The Farnham Trust

The Farnham Building Preservation Trust Limited is one of the oldest building preservation trusts in the country. It is a charitable trust, registered with the Charity Commission, and a limited company first incorporated in 1968.

The formal charitable objectives of the Trust are:

a)         “to protect and preserve for the benefit of the public the historical architectural and constructional heritage in the Area of Benefit being the town of Farnham and the surrounding areas of Surrey and Hampshire by the maintenance repair or restoration of buildings, other man-made structures, heritage assets (including any building as defined in S336 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990) and land affecting their setting and environment of particular beauty or historical architectural or constructional interest.”

b)         “to provide housing and any associated amenities in and around the Area of Benefit for necessitous persons upon terms appropriate to their means.”

In the years since its foundation, the Trust has made many active contributions to the preservation of the Farnham scene, rescuing threatened buildings large and small, restoring them and returning them to the community with a viable future use. The two most important projects were in 1969, when the Trust contributed to the purchase by the local community of the Farnham Maltings by buying the cottages which were part of the site; and in 1998, when it acquired the Farnham Pottery to save the dilapidated buildings from demolition.   Here the Trust embarked on a 12-year programme of gradual restoration and sold the property to new owners in 2011. It is now a thriving centre for ceramics and craft-based small industries.

The Trust has also used its influence over the years to encourage and assist practical conservation projects with advice, grants and expert support. Grants have been given to restoration work at Farnham Castle, St Andrews Church, the Windsor Almshouses in Castle Street, and the Daniel Hall in Long Garden Walk, as well as many other smaller projects, and in 2012 the Trust gave an interest-free loan to the Bishops Meadows Trust, to help protect the precious landscape setting of the town’s Conservation Area.

Our core activity as a building preservation trust is the acquisition, restoration and subsequent sale of threatened buildings in Farnham and the surrounding area. If you know of anything of interest, please contact us.


The Farnham Pottery, reproduced by kind permission of Mr. & Mrs. G.Hains

The painting featured on our website is of the Farnham Pottery circa 1950, a watercolour by Sir John Verney