Gothic novelist Horace Walpole's 18th Century Strawberry Hill House in Richmond Upon Thames, London, has received a grant of £400,000 from English Heritage, it has been announced.

This latest grant brings the Strawberry Hill House Trust a step closer to raising the £8.2 million required to restore the Gothic castle. It will be put towards the restoration of the South East Tower, which needs extensive re-building.

The House is undergoing a major programme of repairs and restoration. This English Heritage grant will help fund repairs to the roofs, the removal of the external render and the repairs to the south east towers and bays. English Heritage granted £100,000 to the Trust earlier in the year to fund work to the elevations, drainage, and parapets.

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Strawberry Hill House has been on English Heritage's Buildings at Risk Register since 1996 and in 2004 was included on the World Monuments Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites. Experts working on the project are making new and exciting discoveries every day. While removing more recent decoration they found some of the original wallpaper from Walpole's time, a rare survival.

Tim Jones of English Heritage's London Regional team, said: "We are delighted to be able to continue to give major financial assistance to this project. Work on Strawberry Hill House is progressing well and we wish them every success in raising all the funds they need for the restoration."

Michael Snodin, Chair of the Strawberry Hill Trust, said: "We are very grateful for the continuing support of English Heritage for this ambitious restoration project. We hope that this will invigorate our fund-raising efforts and help us reach our target of £8 million."

(JM/CD)