Interview one B21hr46m59s16nov2014

What is the history of the building?

The Milton Regis court hall dates back to about 1450, when Milton Regis was the
administrative centre of a large area of Kent including the isle of Sheppey, and
some of the area in land. It was a very major port and it needed an
administrative building and this was it, and it had a, it was the centre of weights
and measures and it had, it was the base of a gentlemen who was responsible for
you know looking after administrative matters of this area and this was a court
hall up here.
What is the museum trust and who is involved?
The friends of Milton Regis court hall was set up as a result of an email which I
received from a gentlemen who is now one of our trustees, John Clancey.
And he said to me, Mike the court hall, it looks unloved is there anything can be
done to save it. And I thought the best way to deal with the problem was to set
up a group of friends, with the ultimate view of renovating the building and
finding a use for it, and that happened getting on for four years ago and this is
what we have of it now.
Why is the building worth preserving?
The building is worth preserving, Im thinking for two good reasons, first of all its
great age and its historical significance and it actually is a great 2 star listed
building. The other thing is that it forms a focal point of Milton Regis and when
you look around Milton Regis you realise how much the area needs to be
renovated and we feel that if Milton Regis court hall could be revitalised it would
do a great deal to revitalise Milton Regis itself.
What is the museum trust doing to raise money for the transformation?
We, first of all were a bit naive and we looked to the heritage lottery fund as this
endless source of money, but after a couple of years we began to realise, that if
you get money from that source they require you to do certain things and I mean
basically, supposing we borrowed had 30,000s from them, to renovate the
building, they would also expect to have to give us 30,00s for what they call an
out reach program, which means that we would have to spend a lot of time and
effort going out, reaching out to the population, making an all singing all dancing
committee and we as a committee didnt want to do that that. So we turned our
attentions to other ways of raising the money. First of all, borough councils and
county councils, they allocate to councillors a certain mount of money for
community use and we have actually been very successful getting money from
that source, it is coming towards the end of our financial year, we hope that
councillors will still have money left over at the end of the year to boost what
theyve given and in the new year we hope that well get some of their money for
2015, Im confident that we will. But the main source of funding were hope will
be from whats called from the sita trust, were fortunate that Milton Regis is

short distance from a waste site, and because of the fact the law requires people
to pay for open dumps, some of that money goes back to the community and
environmental purposes and sita is the company, which operates the dump in
our area. And we hope that when we get some firm estimates of the amount of
money we need to spend, to actually put in a decent request to the sita trust, to a
get a large chunk of money.
We also have various other funny charities so for example we need to change all
the lighting here to make it environmentally friendly and a little more reliable
because the fittings here have worn out and Queensborough kingfishers charity
based in Queens or had borough based in a little town/village quite near here, it
has quite a lot of money from ancient days and we feel reasonably confident that
they will give us money, a few thousand pounds, to renovate all the lighting.
At the Sittingbourne society, a few years ago a gentleman from Milton Regis died
and he left his whole estate to the Sittingbourne society to be used for the benefit
of Milton Regis and we got asked nicely if we could have some of that money this
year and we got 3000s, so we are quite pleased, so the moneys coming in and
were reasonably confident we will get everything we need.
Interview 2 B21h58m29s16nov2014
What is the history of the building?
The building dates back to about 1450 and it was administrative centre of the
Milton hundred, which was an ancient administrative area which covered
Sheppey and obviously Milton Regis and quite large parts of the inter land
which is now Sittingbourne. And in those days you had a gentleman, whose
responsibility was to act on behalf of the government, to make sure that law and
order and weights and measures were correctly administered, this would have
been done here, we actually have in the cabinet some of his measuring devices of
the local standards, but also needed a place for retribution; and we have a prison
cell and a court, which we are sitting in now, trials would have gone on here, so it
was a very important administrative building.
What is the museum trust and who is involved?
The friends of Milton Regis court hall, was set up because of a phone call, which I
received or an email I received, from a local historian, who grieved at the state of
the building, which was unloved, it stood empty since 2006, owned by the
borough council, and they didnt really seem to do nothing with it. He said is
there anything that we can do to ensure that we can preserve Milton Regis court
hall. And I thought the best way to deal with it was to set up a group of friends,
who could eventually be responsible for the court hall and find a use for it and
that was set up 3 and a bit years ago and we worked very hard, with swale
borough council who owns the place and we eventually this year got charity
status. We signed 25-year lease at a grand sum of a 1 a year and we have
resolved to opening up as a museum and thats the status.
Why is the building worth preserving?

