in fact. It's two carriages that run off a
21:19big band that goes over a sheave wheel that sits at the top station of the lift. And if you imagine
21:26one carriage being at the top, there's a big water bucket underneath the carriage. That water bucket
21:31will be filled with water, and as the water bucket fills, the carriage becomes lower, and then it
21:36starts to drop, and then it pulls the other carriage up. So that's actually the mechanism,
21:41the very simple mechanism with which it works. And then we have a driver sitting in a top station,
21:47which operates a brake system to make sure that the downward journey is comfortable and not too
21:55quick. Brilliant. It does sound like a big undertaking, and I'm curious, are there any
22:00projections for when it might be finished, or is that too early to tell? Yes, we can't give
22:06an exact date, but the restoration will take up most of 2025, so we're looking to open in spring
22:122026. So that's what we're planning for. Okay, brilliant. And has there been
22:17much consultation with the public? Have the public been talking about it? Have people
22:21been walking by it, maybe asking questions, that kind of thing? Oh, the public is very, very involved.
22:26All the residents and folks would love to see it back up and running. They are absolutely
22:31rooting for the lift, which is great. Anyone you speak to in the street remembers having travelled
22:36on the lift. And, you know, there's so many memories connected to that, those lift journeys.
22:42So the lift is often a backdrop to other memories that people have of, you know, growing up in
22:51Folkestone, or, you know, having their first love. So it's one of the things we're trying to capture,
22:57actually, through our oral history project. So we're gathering people's memories about the lift,
23:03or people's memory connected to the lift. And we'll, yeah, we'll display those, we'll make
23:08those available to the public. Because it just shows how much this heritage asset is part of
23:15the community and has always been part of the community. It is interesting. Folkestone has a
23:20very interesting kind of historical makeup. I think I read somewhere that it actually hosted
23:24the first international beauty pageant. So it definitely was a place of entertainment back in
23:29the day. So yeah, so it's like you mentioned, it is almost a kind of a part of Folkestone's kind of
23:36makeup in a way of its culture. Definitely. And I think the lift was very much part of the whole
23:42development of Folkestone, you know, in the 1840s, when the railway system was extended to Folkestone.
23:49That helped to develop Folkestone in a bit of a seaside resort, people would come there to
23:55convalesce, breathe the fresh air and enjoy the seaside. And the lift was built as a result of
24:02that, because people needed to go from the top, the Lees Promenade, down to the seaside, and there
24:06wasn't really a good connection. So that's why the lift came about. So we, you know, we've been
24:12there from the start. And we've seen Folkestone grow and develop. And we've witnessed all the ups
24:20and downs of the town throughout the 140 years that the lift's been there. So yeah, we're very
24:25much part of the community. Amazing. And obviously, you've spoken on what it's actually going to look
24:30like when it's finished. But what's your own kind of personal hope that it will mean for people,
24:34mean for the town, almost maybe to bring it back to Folkestone's kind of historical beauty in a way?
24:43Yeah, it hopefully will do a lot for the community. We're doing this for the community. It's a
24:47community asset. And they, you know, they need to feel ownership. It's their lift that we're
24:53bringing back. It will bring a better connection to the top and the bottom of the town. It will
25:00give a way for people who aren't able to walk or have difficulties negotiating that, you know,
25:06that distance or don't have a car to, you know, have an alternative mode of transport to the
25:11seaside. We'll bring job opportunities. We'll bring volunteering opportunities.
25:17We, you know, even with the restoration works, we'll work with local suppliers where we can.
25:22You know, with the creation of a cafe and also within the lower station, we are creating a
25:27community art space. With, you know, the creation of those spaces, we really hope to establish a
25:32social hub where people like to come together to socialize and learn about the lift, but also learn
25:36about other things and engage in other activities. So it's not just a mode of transport, but it's
25:40also a place where people want to hang out and, you know, enjoy being. And I very much hope it's
25:47going to be a fun and positive place. You know, it's fantastic that we have got this quirky
25:53funicular lift in Folkestone. You know, as I said, there's not many remaining. And hopefully it also
25:59brings a lot of visitors to the town, which in turn will help the local economy and help everybody.
26:05Yeah, lots to look forward to.
26:08Well, it looks like that was one for the history books. You've been watching Kent
26:12Chronicles live on KMTV. Don't forget, though, there's always history happening around us.
26:17And if you think that you have a story, sorry, if you have a story that you think we should be
26:22covering, then please don't hesitate to get in touch. And if you're more interested in the
26:27present than the past, that's fine. But we have other special programmes in Victor Sport,
26:33Made in Kent, Kent on Climate, Kent Film Club and, of course, the Kent Politics Show. You can
26:37watch those throughout the week or catch up with on our website. From me for now,
26:41have a very good evening. See you soon.