AN HISTORIC Flintshire library is set to undergo major repairs and restoration thanks to support from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF).

As part of the NHMF Covid-19 Response Fund, the Gladstone's Library in Hawarden has received £777,246.

This funding will see major repairs made to the Grade 1 listed building including to the entrance porch, the roof, and the Reading Room ceiling.

The work had originally been intended to take place in 2020/21 but sadly had to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent 18-month enforced closure of the Library due to lockdowns.

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Andrea Russell, warden at Gladstone’s Library said: "We are delighted to be awarded a grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund. This funding will make a huge difference to our charity and will be used to help repair, renovate, and conserve our Grade 1 listed Library.

"As a working research and residential Library, readers, writers, and visitors will still be able to access and enjoy our nationally and internationally important collections whilst the restoration work is taking place.

"It will be a fascinating to see the restoration and repairs take shape and we are looking forward to sharing how things progress with our supporters via our website and social media."

Dr Simon Thurley, chair of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, added: "I am thrilled that the National Heritage Memorial Fund are able to support Gladstone’s Library with this vital grant to safeguard its future, particularly after the challenges that the global pandemic has thrown at the structure and the people who devote such care to it.

"Gladstone’s Library is a testament to the rich heritage of Wales, and the UK more widely, and is a notable example of how heritage shapes our lives and the places in which we live.

The Leader: The History Room at Gladstone\'s Library, Hawarden.

PIC: The history room at the Gladstone's Library.

"We’re tremendously proud to have provided a lifeline for some of Wales’s incredible heritage sites and assets through the Covid-19 Response Fund – from castles and churches to libraries – helping them to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic."

Gladstone's Library is recognised as one of the most important research libraries and collections in Wales.

It is the UK's only Prime Ministerial library and was built following a bequest from William Ewart Gladstone, Victorian statesman and four times Prime Minister of Great Britain.

It is home to internationally significant collections including the Gladstone Foundation Collection, donated from his personal library which contained over 32,000 volumes.

Many of the books in the Library contain Gladstone’s handwritten annotations. The Library also houses most of Gladstone's non-political correspondence, speeches, and papers, as well as the Glynne-Gladstone Archive.