Heritage Photography January 2023

HERITAGE PHOTOGRAPHY Journal of the Archaeology and Heritage Group

January 2023

Editor David Bryson FRPS heritage.editor@rps.org

Advisory Editor Eric Houlder LRPS Advertising enquiries David Bryson heritage.editor@rps.org

Archaeology & Heritage Group Committee Members

Mike Glyde heritagechair@rps.org Chair

David Bryson FRPS Heritage Photography editor heritage.editor@rps.org

Amanda Miller LRPS Secretary heritagesec@rps.org

Amanda Schonhut Treasurer heritagetreasurer@rps.org

Jim Souper ARPS

Shaun Parkes LDPS Military Heritage heritagemilitary@rps.org

Perspective: Architectural Heritage

Roof decorations from the Imperial Palace in Beijing, China.

This issue takes a look at the heritage of our buildings through their architecture and place in our history and society. First through Nick Green’s look at how our living has many connections through the architecture of polycentricity a concept that was proposed as early as 1861. Many of structures remaining as our heritage show their interconnection with changes and developments over time.

This is followed by Robert Galloway looking at the Architectural Heritage of Schools in Edinburgh. Love them or loath them school buildings have affected our lives over often too long periods of time.

Then a short piece by Heather Laurence, a new group member from the North East looking at Ushaw Historic House.

This is followed by a teaser for March’s issue which will have more about the A&H Group visit to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire.

Please remember that more articles for publication are very welcome. As always I can only publish from the work that is submitted to me.

If you would like to get feedback and submit stories/ ideas of photographs for the journal please contact me by e-mail. heritage.editor@rps.org

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Chair’s Chat: A new year: a new challenge?

MIKE GLYDE

Hello, and welcome to our latest edition of the Heritage Journal.

I sincerely hope you all had a good Christmas with friends and family and perhaps took the opportunity of the holiday period to get out and do some photography. Winter can be a challenging time, especially motivating oneself to go outside in the cold, but the efforts are often rewarding if you are in the right place at the right time. I know I struggle to get out during the winter months, but I am going to try and change that in the coming weeks, more to improve my mental health by getting out than anything else, photography can be the nudge or excuse we need,

As you will have seen in recent AHSIG broadcast emails, we have moved the deadline for our exhibition submissions to March 31st 2023 with the intention of exhibiting in the summer. This delay stemmed from the lack of initial submission and interest, but over the past few weeks that has picked up, so as a reminder our theme is Forgotten Heritage, basically photographs that highlight and present the less well known or seen elements of our

historic environment, so not the churches, stately homes and the like. Its a challenge to share images that celebrate the underdogs of our heritage! You can submit up to three prints and three digital images. Check out the emails or details.

In this issue you will also see a teaser for our recent members only visit the RAF’s Battle of Britain Memorial Flight maintenance hangar at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire. Shaun Parks is as we speak producing a special edition of the Heritage Journal with images taken by those that attended. If you have any ideas for places that the committee can try to gain special access to, drop me a line at heritagechair@rps.org

For now, grab a cuppa and enjoy another edition of the Heritage Journal.

Mike Glyde Chair Royal Photographic Society Heritage & Archaeology Special Interest Group

FEATURE

The Architecture of Polycentricity

If you mark the different places you live and work with a large dot on a map, draw a straight line between each of the dots, you will have sketched out a simple network of your patterns of living and working. It will probably have several centres and in the technical jargon of the town planner, it is polycentric.

NICK GREEN

Polycentricity is not a pretty word, but it serves a useful purpose: it helps us understand the networks into which our lives our woven.

There are the physical networks such as roads and railways, or the social networks such as those which tie us to family and friends, or the business networks which tie us to companies and colleagues, or to other networks. They can all be mapped, even though they are not all visible. Many of our most important networks exist only virtually, either in our minds or in the vast ethereal web of the internet.

Yet these networks still have a physical form of sorts. In the wires and cables and servers that make up the physical internet; in the phone masts that enable us to communicate remotely; in the

roads and railways and canals and associated infrastructure that remains highly visible even if it is no longer in use as a means of transport and communication.

