THE National Trust has received £24,900 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for an exciting new project, Re-discovering Belton’s Forgotten Gunners, at Belton House, Grantham.

Working in partnership with Grantham Explorer Scouts the project will be led by volunteers from the local community aged between 14 and 24 years old and will commemorate the 100^th anniversary of the formation of the Machine Gun Corps at Belton.

Local young people will be working with archaeologists and storytellers throughout 2015 to discover more about the Machine Gun Corps training camp within the grounds of Belton House and the men who trained there. These volunteers will develop skills in archaeology, leading investigations into this nationally significant First World War archaeological site, and different ways in which the soldiers’ stories can be told.

Commenting on the award, Melissa Maynard, Learning Manager said: “We are really excited to be able to work with our local Explorer Scouts and the HLF on such an important project as part of our centenary commemorations for the young men who trained in the Machine Gun Corps during the First World War in Belton’s parkland.”

Vanessa Harbar, Head of HLF East Midlands, said: “This centenary is a chance to uncover the stories of the First World War and understand their impact on us today. The presence of such a large military training camp so close to Grantham had a big effect on the town during war-time and it’s great to see young people exploring what life was like at the camp for people of a similar age, 100 years ago.”

 

Begun for Sir John Brownlow in 1685, Belton House was designed to impress and across its 300 year history, each generation of the Brownlow family left their creative mark. Relatively compact it may be, but the quality of its collection, its setting in 36 acres of formal gardens and 1300 acres of deer park mean that Belton House is regarded as the most complete example of an English country house.

During the First World War, Earl Brownlow allowed the War Office to use a large part of the deer park at Belton for training soldiers.

From 1915, 170 000 men trained with the Machine Gun Corps in the camp before serving on the Front. With barracks, YMCA huts and churches this camp was almost the size of a small town and even included a small railway and a military hospital.

Information about the Machine Gun Corps camp has been collected by the National Trust volunteer research team, who are always interested in receiving information about Belton House.