Its worth preserving, The building is worth preserving because A) it is a very

ancient building, mid 1400s and it has a grade 2 star listing, so in its own right
its worth preserving wherever it was, but it is also the focal point of Milton Regis
when you drive down Milton Regis high-street it hits you in the eye, and Milton
Regis itself is a very historic place, you only got to look around and you see all
these ancient buildings and there neglected and run down, and if only we could
make the court hall a really vibrant centre it would do a great deal to revitalise
Milton Regis itself
What is the museum trust doing to raise money for the transformation?
We have a very good fundraiser Paul David and as a group weve tried to find the
best source of funding, we spent a long time looking at the heritage lottery fund
but we recognised now that if you get money from heritage lottery fund, they
require you to spend a large proportion of it on what they call outreach
programs, to make sure that for example we have a museum to have an all
singing and dancing one and it really did a lot to bring in community interest.
And we really dont feel that is what we want, we want a nice simple little
museum and we want to preserve the building. We resolved to go to local
sources, the first one was the money the local councillors, swale borough
councils, Kent county councillors and they have been generous and given us
money, the Sittingbourne society they had money left, by a gentleman John
Jordan who left his total estate of about a quarter of a million pounds to be used
for the benefit of Milton Regis and weve had 3,000 form that source. We hope
that when we get firm estimates of what needs to be doing to approach the sita
trust, now that is a trust which operates on the land field principle, sita operate
the land field which is a short distance from Milton Regis court hall and anybody
who puts things on the land field site must pay to do so, and part of that comes
back to the community for various environmental and heritage purposes and we
feel reasonably confident that when we get firm estimates well get a good
response from the sita trust and we should get a majority of our money form that
source. There is also of course a small trust, the Queensborough fisher trust,
which is a very ancient trust, and we hope to get money to replace all the lighting
fittings here which we think will be about 3,000s for that source.
What is the history of the building?
The history of the building is an interesting one; it goes back to mid 1400s, when
the building was made to act as an administrative centre for governing the
hundred Milton, and that was a large area that covered Sheppey, and Milton
Regis of course and large part s of the inland which is Sittingbourne and the local
villages and the port reeve was here looking after the port of Milton Regis as that
was a major industrial thing not only for transporting goods but there was a
large oyster industry here and various other industries and so it was a major
administrative thing. If you look in hasted the old book, which describes life as it
was in the 1700s, theres an enormous amount of time given over to Milton
Regis, which really shows how important it was in those days. So this was the
administrative centre, it was the courthouse where people would be thrown in

clink, and brought before the judge, for sentence, and it was where the weights
and measure were kept, so it was a really important building.
What will this museum offer people?
We are trying to make sure that we dont become a fossilised museum, many
museums you go in one year, its exactly the same as it was the year before, now
at the moment our exhibits mainly mostly come from the day when it was run as
a museum, run by a small group of people which closed in 2006, but what were
going to do is to make it more vibrant and to have a lot of different things on
display so people will never get tired of coming here.
How will you do that?
I am an avid collector of antique things and one of the things I have suggested is
that we actually have an exhibit of pest control, Because in Sittingbourne we
used to have two major pest companies bugs and insecticides and when they
were closed down, the site was apparently the most contaminated site in Britain
and all the soil had to taken out and destroyed, and we also have shell research, a
couple of miles up the road where I actually worked as a scientist for many years
and we were very much involved with agro chemicals and so I think that a
display of agro chemical related things would be nice and I have a great many in
my garage all waiting to be put on display.
Interview 3 B22h13m26s16nov2014
What is the history of the building?
Milton Regis court hall dates back to about 1450 and it was the administrative
centre of the hundred of Milton Regis, that was an administrative are that
covered Sheppey, and the land between Sheppey and here Milton Regis and
some of the inter land extending into the main part of Kent. You should realise
Milton Regis was the important place; Sittingbourne was just a little small place
where pilgrims called. The building was the court house, the administrative
centre, the local jail, the centres of weights and measure all those important
things for local administration were carried out here, and so it would have been
a major, major centre for the people of Milton Regis and round about.
Who is the museum trust and who is involved?
About 3 and a bit year ago, John Clancy a local historian contacted me and said is
there anything that can be done to preserve Milton Regis court hall and I
suggested that we should set up a group of people called the friends of Milton
Regis court hall, with a view to ensure it was preserved and that meant finding a
use for it. We worked with swale borough council, who own the building and we
would hold regular meetings with them, eventually we got in a position this year
where we got a charitable status and we felt able to take on the building on a 25
year lease and on that basis we signed our lives away, and we resolved to open
the building as a museum, but of course before we could do that we have to