The earliest of these are of course the roads and paths that have criss-crossed Britain for as long as it has been inhabited, and the rivers and coastal waterways. But it was with the industrial revolution that the idea of communication networks really took off, as Britain shifted its economic footing from a rural base to an industrial one that placed new demands on the roads and rivers used to transport goods.

Heavy goods such as coal were most easily transported by water, and to the rivers and coastal

High Peak Canal near Strines, Greater Manchester.

Oakington Pillbox https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1404968

routes were added canals in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, peaking at around 4000 miles. Alongside the stagecoach for passenger transport, canals formed the primary transport networks of late eighteenth and early nineteenth century Britain.

But by the 1840s, stagecoaches were being superseded by the railways. The impact on the landscape was enormous. The earthworks and civil engineering needed for cuttings and embankments, for viaducts and bridges and tunnels, far exceeded anything that had gone before.

The first inter-city service ran between Liverpool and Manchester, and opened in 1831. Others followed in quick succession: Birmingham-London in 1838; Edinburgh-Glasgow in 1842.

By the 1880s, England and Wales were blanketed by a highly integrated railway network, making it possible to go from a small Cotswold town such as Cirencester to Sunderland in the Northeast. But after reaching a peak of coverage in the 1920s, by which time high speed inter-city travel was a reality - Newcastle to London took just four hours - this socalled ‘Golden Age’ ended with the second world war.

In the post-war decades the motorcar’s dominance grew and the railways declined, hampered by a failure to invest in electrification and instead clinging to outdated steam technology.

By the 1960s, in a move which at the time seemed inevitable to some, the railway network was scaled back. Many smaller lines were closed following

a report by Dr Richard Beeching, a consultant brought in by the government to reshape the railways in the face of the rise of the motorcar and a burgeoning motorway network.

Beeching’s analysis and prescriptions turned out to be flawed in many respects, and many railway lines were re-opened in the decades following his report But by the time the railways had been adequately reformed in the 1990s, while still nationalised, and been through a calamitous privatisation, the car had gained dominance at the expense of all other forms of transport from walking to cycling to the bus to the train. And by the 1990s Britain was more connected than it ever had been: by air, by road, by rail; by telephone, by fax, by post.

Then came the internet, and that changed everything, not least our patterns of living and

working. Many jobs, though by no means all, can now be carried out remotely. These new ways of working outside a formal workplace, of working from home or from a local coffee shop, have made commuting patterns more polycentric, more confused.

Networks overlay one another, leaving behind historical traces in the landscape and architecture, as the physical and virtual networks seem to become increasingly detached from one another. We cannot see these virtual networks, although they are real enough. But the physical traces, the walls and bridges of the older networks persist; and it is these which are reproduced in these photographs of the architecture of polycentricity.

The Warehouses overlooking the River Irwell at Salford. Village green, The Arms, Norfolk. The oldest forms of networking are personal communication and walking.

Bridges at Castlefield, Manchester. Three railways bridges at different levels sail above the Bridgewater canal.

Cirencester Town railway station, 1841. Reputedly designed by I.K.Brunel, the station was closed in 1964 as part of Beeching’s cuts. It now sits like an over-windowed mausoleum in the middle of a bleak car park.

Signal box at Mobberly, Cheshire.

Bridges at Castlefield, Manchester. One bridge still carries trains, the second carries trams. The third has recently been converted by the National Trust into a small linear park.

Dr Nick Green is a Senior Tutor in the School of Planning at the University of Manchester. For further reading you can purchase Nick’s book on The Settlement Patterns of Britain: Past present and the future foretold in eight essays” (published in June 2022): https://bit.ly/3OpkIG1 The link takes you to the Routledge page. It can be bought for 20% discount by using the code FLE22 at the checkout.

Motorway Bridge, Ashley, Cheshire. This and following photographs were taken within Greater Manchester’s Green Belt. The architecture of polycentricity is now to be found as on urban fringes and between settlements as in city centres.

Signal box at Shippea Hill Station, Norfolk

Shell garage, Chelford, Cheshire.

FEATURE

Architecture of Edinburgh Schools

Edinburgh has many elegant School Buildings, the oldest of which predate the use of the term Architect whilst by the 19th Century many were designed by Architects renowned for their design of lavish country estate houses and public buildings. A selection of photographs of the external appearance of these Schools is discussed.

