Haley Sharpe set to reincarnate St Mary’s

Haley Sharpe Design is planning to restore the 14th century St Mary’s Guildhall in Boston, Lincolnshire, pending planning approval.

Having already completed an audit into the viability for restoring the Grade l-listed building three years ago, the design consultancy hopes to begin work on designs for an £800 000 exhibition space once stage-two planning permission is granted, due in the next couple of months.

Haley Sharpe principal consultant Alasdair Hagger estimates that the design stage will begin about 12 months after the historic medieval site’s £1m restoration work commences. Its aim will be to recreate the various incarnations of the building over the centuries, such as its use in the trial of the Pilgrim Fathers in 1607, and its later adaptations.

‘The thing about the building is that it’s had so many uses over the years,’ says Hagger.

‘And what we want to do is show the visitors to St Mary’s Guildhall what these have been.’

Hagger says the exhibits, which will be funded from local council and EU funding, are likely to include a virtual tour of the premises and computer-generated scenes of what it would have looked like in years past, ‘based on available research and knowledge of other guildhalls’.