The freedom of information request has now been answered and
the upshot is that the busts are being
moved to Newstead. The two plaques – of the Howitts and Thomas Miller – are staying
at the castle, due to their being part of a listed structure.
I argued the case on Radio Nottingham’s breakfast show that
the busts should stay put. The castle’s new development is to focus on the
theme of protest, with a new rebellion gallery. To that end our busts (of rebel
writers) should remain at the castle. Mr Hawkins of the city libraries argued for
the council. He said: “When was it we last talked about these literary greats?”
adding “People do walk past those busts but probably don’t know a lot of those
names.”
This demonstrates a point I previously made, that the busts
were being treated poorly, with no information about the writers available to the
castle’s visitors, other than their names, a situation that should have been rectified. The upgraded castle will feature
three themes: the Civil war, the luddites and parliamentary reform, all of
which are linked to our writers (see my previous post).
Mr Hawkins first and main reason for moving them to Newstead
was that the council are planning to glaze-in the colonnade for better air
quality. Hmm… The best hope now seems to be that Newstead Abbey provide a
special writers’ garden for the busts to be displayed, with access to
information about them and their work. Time will tell.
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