ROBERT GALLOWAY LRPS

Photograph 1. George Heriot’s Hospital, 1628

Generally, I have identified each building by it’s original name, the date of completion and the name of the Architect. My principal source of information was, A History of Scottish Architecture ; Miles Glendinning, Ranald MacInnes & Aonghus MacKechnie; Edinburgh University Press, 1997.

George Heriot’s Hospital, 1628- end of 17th century.

Photograph 1 shows the oldest school building

in Edinburgh. The block was designed by stone masons, the oldest part was completed in 1628 and building continued during most of the 17th century. The stone masons involved probably also carried out Royal work on renovation to Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh; by name they are William Wallace, possibly with James Murray and completion of the building by William Aytoun.

The Building was originally George Heriot’s Hospital, for poor fatherless children (boys) of Edinburgh, with substantial funds endowed by George Heriot who had been Jeweller to Queen Anne.

Manchester Airport, car park near Hasty Lane.

Manchester Airport, Crash Gate 10.

With the 17th century buildings still in use and augmented, it has developed into a major Edinburgh school, now co-educational.

18th century

There are no school buildings surviving in Edinburgh from the 18th century, although we can note that in this century, Mary Erskine, a wealthy widow ensured that ladies were not overlooked. The Mary Erskine School still thrives in the suburbs of Edinburgh.

John Watson’s Hospital, 1825, William Burn.

Shown in Photograph 2, funded during the 18th century by an Edinburgh solicitor for the education of orphans of professional people, the building was not completed until 1825 and during it’s educational use was also known as John Watson’s Institution and John Watson’s School. The School closed in 1975. The building is now part of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art known as Modern One.

In terms of identifying schools in Edinburgh it must be realised that the above John Watson is not connected with George Watson who also

during the 18th century financed a school, George Watson’s College which is still flourishing, although their 18th century building has long gone.

The Royal High School, 1829, Thomas Hamilton

The Royal High School, Photograph 3, moved from the centre of town, the site still carrying the name High School Yards, to this site on Calton Hill at the expense of Edinburgh Town Council, with a donation from King George IV. It has been referred to as Thomas Hamilton’s finest work. The Royal High School moved again to new premises in 1968. A suitable use for the 1829 building has not yet been established, although at one time it was proposed as the basis of the new Scottish Parliament.

The Dean Orphan Hospital, 1833, Thomas Hamilton

It is particularly interesting to compare Photograph 4 with Photograph 3 since both buildings have the same architect. This building, Photograph 4, was commissioned by the Town to provide a new orphanage for Edinburgh. The towers are of particular note. The building is just across the road from John Watson’s Hospital, Photograph 2, originally also an orphanage. The fate of the Dean Orphanage in 1999 was also to become part of the National Galleries of Scotland, the Dean Gallery, now renamed Modern Two (just across the road from Modern One).

Donaldson’s Hospital, 1851, William Henry Playfair

Photograph 5 shows the Palatial looking building designed for Sir James Donaldson, an Edinburgh publisher, who endowed a school to have an emphasis on the education of deaf children and able to accommodate up to 400 pupils, both boys and girls. The building closed in 2008 and is being converted into luxury flats.

Daniel Stewart’s Hospital, 1853, David Rhind

Photograph 6 shows the building designed with eye catching towers by David Rhind to meet the bequest of Merchant Daniel Stewart to create an educational institution for needy boys which soon became Daniel Stewart’s College for boys. It continues and provides modern co-educational schooling in collaboration with other nearby schools in the care of the Edinburgh Merchant Company and under the name ESMS (Erskine Stewart’s Melville Schools ).

Esdaile College, 1863.

Esdaile College which opened in 1863, see Photograph 7, was built as a school in the Scottish Baronial style with a small central courtyard, although I have been unable to establish who was the architect. It was established to provide education for daughters of the manse, founded by Rev. David Esdaile along with his brother James, a surgeon. The school closed in the late 1960’s and the building has been converted into flats. The trust still exists to assist financially the education of daughters of Church of Scotland Ministers.

