Next year will be 60 years since the Tudor House on North Quay was demolished.
Weymouth Civic Society had fought a long battle to save the building. The WCS Secretary, the architect Ernest Wamsley Lewis, drew up plans for its restoration and money was raised for repair and conversion. Support was obtained from the Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, the Royal Fine Arts Commission, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society and the Wilts and Dorset Society of Architects.
In 1958 the Minister of Housing and Local Government proposed a preservation order for the Tudor House but the Council objected and ultimately the battle was lost.
It is hard to imagine the despair that Eric Rickett’s felt with the Council’s indifference to the town’s heritage as he dragged the staircase balusters from the Council workmen’s bonfire.
Council’s change but it seems that their indifference to the town’s heritage continues. We will continue to strive to keep the Museum open but without Council support this will be impossible to achieve.
Weymouth Museum