Sissinghurst welcomes almost 200,000 visitors a year; this number of feet climbing the 78 steps to the roof can take its toll on the fabric of a building. Our conservation work started at the beginning of October with a team of four who carefully encased the entire building with 39 tonnes of scaffolding. The schedule of conservation has taken approximately five months to complete and we'll be re-opening the tower to visitors in March 2018.
As part of the works, the entire contents of the first floor have been removed including 2700 books, large paintings, reams of writing paper and small everyday items Vita left in situ on her desk on her death in 1962.
Whilst the tower is closed, you can see some of Vita’s most treasured items on display for the first time in our newly opened gate house.
Once the scaffold reached the parapet, experts were able to carry out work all over the tower, both inside and out. On the roof we conserved the masonry and WW2 gun stays and we'll shortly be reinstating the flagpole. We’ve also been able to look at the structure itself, the stairs, roof and even investigate what the different layers of paint in the rooms below can tell us.
The weathervanes have been taken down for repair and now that they are back, they’ll be able to point you in the right wind direction.
We’ve been removing windows too for re-leading and investigating our archaeology and the graffiti left by French prisoners of war in the 1760s.