Photograph 3. Royal High School,1829, Thomas Hamilton

Photograph 2. Watson’s Institution, 1825, William Burn

Photograph 9. Edinburgh School Board, examples of plaques on their schools, (top) Dean village, 1875 (middle) Bruntsfield, 1893 (bottom) the second Boroughmuir, 1914.

Photograph 4. Dean Orphan Hospital, 1833, Thomas Hamilton

Photograph 5, Donaldson’s Hospital, 1851, William Henry Playfair

Photograph 6. Daniel Stewart’s Hospital, 1853, David Rhind

Photograph 7. Esdaile College, 1863

Sciennes School, 1889, Robert Wilson

Photograph 11 is typical of the Edinburgh School Board style, being built in sandstone.

Bruntsfield School, 1893, John Alexander Carfrae

Photograph 12 shows a similar style in sandstone, although with a change of Architect.

Boroughmuir School Annexe, 1902, John Alexander Carfrae

The name of the school in Photograph 13 needs explanation. Two schools built about this time by the Edinburgh School Board had Annexe attached to their name. They were not an Annexe to a particular school, but an Annexe to all of the School Board’s elementary Schools to provide more advanced education to pupils who desired it. The Boroughmuir School Annexe is a much larger building than any of the elementary schools, for example Bruntsfield School nearby (Photograph 12).

Fettes College, 1870. David Bryce

For Fettes College, Photograph 8, David Bryce chose a design influenced by French castles in the Loire. It was founded by Sir. William Fettes, former Lord Provost of Edinburgh, in memory of his son who died young.

The Edinburgh School Board, 1873. The Education (Scotland) Act, 1872, introduced compulsory elementary education in reading, writing and arithmetic for all children between the years of five and thirteen (extended to fourteen the following year). The Scottish Education Department was formed, which set up local School Boards to provide the necessary facilities (schools) hence the Edinburgh School Board. The School Board system ended with the First World War and so covers the final 40 years of this survey of Edinburgh school buildings. The Edinburgh School Board employed two architects, initially Robert Wilson and later John Alexander Carfrae; sandstone was still the predominant building material and some ornamentation was favoured as illustrated by Photograph 9 showing plaques on three of the buildings.

The Edinburgh School Board built at least 13 schools of which 5 are illustrated.

Marchmont Road School, 1882, Robert Wilson

Photograph 10 shows the second Edinburgh School Board building, Photograph 9(top) having been a decoration on the first.

Boroughmuir High School, 1914, John Alexander Carfrae

The Boroughmuir School Annexe soon became too small to meet the demands placed on it, so a larger replacement was designed, see Photograph 14. It gained the name Boroughmuir High School which made it’s purpose more clear in relation to the elementary schools. It is interesting to compare Photographs 12,13 and 14 as three superficially different looking buildings designed by the same architect.

Buccleugh Parish School, 1839

Hitherto I have been concerned with large and elaborately designed school buildings. One exception is worthy of mention shown in Photographs 15 (a) and (b), it was a small local school, dating from 1839 and long abandoned from educational use probably even by 1900. However it still shows it’s original elegant stonework, although I do not know who designed it.

Photograph 8. Fettes College, 1870, David Bryce

Photograph 10. Marchmont Road School, 1882, Robert Wilson

Photograph 11. Sciennes School, 1889, Robert Wilson

Photograph 12. Bruntsfield School, 1893, John Alexander Carfrae

Photograph 14. Boroughmuir school, 1914, John Alexander Carfrae

Photograph 13. Boroughmuir annexe, 1902, John Alexander Carfrae

Photograph 15a. Buccleugh Parish School, 1839

Photograph 15b. Buccleugh Parish School, 1839, showing details in the elegant stonework.

Ushaw Historic House

A former seminary, Ushaw Historic House in County Durham, is now an arts and heritage venue, which, as well as hosting a historic accumulation of artifacts, paintings, and collections, is home of the most exquisite architecture, gardens and even the pitch/court of a unique and historic sport named CAT. HEATHER LAURENCE PHD

Opening in 1808, the main building is quite plain, designed to hide the true purpose of the building, training priests being a taboo subject at the time, yet the place has a feeling of grandeur.

