Dean Castle gets £1.5m lottery fund boost

Kilmarnock's Dean Castle restoration project has been given a boost thanks to a £1.5m Heritage Lottery Fund award.

Dean Castle is being restored. Picture: Comp

The cash will go towards the total project cost of £5.2m, with £500K also secured from Historic Scotland and the remainder coming from East Ayrshire Council.

The funding will allow essential stonework restoration to the castle buildings to be carried out, alongside the internal modernisation and redisplay of its museum collections and exhibition areas. The funding will also support a range of apprenticeship and learning programmes around the stonework restoration and collection conservation aspects of the project.

Douglas Reid, leader of East Ayrshire Council and Chair of East Ayrshire Leisure said: “We’re delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund has given us this support as Dean Castle is one of our major tourist attractions, and houses some of the finest museum collections in Scotland. This funding, alongside the £3.4m awarded from the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2015 to develop the Dean Castle Country Park, will allow us to develop a fully integrated, five-star visitor attraction.”

Lucy Casot, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund in Scotland, added: “Dean Castle is a major heritage attraction in the west of Scotland, housing important collections of arms and armour and musical instruments. Thanks to players of the National Lottery, we are delighted to give our support to a project which will revitalise these fascinating collections. It will encourage many more people to visit the Castle to enjoy and learn from its fascinating heritage, bringing economic benefit to the area.”

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