Shell Grotto set to receive Culture Recovery Funding

Craig Mackinlay MP has welcomed the news that The Shell Grotto in Margate is set to receive £48,200 as part of the Government’s £92 million Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage managed jointly by Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has made a total of £1.57bn available to support heritage and the wider cultural sector across England during the Covid-19 pandemic. This is the first tranche of funding for heritage, covering grants of up to £1 million.

 Discovered by the Newlove family in 1835, almost all the surface area of The Shell Grotto’s walls and roof is covered in mosaics created entirely of seashells, totalling about 2,000 square feet of mosaic, or 4.6 million shells.

Craig visited the Grade 1 listed Grotto back in October 2018 and has since hailed the attractions ornate subterranean rooms and passageways as “one of Margate’s great little gems”. 

Craig Mackinlay MP, said: 

“The Shell Grotto and shop is a magical, mysterious and beautiful place – one of Margate’s great little gems on the tourist trail in Thanet.

 “This £48,200 of funding will greatly help with the Grotto’s conservation efforts and I would encourage all who have not yet seen it to go.”

   The attraction is situated at Grotto Hill, Margate, CT9 2BU.

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