This type of problem is not just limited to historic houses, the city
Council in Sheffield UK has just closed down the Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet
in order to save £100,000.00 per annum in wages bills. The site  had
originally been saved by a group of interested bodies who handed it over to
the city Council believing it to be the best way to safeguard its future.
Perhaps the best way to run and maintain such sites is on a charity basis
through a relevant trust or society, with volunteer staff.

An example of such a successful project is that of Wortley Top Forge near
Sheffield, the site has operated as an industrial museum for over 30 years,
opening on Sundays and Bank holidays and other times by appointment only.
The people running the forge have in the past thought about full-time
opening and employing staff, but decided against it.  As a result little
seems to change at the forge from year to year and restoration work gets
carried out in a piece meal fashion.
 
Yet the forge remains open while Abbeydale has closed, perhaps it is the
nature of some historical buildings and sites that they will never be
commercially successful and the powers that be should just accept this.

Are somethings best left out of the hands of the professionals? 






 



 
****************************************************************
Jeff Morris                      
Wortley Top Forge Industrial Museum                         
Wortley Village                                             
Wortley                                                     
Sheffield 
England                                                  
S35 7DN                                                     

            Open Sundays and Bank Holidays 11am-5pm   
 The Oldest Surviving Heavy Iron Forge in the World 1639-1908	
                        Owned by the 
      The South Yorkshire Industrial History Society 
(formerly The Sheffield Trades Historical Society founded 1933)
               Registered Charity No. 506339              
*****************************************************************