renovate it and there is a lot of work to do, its in a pretty rickety state, we can
open it which we have opened it for the odd days, but basically it needs a lot of
work to make it really suitable and preserve it in the future.
Why is the building worth preserving?
Its worth preserving because of its great age 1450, is no mean age for a building;
it has a grade 2 star listed building so English heritage recognise its importance.
But above all its the focal point of Milton Regis, which is a poor little run down
village or town, it actually is a place filled with historical buildings, Georgian
building and all sorts, but they look really, really tatty, the place needs to be
loved, and we feel that if Milton Regis court hall made into a focal point it would
help with the regeneration of the whole area.
What is the museum trust doing to raise money?
The first money we got was a little grant; well it was a prize actually of
200,which we got from the Kentish trust for archaeology, cause they heard of us
and they thought we should be supported that enabled us to open a bank
account. Since then we have gone out to the local councillors who got money for
heritage and community purposes and we have been very fortunate in that
several of the councillors have given us decent amounts of money. We got
3000s from the Sittingbourne society from the big quest, which they received
from a gentlemen in Milton Regis who left his quarter of million pounds estate to
for the benefit of the people of Milton Regis, we got that money last year. We
hope to approach the sita trust when we get firm estimates of the amount of
work that needs to be doing. Sita they operate the local land field site and we are
in the catchment area for receiving money from land field operators for heritage
and community uses and environmental uses, and we will be putting in an
application when we get the quotes to see if we can get about 30,000s from
that for that purpose. We need to change all the lighting and we are approaching
the Queenboroughs fisher trust, to get money for that purpose, Queenborough
fishers trust is a very ancient trust, its like many of these ancient trust, they have
these reserves of money that are built up over centuries and I think well be
lucky to get some money from them for the lights.
What do you think this building will offer to the community?
The building when its finished, or when we got it as a museum will obviously be
a museum where people can come in at the weekends, but particularly we want
to work with the local schools, so that people can use it for all sorts of reasons we
would love to have a situation where school children come in here and they
maybe reanact medieval life. I work as a guide at Canterbury cathedral and I
work almost exclusively with children and I have seen what you can do with
children and ancient buildings and I think this one has an enormous scope and
thats the sort of thing we want to do, and also of course students weve had
people who want to do architecture studies and weve worked with them and we
would like to make use of the building for university students and that sort of
thing.

Interview 4 B22h21m52s16nov2014
What is the history of the building? (0:55)
Milton Regis court hall dates back to about 1450 and in those days the countries
were divided up into small administrative areas called hundreds and this was
the administrative centre which covered Sheppey, the lands between Sheppey
and here, Milton Regis area, Sittingbourne and some of the villages inland from
Sittingbourne. The administrative dealt with justice, so you had this as a
courthouse and downstairs we still have the prison cells, it was the weights and
measures department, it was basically where people came to resolve that which
related to legal issues. Milton Regis was a major port and the port reeve who
looked after the port was based here and so this was the most important
building in the area and thats its origin.
Cut off during Second question