The Chapel is of a Gothic design with gargoyles, a fascinating water drainage system of sculptures and mystery characters waiting to be captured. Established gardens with flora, fauna, and fungi in abundance and a currently disused boating lake, with all the wildlife and birds we would expect to find in the local area, the exterior of the house and grounds could be quite simply described as a photographers paradise.

The gardens are home to some ancient trees, and spectacular Rhododendrons which must be seen to

be appreciated.

The vast outdoor area known as “The Bounds” has possibly the most unique playing areas around, a circular court which was used to play the ball game “Cat” an ancient sport, thought to have been developed in the 1700s, which was adopted by the trainee priests as their way of keeping fit, as well as other ball sports, the racquet houses which were used for handball games. “Cat or Kat” if played today, would perhaps be a hybrid of squash, baseball, and golf.

The Bounds, featuring the Cat/Kat pitch. From a photographers perspective, days if not weeks could be spent just exploring the grounds,

the light at various times of day, highlight different parts of the grounds in a magical way.

Once indoors, it is the lighting that strikes us, there is a happy mixture of natural and artificial light, which can be used to the advantage of any photographer, with treasures, textures, colours and all round magnificence, the interior of the buildings are breath taking. The stained glass windows alone are so many that they could be considered a project on their own.

This one is featured at the end of the building, tucked away above the door as if it was not the most important feature in the room, and indeed, in comparison with some of the other wonderful

objects in there, it most likely wasn’t intended to be.

When standing at the entrance to this Chapel, it takes a wide lens to capture the entrance alone, such is the design, yet each piece of décor tells a story of its own. The lighting here is mainly natural, with a temporary spotlight in-situ, which was moved to capture this image.

The unique and spectacular ceiling is made up of several designs, which marry together beautifully to create a unique artwork of intricate and perfect symmetry and complementary colours. The altar at the end of the chapel is so rich in detail, that it would take hours to document.

Ushaw Historic House in County Durham

One of the spectacular Chapel buildings, just waiting for a close -up or two of those carved critters as gargoyles.

The Bounds, featuring the Cat/Kat pitch.

The ceiling of the chapel

One of the many angels decorating the chapel’s pillars.

RPS A&H Group Visit to the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight

As part of an increased group focus on non-traditional heritage subjects, the A&H group’s Military Heritage Co-Ordinator Shaun Parkes and Group Chair Mike Glyde, organized a visit to the home of the World-famous RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire. SHAUN

PARKES LDPS

As part of an increased group focus on nontraditional heritage subjects, the A&H group’s Military Heritage Co-Ordinator Shaun Parkes and Group Chair Mike Glyde, organized a visit to the home of the World-famous RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire.

The visit was deliberately organized for the postdisplay-season period during which all the aircraft are stripped down, serviced and prepared for the next year’s displays. We were privileged to be given ‘behind the barriers’ access so we could get very close to the aircraft.

BBMF was originally founded at the famous Battle of Britain fighter base at Biggin Hill in Kent, and was initially called the RAF Historic Flight. It had the last RAF’s last airworthy Hurricane, LF363 - more of which later- and three photo-reconnaissance

Spitfire PR Mk XIX aircraft.

Funded by the Ministry of Defence and staffed by RAF personnel, BBMF’s motto is “Lest We Forget”, and serves as a living memorial to honour “the thousands of men and women, in the air and on the ground, that gave their lives for this country in the noble pursuit of freedom”.

Today the flight has one Avro Lancaster, a C-47 Dakota, two Hurricanes (including LF363), six Spitfires, and two de Havilland Chipmunk (training aircraft).

There will be a special edition of Heritage Photography in March this year, with more information on the servicing and maintenance of the aircraft, and an interview with the Officer Commanding BBMF, Squadron Leader Mark ‘Sugs’ Sugden, in which he explains his view on the biggest issues and threats facing the BBMF.

Andrew Barnett photographing Hurricane Mk IIa LF363 (Photograph: Shaun Parkes)

DHC Chipmunk WG486 (Photograph: Mike Barr)

Lancaster PA474 (Photograph Andrew Barnett)

Closeup of the camera port on a Spitfire PRXIX PS915 (Photograph: Mile Glyde)