Stars of the film Mr Turner have visited the dilapidated former home of JMW Turner, the artist who inspired the script, to support efforts to save the building from disrepair.

Director Mike Leigh and actor Paul Jesson were among the cast and crew present at the Twickenham home, which was designed and built by the celebrated painter in 1813.

Plans to restore the Grade 2 listed building, which is on English Heritage's At Risk Register, require a further £270,000 of funding before work can begin.

Leigh explained that it was important to preserve the home of the English Romanticist, who he believes to be Britain's greatest artist.

He said: "If anyone decided to demolish Shakespeare's birthplace, everyone would make a fuss.

"This is the only surviving house where Turner lived, to let it go would be a heinous crime.

"It is not just a house that he lived in, but it is one of the quirkiest buildings there is - it is very evocative and a little bit spooky."

Since taking ownership of Sandycombe Lodge in 2010, the Turner's House Trust has had to contend with crumbling walls and flooded floors, meaning it could only be opened publicly once a month.

Following a cash injection of £1.4 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the trust hopes it will be fit for opening 46 weeks a year by 2016.

Trust chairwoman Catherine Parry-Wingfield said: "If you had been standing here when water was up to your ankles, you would want to bring this house back to life.

"The house has got a lot to tell us when the funding is in - it is enormously exciting."

During the early stages of filming the 2014 biopic, Leigh - who recently received the Bafta Fellowship Award - brought the main cast to the house so that they could soak up its unorthodox design.

He added: "It was incredibly useful and important for us to come here when we were researching the property for the film.

"It's great it wasn't screwed up in the 1950s, it is now important that they can take it and meticulously restore it."

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