Description
In south London's Crystal Palace Park, a collection of dinosaur sculptures which date back to 1854 will be among the heritage sites to benefit from new funding announced by the UK's National Lottery Heritage Fund. The total funding, worth over £24 million, will go towards projects in locations ranging from northern Scotland's John O'Groats to southwest England's Penzance. Crystal Palace park is to receive almost £5 million. Though the sculptures are now known to be inaccurate, at the time they were built they were based on the "best advanced knowledge at the time", says Tom Bardwell, a conservator carrying out assessments on the site. Eilish McGuinness, Heritage Fund Chief Executive, says "these dinosaurs are Grade I - the highest listing of heritage, and they've been at risk for many years, and today we're really starting a major restoration". IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES