The SPAB Magazine: Spring 2023

THE SPAB MAGAZINE

REGULARS

5 Welcome

SPAB Director, Matthew Slocombe, reflects on the findings of Historic England’s annual Listed Building Owners’ and Occupiers’ Survey

6 News and views

The latest from the SPAB and the sector

16 Member repair project

Julia Flutter on the 10-year project to repair and conserve her mid-Victorian villa on the Isle of Wight

22 Events

Booking online now

62 Book review

The latest read reviewed

65 Technical notes Information and advice

72 Building in focus Dennis Severs’ House

THE PROPERTY LIST

Visit the members’ area of the SPAB website to view our online property list. Remember, you have to be a member to access the list. spab.org.uk

VISIT OUR WEBSITE

7 Kibworth Harcourt windmill Re-opens for National Mills Weekend

24 Casework Bunksland (Bungsland) Farm, East Anstey, North Devon

38 Esher Award Winner Rory Young - A lifetime of craftsmanship

47 Skill Swap Days Royal School of Needlework and Fullers Builders 150th anniversary collaboration

32 Clandon Park The National Trust’s current work and future plans

54 The Evolution of the Architect Tracing the changing nature of the profession

Thanks to all SPAB members and supporters who completed our audience survey this autumn. We’re now analysing the results with the help of specialist consultants. Your views will help shape our future plans.

Historic England (HE) has just published the results from its own, annual Listed Building Owners’ and Occupiers’ survey. The findings make fascinating reading. Some important messages emerge for government and all who work with or care about old buildings. In many respects, the conclusions are extremely encouraging, with 89% of residents feeling proud of the listed place in which they live and 86% concluding they’re able to keep on top of repair and maintenance issues. However, 57% found the cost of upkeep to be a challenge. Interestingly, only 1% of those who completed the survey five years ago fell within the 25-34 age category, yet this has now risen to 4%.

90% of participants said they were concerned about climate change, but many seemed uncertain about how to deal with the internal environment of their home. 23% said they found it difficult to keep warm yet only 38% had tried the relatively inexpensive solution of draught proofing. Only 41% used thermal curtains or shutters. So far, just 1% had switched to air source heat pumps. Damp – the perennial theme for callers to the SPAB’s technical advice line – was a concern for 32% of the HE survey’s respondents.

THE SPAB MAGAZINE

SPAB STAFF

Matthew Slocombe Director

Douglas Kent Head of technical & research

Elaine Byrne Head of education & training

Christina Emerson Head of casework

Kate Streeter Head of development & communications

Richard Mullis Head of operations

Margaret Daly Office manager

Shahina Begum IT manager

Jonathan Garlick Special Operations Manager

Lucy Jacob Membership manager

Felicity Martin Communications manager

Skye Stevenson Education officer

Catherine Rose Training officer

Pip Soodeen Fellowship officer

Catharine Bull Scholarship officer

Victoria West Archive officer

Lauren Wilson Digital communications officer

Mary Henn Technical officer

David John Technical advisor

Catherine Peacock Technical & research administrator

Joanne Needham Casework officer

Elgan Jones Casework officer

Rachel Broomfield Casework officer

Merlin Lewis Casework support officer

Lucy Stewart SPAB Scotland officer

Deirdre Keeley SPAB Ireland officer

Sophie Clay Membership assistant

Louise Simson Properties list officer

Neil Faulks IT advisor

Chi-Wei Clifford-Frith Director & projects team assistant

Silvia McMenamin Mills Section administrator

Kimberly Gordon Grants Officer

EDITORIAL

Tessa Wild Editor

Felicity Martin, Douglas Kent, Matthew Slocombe

Denise Burrows Editorial assistance

SPAB

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Reproduction of content of this magazine in whole or in part is prohibited without prior written permission of the SPAB. Views expressed are not necessarily those of the SPAB. Products and services advertised in this magazine are not necessarily endorsed by the SPAB. You should make your own enquiries into products and services and seek professional advice where appropriate. © SPAB 2023

Matthew Slocombe, Director

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Perhaps most sobering is that, although 81% supported the concept of listed building consent, satisfaction with the system’s operation has fallen from 51% in 2017 to 35% in 2022. This is despite the fact that only 15% of respondents had their listed building application refused. The response presumably reflects perceived difficulties with both expertise and administration within the planning system. From the SPAB’s perspective we have seen a steady increase in numbers of statutory notifications over the last two years and a conclusion that might be drawn from this is that councils are turning ever more often to the SPAB because the specialist advice it offers is free. We receive no extra state funding for this increased work, but are covering for the reduced real terms support that central and local government provides for the historic environment. Although the solution should lie in more public sector assistance, it makes the SPAB’s charitable role in providing advice to councils and the public increasingly important. When you have finished

FROM THE CHAIR

Duncan McCallum took over as SPAB’S new chair in January 2023

In 1892 William Morris described three lobbying meetings the SPAB arranged with London County Council where ‘arguments [were] listened to and weighed, and opinion changed in consequence’. More than 130 years on, that advocacy work remains vitally important, both on individual buildings, and more generally in legislation and policy.

Despite this country’s generally positive attitude towards heritage, constant vigilance is needed. At any one time there are always important historic buildings under threat. Even if owners start with the right intentions to save their building, the skills and knowledge are sadly all-tooften lacking. More damage is done to our heritage through well-intentioned but misinformed work than through outright demolition. So the battle William Morris championed must go on!

It is therefore my great privilege to

SEASONAL MAINTENANCE

Spring cleaning

Regular maintenance is one of the pillars of the SPAB Approach so, as winter eases into spring, here are some simple tips and tricks to make sure your building stays in good condition.

Check that gutters and downpipes have not been damaged by frost. Using a hand mirror is an easy way to look behind rainwater pipes as splits and cracks here are easily missed. Check also for any staining on brickwork or plaster if any water is being discharged onto the walls.

Check your roof for frost, snow or wind damage. Do a quick inspection from your attic (if possible) and from outside (a pair of binoculars can be handy). Debris on the ground from broken slates or tiles can indicate a problem.

Drains should be cleaned and rodded out if they overflow during wet weather. Remove silt and debris to ensure water

take on the role of SPAB’s Chair. I’m immensely grateful to Nichola Tasker, who has done a fantastic job as Chair over a period of great instability and to the other Trustees, Matthew Slocombe, all the staff, the Guardians, and all of you who have chipped away at the challenges heritage faces on a daily basis. After training as a Town Planner, I started my career in the 1980s working in various local authority heritage roles in the north west, north east and south west of England. In 1996, I joined English Heritage and worked in Yorkshire and then the SW on planning casework before

moving to a central policy role. That continued into Historic England when the functions of the ‘old’ English Heritage split, but after 26 years across those wonderful bodies I decided I wanted to focus my efforts through the charitable sector, and through the SPAB in particular.

As a Trustee it has been so rewarding to see close-up the great impact the SPAB has. I know it is highly and widely respected for its principled stance on key topics, for delivering repair projects, for supporting and developing skills alongside its deep technical knowledge, and for its campaigning.

I’ve found it so uplifting to see the passion, determination and drive for authenticity in all that the Society does. For me the great challenge of the moment is to ensure everyone understands that our work is inherently sustainable and that our approach, of reuse and minimum intervention, makes an important contribution to addressing the climate challenge. We must continue to push that message ever wider otherwise we risk being seen as negative ‘protectionists’ rather than strong and vocal supporters for a sustainable and positive future.

Wren 300

discharges freely.

If you need any advice on maintenance or building care, we’re here to help. Visit our website www.spab.org.uk/advice or call us on weekday mornings, 9.30am12.30pm on 020 7456 0916.

The tercentenary of the death of Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723) is being marked this year with a national festival of events celebrating his architectural achievements. Wren held the post of Surveyor-General to six Monarchs and among his most famous works are St Paul’s Cathedral, the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, and the 52 churches commissioned after the Great Fire of London in 1666. Alongside his buildings, his work as a mathematician, inventor and astronomer and his enduring legacy will be explored. For further details see https://wren300.org/

Photo Duncan McCallum

Above Duncan McCallum at All Hallows by the Tower, London

Photo SPAB

Photo National Portrait Gallery, public domain

Witness our windmill turning once more

Join us for an open day at our post mill at Kibworth Harcourt in Leicestershire for the first time since the repairs were completed. We’ll open for visitors during National Mills Weekend on 13-14 May. Places will be limited, please visit the SPAB website for details and how to book.

Kibworth Mill, owned by the SPAB, is the only surviving post mill in Leicestershire, an important part of our local and national milling heritage. Thanks to a generous bequest we were able to carry out an extensive programme of repairs in the last two years. Works to the structure included new weatherboarding, new common and spring sails and new exterior steps.

A tailpole was fitted and repairs made to the internal machinery

and major timbers. Archaeological investigations were carried out to the fascinating layers of historic graffiti inside the mill, helping us to learn more about the lives of millers going back to the 18th century. We are delighted that in autumn of last year the mill was removed from Historic England’s heritage at risk register.

The new sails are fully operational, and, for the first time in many years, visitors will have the chance to witness the mill turning 360 degrees on its post once again.

Wind and watermills across the country open their doors to visitors during National Mills Weekend every year. Visit our website for more information and get involved on social media by using #NationalMillsWeekend.

Through the Looking Glass: A Future for Historic Windows

The Slate, Warwick University, 22–23 September 2023

Not since the window tax of 1696 has the historic window been so under threat. The push to insulate our homes, due to the rising cost of energy but also the challenge of climate change, is pointing a spotlight on draughty sashes and casements.

This two-day conference, supported by the SPAB, brings together experts in the history, repair and retrofit of historic windows and will be of interest to anyone who would like to join the debate and understand more.

For further information, contact https://listedbuildingsurveys. co.uk/a-future-for-historic-windowsconference-september-2023/

Kibworth Harcourt with finished sails

Photo David Holmes

Not since the window tax of 1696 has the historic window been so under threat

Photo Marianne Suhr

Old House Project Update Spring 2023

Last season’s work at the Old House Project (OHP), involving structural strengthening and repairs to masonry and timber framing, brought the house a much-increased sense of ‘wellbeing’. Building upon earlier repairs to the roof covering, with every small repair to the building’s fabric there is a tangible sense of recovery.

Owlsworth IJP, overseen by architectScholars Mal Fryer and George Hodgson, have carried out work with great thought and sensitivity. This can be seen in the quality of the new brickwork pier which has formed part of the structural repair at the building’s west end. This repair, devised by structural engineer Ed Morton, has tied the west wall into the

15th century St Andrew’s chapel’s substantial masonry, resolving a longstanding bulge in the west wall. The complexities of diagnosing the west wall’s structural issues and prescribing a repair provided much material for an engineering training day, led by Ed in November.

During the course of this season’s repairs, work has yielded many new discoveries. The SPAB’s aim, in line with its Approach, is to restrict interventions to those that are essential, but where change has been unavoidable some surprises have emerged. Most notable have been the discoveries at the building’s east end. Dendrochronological investigation by Dr Martin Bridge for

Historic England has shown previously that the tiny timber framed addition at the east end predates the masonry chapel by around 50 years. Assuming it is in situ and was not taken from elsewhere and reassembled, this makes the timber framed part the earliest standing building on the site. The walls of this structure are slender and it has always been our intention to line them out internally with a wood fibre board and lime plaster to improve thermal performance.

The small casualty of this change has been the need to remove existing, damaged plaster of circa 1900. The decision to remove the plaster was not taken lightly, but the thermal upgrade was felt to be more important to the building’s re-use and long-term usability. In a similar vein, our

Photo SPAB

Delegates look at the north elevation

consent allowed us to create a new opening from the timber framed block into the garden through the east wall. Plaster removal here showed the studs and infill panels of the timber frame to be far more intact and of higher quality than we had anticipated.

A rethink therefore became necessary. Options were to abandon the idea of a new opening, or to move it to a new position at the east end. The former would have undermined many of the objectives of the re-use scheme. The latter required creating a new opening through the base of a 19th century chimney stack, which had sadly had its grate stolen long before our ownership. This rather radical idea of turning the chimney into a doorway had divided opinion within the project team until the surrounding plaster was removed. Then, to everyone’s great surprise, a lost medieval doorway proved to exist within the later chimney stack. Our architect and engineer are now looking at means of retaining the stack above ground floor while creating an opening through its base.

Although we have had to remove plaster, we have also taken forward its expert reinstatement. A very successful plastering course was led on site by specialist Michael O’Reilly. The course combined lecture learning with handson experience. Further practical courses for 2023 will be announced shortly. At the Boxley Abbey Working Party from 6-12 July 2023 we hope to allow participants the chance to be involved in the construction of a substantial new wall at St Andrew’s, formed from local Kentish ragstone and lime-stabilised soil. There will also be further archaeological investigation at the Abbey and the OHP as well as the usual range of mortar and masonry work. Join us in July for this festival of fun and learning, find details on the SPAB website.

2023-4 is intended to be the final year of work at the Old House Project. By its end, St Andrew’s will not only be exemplary in terms of conservation and sustainability but also beautiful and comfortable. During 2023 we will start seeking someone to purchase the freehold of the house. It would be ideal if the next custodian could be a SPAB member who will appreciate the

building’s fascinating history and sensitive repair. We hope also to work with a buyer who will help make decisions about the building’s internal treatment. Could this be you?

Expressions of interest, even if only very tentative, can be made to Director Matthew Slocombe (director@spab.org. uk) or Special Operations Manager Jonny Garlick (Jonathan.garlick@spab.org.uk).

Right The medieval doorway was discovered within the later chimney stack

Below right Repairs now tie the west wall into the 15th century masonry

Photo SPAB

Photo SPAB

and re pai r of h is to ri c bu i ld ings, period CO NSER VI NG TR AD IT IO NA L BUIL DI NG S

St Augustine’s Church, Broxbourne

Working Party site wins award

A 16th century cottage we helped to save has won an award from the Nottinghamshire Buildings Preservation Trust.

In 2019 we held a Guerilla Working Party to carry out urgent repairs to Auld Cottage, a modest timber-framed building in Norwell, Nottinghamshire. Auld Cottage had been unoccupied since the 1960s, and locals including SPAB Scholar (1997) Jane Holt and the Norwell Parish Heritage Group were deeply concerned about its rapidly deteriorating condition. Before winter set in, we gathered a small, dedicated group of specialists and volunteers who worked hard for two days propping up the structure and repairing the leaking roof.

Now under new ownership, the cottage has been skilfully conserved under the direction of SPAB Guardian Britt Harwood and is now a holiday let. In December of last year, the project was declared the winner of the Harry Johnson Award, given by the Nottinghamshire Building Preservation Trust Limited and the Nottingham Branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England. (CPRE).

Photo Lorna Glanfield-Morgan

Right Our short Working Party helped bring the building back from the brink in 2019

Photo SPAB

Photo SPAB

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Fit for the Future

villa on the Isle of Wight from three dilapidated flats to a much-admired family home

BERWICK LODGE STRIKES AN imposing silhouette against the evening sky over The Solent, its Gothic stone tower – a romantic fantasy of the Victorian imagination – rising above the treeline like a medieval bastion. Confused passers-by often ask if it is a castle, or possibly a church, and look surprised when told that it has always been a house. Built around 1850 as a seasonal residence for Victorian high society, it is one of the few survivors from a cluster of ‘maritime’ villas in Ryde, lining Queen Victoria’s carriage-route to Osborne House. The neighbouring property, Westfield Park, once belonged to the aristocratic Spencer family and had one of the finest Italianate gardens in Europe.

Sadly, at the end of Queen Victoria’s reign, demand for grand seasonal homes – replete with ballrooms, ice houses and servant quarters – dwindled. Many were demolished or, like Berwick Lodge, became subdivided into flats, no longer requiring an entourage of butlers, maids and gardeners to support them. However, these significant buildings remain challenging and costly to maintain, presenting an ongoing dilemma to anyone with responsibility for their upkeep.

STARTING OUT

Our own responsibility for Berwick Lodge began in 2012 when we bought the ground floor flat. Five years later, we decided to buy the upper flats which included the Head Lease, allowing us to make a more extensive repair plan that would encompass the entire house. A survey indicated the roof was derelict, drainpipes and gutters cracked, 80% of stonework badly eroded and many window-frames rotted.

With little experience of conservation, taking on a large-scale project felt daunting and our first step was deciding what we were trying to achieve. It was important to us that the house retained its historic character and so our plans needed to be sympathetic and respectful of its past. Joining the SPAB

and reading its literature provided an essential grounding of basic knowledge and resources. Next, we had to find professionals with local knowledge and expertise, and we were delighted that Steve O’Keefe and Robert Biggs of Christopher Scott Limited joined us as project managers. Under their guidance we found a local building company, GJ Banks Limited of Cowes, with extensive experience in working on local historical properties.

Discovering the building’s history was necessary groundwork too. Using local archives at the Isle of Wight Record Office as well as online resources and the National Archives at Kew, we discovered that the house had been lived in by some fascinating figures, including the 5th Duc and Duchesse de Choiseul-Praslin, Jack Seely (the 1st Lord Mottistone), Sir Nathaniel Montefiore, Baron Hotham, Admiral Sir John West, Mrs Florence Scarlett (granddaughter of the poet Percy Shelley and Frankenstein author Mary Shelley), Rear Admiral George Hancock with his Greek heiress wife, Countess Maria Metaxa-Anzolato, and Margaretta de la Pole Temple-West, who was born at Shute Barton in Devon (featured in The

SPAB Magazine , Winter 2022).

The tower was originally a gentleman’s smoking room and you can just imagine Rear Admiral Hancock standing at the window with his telescope trained on Royal Navy warships passing by. We also came across photographs of the house taken in 1898 for the artist Philip de Laszlo, who stayed there whilst painting the portrait of Mrs Honora TempleWinthrop, wife of an American ice company magnate. Among this collection was a photograph of the original front porch which our architect, Robert Biggs, used to design a replacement.

THE 10-YEAR PROJECT

Nothing can truly prepare one for large-scale conservation projects but, as a foretaste of further disasters to come, the weather provided us with a baptism. Christmas 2017 had been heralded by a fierce winter storm which sent fractured slates plummeting onto the terrace and rainwater wound its way through three storeys. The urgency of roof repairs was painfully clear but sourcing enough scaffolding and a tin roof is not easy on an island.

Meeting after meeting generated more

Julia Flutter recounts the highs and lows of the 10-year project to transform her mid-Victorian ‘maritime’

All photos Julia Flutter

North elevation on completion in 2022

questions, decisions and unforeseen problems with costs, stress and worry increasing in alarmingly direct proportion. We needed to learn a whole new vocabulary to answer questions that somehow life had never posed before. Did we want hand-tooled quoins? What about an Acrow prop in the recently discovered old wine cellar (a good idea with tons of scaffolding bearing down on it and otherwise only a half-empty, litre bottle of 1970s Liebfraumilch standing up to the force!)?

Weeks of work became months, and then trundled relentlessly on into years. Gradually, the to-do list moved forwards. New roof? Tick. New guttering and drainage? Tick. Refaced and repaired stone walls? Tick. Fire proofing, re-wiring, new heating systems, gas supplies, stripped and renovated zinc window frames, replaced water mains, traditional lath and plasterwork re-instated hand-tooled quoins and hand-made chimney pots re-introduced. Tick. The list is long and

dull or distressing, depending on one’s vantage point. The occasional phone call to reveal that “serious matters” had emerged added a frisson of fearful anticipation.

The worst of these serious matters came to light in the tower. We discovered that the roof had been oddly constructed from cast iron girders and ceramic red floor tiles. This was a method of construction that no-one could recall having seen before and may well be as unique as it was ill-advised and hazardous. The tower walls needed to be lovingly embraced by mighty steel ‘arms’ whilst these rusty girders were removed. We imagine it was like playing the game of Kerplunk with ironwork and masonry instead of plastic spills and marbles but requiring the same dextrous care to avoid a game-losing collapse.

THE NEXT CHAPTER

After considerable time and no less considerable expense, the day dawned when the scaffolding finally disappeared

and we could breathe a sigh of relief –at least for a while. We know that our stewardship of Berwick Lodge does not end here: maintenance is a vital, perennial task. It has been a challenging but immensely rewarding journey to save this remarkable old building from the ravages of time, wind and water, and to see its dignity regained as the disfiguring layers of modern clutter were stripped away. We are deeply grateful to everyone who worked with us – especially Jill Banks, director of GJ Banks Limited, and her husband, Mick Sivell, Master Stone Mason – we truly could not have done it without them.

The house’s Gothic façade seems to inspire speculation that the house may be haunted. Disappointingly perhaps, I cannot say we have ever seen or heard departed spirits. However, it’s possible to sense past occupants in any old property and that’s partly what makes them so special and worth preserving.

Architectural conservation expert, Dan McCloud, put it this way: “Buildings are experiential artefacts but not dry ones. They are the repository of their own story and consequently of our society’s story. So, by showing us where we are from, however muddled, ambiguous and happenstance that story might be, they point us forwards.”

We hope that our efforts have ensured that Berwick Lodge will continue to be enjoyed and cherished by future generations. If there are ghosts, then I hope they are content with what we have done.

Berwick Lodge was shortlisted for the Best Loved Award in the private category at the SPAB Heritage Awards 2022.

Tower and entrance in poor state of repair

The repaired tower and new porch

A PA SS IO N FOR HER ITAG E

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Detail from The Colquhoun Chapel, Brookwood Cemetery: During 2019 SSHC undertook a full programme of conservation cleaning, repairs, replacement masonry, re-plastering and fabrications – internal and external.

SCHOLARS AND FELLOWS

Announcing our new Scholars and Fellows

2022 Fellow David McFerran is a carpenter and joiner from Northern Ireland. Here he reflects on his year on the conservation trail.

I heard about the SPAB whilst completing a Princes’ Foundation Summer School. Through an inspiring talk and workshop delivered by SPAB Fellow Alex Gibbons, I was completely sold on the wonderful opportunity to deepen my learning and contextualise my craft that the SPAB Fellowship provides. I was delighted to be selected and I am very proud to be one of only three Fellows in Northern Ireland and the only carpenter/ joiner to have completed the Fellowship in the whole of Ireland.

It feels very strange to sit down and reflect on the past nine months. The SPAB Fellowship has been an intensely rewarding and challenging experience. One which I will continue to reflect on and learn from in the months and years to come.

The first two ‘Blocks’ of the Fellowship were a great opportunity to learn about other craft professions, deepen my conservation philosophy and forge lifelong bonds with the other Fellows and Scholars, helping each other through the good times and the tough times. We travelled the length and breadth of the UK and Ireland – my own van dutifully clocked up 11,500 miles!

We met many amazing, warm, welcoming and knowledgeable hosts along the way, all of whom I don’t know how to thank enough. The continued support of the hosts who gave their time and very often their spare rooms so generously, ensures the longevity of the programme.

Prior to the Fellowship I had experience working on Ballycopeland Windmill in Northern Ireland and I was keen to continue my work with traditional mills. Early in Block One, we visited Paul Sellwood and Mildred Cookson at Mapeldurham Watermill and helped to lift off and clean the mill stone. I was also given the opportunity to make further visits with Millwrighting Fellow Owen Bushell. A standout memory was helping

Photos David McFerran

Above and right At Sibsey Windmill in Suffolk with Tim Whiting

to fit a new cap to Sibsey Windmill in Suffolk with Tim Whiting. This was such a privilege and we won’t witness this replaced again in our lifetime.

The third Block of the Fellowship is more self-led with the chance for us to choose visits which suit our individual interests. One of my aims was to develop my skills within the craft of thatching by getting some hands-on experience working in some different regional styles.

Our first foray into thatching on the Fellowship was with Alex Gibbons at a Bothy in Scotland, and on this visit, we had the opportunity to replace the thatch on a section of the building. We also visited Ivor Kilpatrick in Donegal and watched flax and rye being harvested for thatching. I have made plans to work with Ivor in 2023.

In the third Block, I shadowed Alan Jones in Wales, working with water reed thatching on a round house. I then went on to do some combed wheat reed thatching with Tom Dunbar in Somerset, before returning to Alan Jones doing round wood timber work to form the cap for the smoke hole of the round house.

Thatching is something close to my heart. I have had a love of Irish vernacular buildings since I was a child, I still visit the same direct entry vernacular cottage in Innishowen for family holidays now. I am interested in regional thatching styles, and I particularly love the rope and peg thatch style. Roped thatch, either rope

and peg or rope and stone, was once commonly used on the West Coast of Ireland. Most dwellings in the style have been lost but a number of rope and peg thatched cottages remain in Innishowen and I feel that the tradition must be protected. Watching thatched dwellings fall into disuse and dereliction troubles me; these vernacular buildings are such an important part of our shared heritage in Ireland.

As I begin the next chapter of my

career, I am so grateful for the bonds which I have formed with Fellows and Scholars (past and present) and our hosts. I now have a vast network of trusted colleagues to ask for advice and discuss conservation philosophy and practice with. I am delighted to see the excellent work that SPAB Ireland has been doing in the past six years and I look forward to continuing my journey with the SPAB, helping to further develop its presence across Ireland.

Since 1930, the SPAB Scholarship has offered an unrivalled training opportunity to architects, surveyors and engineers in the early stages of their career in conservation. Our Fellowship was founded in 1987 to broaden the experience of craftspeople from any trade who work in the repair of historic buildings. The programmes give Scholars and Fellows the chance to travel together and learn on site and in the workshop from leading specialists working in building conservation. The 2023 Scholars and Fellows will be starting their journey in March. We’re delighted to welcome an enthusiastic new group of conservation professionals.

Our 2023 Fellows are:

Jack Buchanan, Historic Environment Scotland Stonemason, from Glasgow

Daniel Cheetham, Carpenter, Millwright Fellow, from Market Rasen, Lincolnshire

Kate Longworth, Bricklayer, from Hull

James Osborne, Blacksmith, from Shrewsbury

Our 2023 Scholars are:

Laura Brain, Architectural Assistant, from Nottingham

Genevieve Gorham, Architect, from Wantage

Lewis Hobbs, Architectural Assistant, from Birmingham

Fred Palmer, Architectural Assistant, from Malmesbury

Photos Alan Jones

Thatching a roundhouse with water reed under Alan Jones in Wales

Forming a smoke cap for the roundhouse

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COURSES & EVENTS

We’re adding new courses and events all the time so visit the What’s On section of our website for more information. To receive regular updates about our new courses and events direct to your inbox, sign up:

Old House Eco Course

Date: 18 March 2023

Venue: Coopers’ Hall, Bristol Old Vic, Bristol

Price: £140 per person

£160 per person - with Old House Eco Handbook

With rising energy bills and the desire to cut carbon emissions high on many

Archaeology at the Old House Project ONLINE TALK

Date: 27 April 2023

Time: 13:00–14:00 (BST)

Price: £6 per person – SPAB member

£7 per person – non-member

Join us for this online talk, presented by archaeologist Graham Keevill, as an illustrated introduction to the archaeological work at the SPAB’s Old House Project – former St Andrew’s Chapel, a Grade II-listed ‘building at risk’ in Kent, which stood empty for 50 years.

The second in a collection of online talks about our Old House Project, this lecture will introduce the archaeological work undertaken at St Andrew’s Chapel from 2019–22, starting with a series of small test pits dug around the perimeter of the building. Archaeological finds at the base of walls can help establish a date for construction or key points of change and alteration in the building. If you cannot make the live talk but wish to watch it on demand, advance booking is required.

people’s agenda, the need for sustainable, energy efficient buildings is increasingly urgent. Join us to learn how to make your home more energy efficient, low carbon and comfortable without devaluing the character or integrity of the building. This one-day course is relevant for all those who live in, use or manage period properties (pre-1919), and is a valuable introduction for professionals who may

need to brief their clients on improving the energy efficiency and sustainability of their homes. We are celebrating the 10th anniversary of this popular course, delivered by Old House Eco Handbook co-author Roger Hunt and special guest speakers, and are delighted to return to host the course at the refurbished Grade I-listed Coopers’ Hall at the Bristol Old Vic.

Photo Ralph Hodgson

Photo c 43 Clicks North, Unsplash

Photo c Erik McLean, Unsplash

Lime Plastering Courses at the Heritage Skills Centre, Coleshill

We are delighted to return to the Heritage Skills Centre, Coleshill, for our third year of popular lime-themed courses in association with the National Trust.

An Introduction to Plain Lime Plastering

Date: 21–22 April 2023

Venue: Heritage Skills Centre (National Trust), Coleshill Home Farm, near Swindon

Price: £495 per person

FULLY BOOKED

This popular, practical course covers the mixing and application of lime plaster to lath, masonry and modern substrates, which includes pricking up and base coats, float coats and setting coats. It provides a brief introduction to running a cornice in situ. Ideally, course participants should have practical plastering skills, and experienced plasterers used to working in gypsum will particularly benefit from the course. We also welcome anyone interested in learning about plain lime plastering for their home or old

Photographing Old Buildings:

An appreciation of textures, details, space and light

ONLINE WORKSHOP

Date: April – June 2023

Price: £105 per person

FULLY BOOKED

EXTRA COURSE ADDED:

Date: May – July 2023

Price: £105 per person

Our popular old building photography online workshop returns this year. Whether you photograph old buildings for work projects or leisure, this four-step workshop is an opportunity to receive professional guidance on techniques and composition to develop your appreciation of the space and light of old buildings and to boost your confidence in photographing their textures, details and features. Spaces on this workshop are limited to allow for small group discussion. The workshop assumes familiarity with a digital SLR or mirrorless camera and photography basics. Certificates of attendance for CPD purposes are available on request.

building(s) under their care. The tutors are knowledgeable lime plasterers with decades of onsite experience.

An Introduction to Ornamental Lime Plastering

Date: 9–10 June 2023

Venue: Heritage Skills Centre (National Trust), Coleshill Home Farm, near Swindon Price: £495 per person

Bursaries available

This course is ideal for people with plastering experience, and particularly working plasterers who are keen to expand their skill base. Working in a small group with three experienced tutors, this two-day course will include a demonstration of making a running mould and provide a practical introduction to running a cornice in situ and forming external and internal mitres. There will also be instruction on casting and fixing enrichments as well as running fibrous plasterwork formed ‘on the bench’. Bursaries, generously provided by the Worshipful Company of Plaisterers, are available.

“It was excellent, such a positive experience. I really appreciate all the time given by the tutors and everyone involved in making the course happen. It was perfectly organised and well timed.” Course participant (2022)

“The course exceeded my expectations, helping me to better understand some of the general principals of architectural photography, but also how to be more critical of the images I create and use. It was very good value and well-paced, giving time to absorb the information and apply it practically.” Online workshop participant (2022)

The Repair of Old Buildings Course

Date: 22–26 May 2023

Venue: Museum of the Home, London

Price: £885 per person

The SPAB’s flagship course, run since the 1950s, will be taking place in London in spring 2023. Run over five days, The Repair of Old Buildings Course delivers an intensive programme of lectures and visits to building repair projects. Presented by leading building conservation professionals, this popular course considers British and international approaches to the conservation of old buildings. The SPAB philosophy of repair and maintenance – established by William Morris in 1877 – underpins the course programme of case studies, presentations and site visits. The course welcomes students and professionals interested in deepening their understanding of old buildings, and who may be interested in developing work in this area.

Photo Ferdinand Stohr, Unsplash

Photo Ralph Hodgson

Photo SPAB

CASEWORK CAMPAIGNING

1 BLUECOAT YARD WARE, HERTFORDSHIRE

Joanne Needham

In its casework the SPAB gives advice to planning authorities, owners and professionals. Cases arise from information received about neglected buildings or planning proposals. Councils in England and Wales are obliged to notify the SPAB of applications involving demolition work to listed buildings. We also hear from parishes, dioceses and cathedrals when certain works to listed churches are proposed. Casework is one the key ways the SPAB campaigns for the future of historic buildings.

Historic England, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and the Property Care Association recently published their Joint Position Statement on Investigation of Moisture and its Effects on Traditional Buildings: Principles and Competencies (September 2022). It is an excellent publication and will no doubt become a respected document by many in the conservation field and beyond. Indeed, it is supported by Historic Environment (Scotland), Cadw, Historic Environment Division Northern Ireland, the SPAB and the Institute of Historic Building Conservation.

The Joint Position Statement details a set of agreed competencies and principles that should underpin investigation and treatment of moisture-related issues in traditional buildings. The publication provides a bestpractice framework and, crucially, advocates a ‘whole building’ approach and the need to identify the cause of any excessive moisture.

The SPAB regularly sees cases of damp and moisturerelated issues, and often reviews cases where there has been no attempt to identify the cause of the damp, or where it has been incorrectly identified, with ‘damp-proofing’ treatment works still specified. In many cases, these works are inappropriate and unjustified. A recent casework consultation for the Grade II-listed 1 Bluecoat Yard is an example of such a case.

The list description says that the building dates from the 16th century with remodelling in the 17th century. The entry also goes on to note that the basic structure pre-dates the acquisition of the Bluecoat Yard buildings by Christ’s Hospital in 1685, but that the late 17th century remodelling was probably to create ‘nurse cottages’ for the pupils of the school. The building is described as being of timber frame, plastered, pebble dashed and colour washed. It is now a single dwelling.

An application was recently made to the local authority seeking consent for the installation of a cavity drain membrane system in the cellar of the property in order to counteract regular water ingress and associated damage to the property and materials stored in the space. Unfortunately, the supporting information did not provide the requisite information in terms of understanding the property, identifying the cause of the problem and justifying the proposed works.

For these reasons, and concern over the potential harmful impact of the works on the building’s fabric and significance,

the Society was unable to support the application. We fully endorsed Historic England’s consultation advice which was submitted shortly before our own and which also referenced the Joint Position Statement. The Society advised the local authority that we believed the application should be withdrawn or refused, and that the applicant should commission a comprehensive survey and assessment by a suitably qualified and independent surveyor experienced in dealing with historic buildings. We also urged that they seek advice from the Council’s conservation officer and detailed the additional information and justification that would be required for any future application.

It is hoped that the Joint Position Statement will not only help in the case of 1 Bluecoat Yard but that it will be an invaluable guide for future cases and generally help to improve the survey, diagnostics and treatment of moisturerelated problems in traditional buildings.

Photo SPAB

The building dates from the 16th century... the 17th century remodelling was probably to create ‘nurse cottages’ for the pupils of Christ’s Hospital

BUILDINGS AT RISK UPDATE

Laura Polglase and Christina Emerson

Thanks to Laura Polglase, a long-time volunteer with the casework team, the Society is able to take action on many of the buildings at risk we are alerted to. Over the past year we have responded to many and varied requests from SPAB members and members of the public. These are sent to the SPAB general email address or on occasion by post. Increasingly, we are alerted to buildings at risk via social media.

In every case, we carry out research into the building, including its current ownership and planning permissions. Even identification is not always straightforward as the concerned member of the public will sometimes provide a photo but no grid references or postal address. After investigation, in some cases, no further action is required – the building is either, happily, in the course of being repaired or the local authority is aware of the case and dealing with the owner. In other cases, we are able to progress matters with the help of the local conservation team or Historic England.

An example of a case we have seen recently is Tonge Hall in Middleton, Greater Manchester, a Grade II-listed local landmark in Rochdale. Following a fire in 2007, emergency remedial work was carried out in 2013, with the help of SPAB Scholar Alan Gardner. The work is referred to in our publication, The SPAB Approach to the Conservation & Care of Old Buildings , as an example of temporary repair.

A SPAB member recently raised concern about the building, which is now owned by Rochdale Council, and we contacted both the Council and Historic England about the waterproof

In January 2023

sheeting, which is in a state of disrepair. The Council agreed that they would mend this before the winter but sadly seem to have no further plans and its future remains in doubt. We are liaising with SAVE Britain’s Heritage to discuss future action as it has been on their register of buildings at risk for some time.

Are you concerned about a building at risk? Please email Laura Polglase at casework2@spab.org.uk

Photo Fred Wall

Tonge Hall after fire in 2007

Photo SPAB

ST ANDREW’S CHURCH BISHOPSTONE, EAST SUSSEX

Merlin Lewis

One of East Sussex’s oldest churches, Grade I-listed St Andrew’s lies at the heart of the Downland village of Bishopstone. Whilst it retains its Saxon nave, Norman intervention saw the original porticus transformed into a south porch and further post-conquest accretions include the north aisle, choir and tower to the nave’s west end. Built of flint rubblework in four diminishing stages, the tower incorporates Caen stone quoins, doorways and fenestration, indicating construction circa AD 1070-1100.

In 2021 routine repointing works to the Norman tower revealed large voids within its north and west walls. Following this discovery, the Parochial Church Council commendably instructed a series of investigations culminating in a detailed archaeological report. A borescope survey was conducted via small openings made through the tower’s external flintwork, revealing the voids to be approximately a foot square (0.305m) in profile and running the full extent of their respective walls. Additionally, fragments of decayed timber were observed within the cavities.

It is thought that the voids remain following the decay of large, horizontal timber beams within the core of the tower walls. In addition to impressions made upon the original construction mortar, a lack of external evidence for the cavities indicates that the beams were incorporated into the walls during construction, rather than introduced later.

Their size suggests a structural role and a slight ‘joggle’ or step between the voids would have accommodated an overlap between the beams.

It is believed that the timbers would have been jointed to form a partial U-shaped ring beam, or perhaps a complete ring beam, intended to tie the tower walls together and reduce their propensity to bow or lean. The arrangement may have been intended to provide stability to the tower, tying it into the earlier Saxon nave. Whilst it became common to embed bonding timbers into masonry buildings from the 17th century, it is unusual to find them in earlier buildings. The tower voids at St Andrew’s show evidence of a highly unusual construction technique in a medieval ecclesiastical context and are potentially of national significance.

Unfortunately, St Andrew’s is affected by persistent damp within the tower and so the Parochial Church Council (PCC) has proposed to fill the historic voids with conservation grout in the hope of addressing this issue. While we fully understand the parish’s desire to try and remedy the damp issue, at this point in time we don’t feel that there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the voids are in fact the cause of dampness within the tower, or indeed that filling them in the manner proposed would address the issue. Additionally, a structural engineer has confirmed that the voids are not causing structural distress within the tower and nor would they if left unfilled.

As filling the tower voids at St Andrew’s would substantially diminish their considerable archaeological and evidential significance, the Society is encouraging the PCC to undertake further investigations of the possible causes of dampness within the tower before embarking on any course of action.

Photo Andy Scott

St Andrew’s in Bishopstone, East Sussex

Our long-established heritage team provides afullrange of conservation engineering services covering the inspection, assessment and repair of historic structure and infrastructure of all periods.

With national coverage we can help you manage the special challenges presented by historic buildings and maximise opportunities for their future use. Our team includes chartered structural &civil engineers, conservation accredited building surveyors and members of the conservation accreditation register for engineers (CAR E) whichidentifies specialist engineers skilled in the appraisal and repair of historic structures and sites.

Consulting Structural Engineers Consulting Civil Engineers

UPDATE ON BUNKSLAND (BUNGSLAND) FARM

EAST ANSTEY, NORTH

Rachel Broomfield

DEVON

Hopefully readers will recall the case of this wonderful grade II*- listed farmhouse in rural north Devon, which had been little-changed for centuries. We last reported on it in 2018 and since then very positive things have happened so we wanted to bring you up to date.

Following our Working Party in early January 2018, where we propped the building to try and avoid further deterioration, the southwest had a hard winter, but our efforts paid off in preventing any further significant structural damage taking place. Over the following months North Devon Council, Historic England and the executors spent a great deal of time trying to establish who owned the farm and then ascertaining if the owners intended to keep or sell it.

By early 2019 there had been some further minor deterioration to the historic fabric, mainly to the front corner where the cob had previously collapsed (which we had covered with a tarpaulin) and some movement to the rear corner behind the ‘structural’ oil tank, but overall, the building stayed largely as it was.

Historic England offered grant aid to help the Council with the costs of the extensive scaffolding, which started to go up in May 2019 once an Urgent Works Notice had been served. This really helped to support the structure properly. A charge was placed on the building so these costs could be recouped when it was sold.

In early 2020 the Devon Regional Group visited to see how the building was holding up. By this time the interior had largely been cleared so it was much easier to see its true condition.

Historic England undertook a programme of surveying, research and tree ring dating, and when the dates for the roof timbers from the first phase of building came back, they revealed a felling date of 1396-97, making the property earlier than described in the listing description. The survey and dendrochronology reports can be accessed here:

Building Assessment and Survey: https://historicengland. org.uk/research/results/reports/13-2022

Tree-ring dating: https://historicengland.org.uk/research/ results/reports/191-2020

The property finally went on to the open market in 2021 and we were delighted that it was purchased by artists (and SPAB members) Etienne and Mary Millner, who split their time between Devon and London. Etienne and Mary were well qualified for the challenge, having previously undertaken two heritage at risk projects in Devon at Mockham Barton, Brayford, and The Barton, West Buckland.

Since purchasing Bunksland they have commissioned investigations by Southwest Archaeology, a condition survey

of the timberwork by a specialist carpenter and detailed ecological surveys. A further dendrochronology report is planned with Historic England.

Award-winning architects Type Studio have been commissioned and, in early 2022, undertook extensive preapplication discussions with the conservation officer and Historic England, resulting in a recently submitted application for listed building consent. Happily, it was agreed that the priority is to stabilise the building and start repairs in order to avoid further loss of historic fabric, so there will be a further application to address the proposed works to the attached Victorian barns.

We were pleased to be asked to comment on the application and were aided by architect and casework volunteer Simon Cartlidge, who attended the Working Party. We are delighted that Bunksland is to have a new lease of life as a family home and will follow its progress with interest.

Top Interior view

Photos Sam Nelson, Type Studio

Above left and left Front elevation with the medieval farmhouse to the right and the Victorian hay barns to the left

Above 1st floor showing the unusual closed truss crown-post construction. When the hall and inner room were floored in the late 16th century, a huge cob wall was built against the truss to carry the inner room ceiling beam. The wall has collapsed taking part of the first floor with it

Clandon Park: A Country House Laid Bare

In 2015, Clandon was gutted by fire. Tessa Wild visited the scaffolded site, with Sophie Chessum, National Trust Senior Curator, and Kent Rawlinson, National Trust Project Director, to learn more about the current phase of works and plans for the future representation of the fire-damaged house

CLANDON PARK WAS BUILT IN THE late 1720s for the 2nd Lord Onslow and his wife, Elizabeth Knight, who inherited a fortune derived from sugar plantations in Jamaica. Lord Onslow demolished the unfashionable Jacobean house of his forbears and commissioned the Venetian architect, Giacomo Leoni, to design his house in

the latest Palladian style.

More than 200 years later, like many country houses in the decades after the Second World War, Clandon Park faced an uncertain future. Although the Onslow family reoccupied the house, following its use during the war as a store for archives from the Public Record Office, they found they could

not continue to maintain it. The house and part of the contents were bought from the 5th Lord Onslow by his aunt, Lady Iveagh, the daughter of the 4th Earl of Onslow. After much deliberation, she transferred ownership of the Grade I-listed house and seven acres of garden (with her nephew retaining ownership of the wider estate) to the National Trust (NT) in 1956.

Lady Iveagh, recorded at the time: “It is with the deepest satisfaction that I can now feel that my old home is safe for the future.” And so, it remained, until disaster struck in April 2015, when an electrical fault led to a devastating fire.

Although the fire destroyed much of

the collection and furnishings, key pieces were saved and thousands of architectural fragments were salvaged from the post-fire debris. Remarkably, the Speakers’ Parlour on the north side of the house survived relatively unscathed but the entire roof, staircases and majority of floors collapsed leaving a burnt-out brick shell. Within days of the fire, Helen Ghosh, former NT Director General said that Clandon would be rebuilt “in some shape or form”, sparking debate as to the merits of alternative approaches.

HOW TO RESPOND?

Within the heritage world and more

widely, diametrically opposed arguments have been voiced. These ranged from the full restoration of the house, to accepting Clandon’s fate and leaving it as a ruin and spending the insurance monies on conservation of other houses in the NT’s care. Taking account of the losses and survivals, others have argued for more of a compromise approach with a partial restoration of the house where enough evidence exists. The SPAB became involved in discussions about Clandon’s future very soon after the fire and has consistently supported an approach which emphasises conservation and new design as opposed to a historic and faithful recreation in

the style of Uppark.

In the aftermath of the fire, alongside working out what had survived and the structural stability of the fabric, the NT commissioned a Conservation Management Plan from Alan Baxter to inform its understanding and decisionmaking process. Following this in 2017, the NT held an international design competition which was won by Allies and Morrison. Their proposal to ‘restore, re-imagine and re-build’ Clandon was drawn up in collaboration with conservation architects Purcell. It included ambitious plans to restore the dramatic 40-foot cube Marble Hall and its virtuoso plaster ceiling by Italian stuccatore Guiseppe Artari and create a sequence of galleries, learning and catering spaces with the introduction of new floors, ceilings and access routes.

NEW PROPOSALS

This scheme has now been significantly revised in the light of a growing understanding and appreciation of what survives and what is achievable in terms of re-instating lost interiors. This shift in the NT’s thinking about how the house might be best used, interpreted and presented led to the launch of new proposals in July 2022. A complete restoration of the state rooms is no longer envisaged, with the exception of the Speakers’ Parlour. Surviving elements, including the remarkable paired chimneypieces and reliefs carved by the Flemish sculptor John Michael Rysbrack in the Marble Hall and other architectural fragments, will be repaired and conserved in situ.

The house will be opened to visitors with the introduction of a new roof with skylights over the principal spaces, a fully accessible roof terrace with views of the historic park and wider Surrey landscape and a series of suspended walkways and a lift to enable access to the surviving interior. New replacement windows are also proposed. Much of this detail is still

Left Clandon after the fire in 2015

in the process of being worked out and will be subject to further consultation, planning applications and listed building consents. The plan is that all the interior and part of the roof will be useable space serving both the local and wider community. It is envisaged that there will be a dynamic programme of events and that Clandon will once more be a living building animated by people and activity and much more than a ‘ruin with a roof’.

The NT has released Allies and Morrisons’ concept designs to illustrate the new architectural principles for Clandon and these show the proposed treatment of the Marble Hall, the Saloon, the Roof and what is now called the Palladio space. This evocative, almost Piranesian chamber, extends the full height of the house from basement to roof and is the combination of the former Palladio Room, the principal drawing room on the south side of the house, the basement space beneath and the open space of the two further floors of rooms above it.

ESSENTIAL WORKS AND SKILLS TRAINING

Concurrently a major programme of essential works is in progress and this phase of the project will run for the next 3 years. This work is to stabilise, repair and conserve the exterior envelope – the red brick walls, the stonework parapet and decorative details, the soaring

chimneystacks and other built elements - and is expected to cost between £15-20m. It is one of the largest and most complex conservation projects undertaken by the NT. Pilot works form part of the essential works programme and the NT is employing specialist craftspeople to work on defined trial areas to inform the larger programme of works. From this critical pilot phase, they are gaining a clear sense of the intricacy and time involved and are able to extrapolate from this to better control risk, pricing and the timetable of works going forward. The NT is working closely with Historic England and Guildford Borough Council and other statutory consultees, including the SPAB. Like-for-like conservation repairs are being made and a number of SPAB Scholars and Fellows, staff and Trustees have visited the site to learn about the philosophy of approach and see firsthand the scale of the work involved and the wealth of layers and building history revealed by the fire.

For as Sophie Chessum, explained: “The fire has produced an X-ray view of the making of Clandon – giving us a unique chance to look beneath its

All photos on this page National Trust

Above Emma Simpson tests repointing a historic brick arch

Top The SUPSI team assessing the plaster ceiling in the Speakers’ Parlour

Left The raw, layered beauty of the Marble Hall

surface and see the work of the many hands who made the house… it is as close as you can get to an 18th century building site.”

Historic brick specialist and former co-Chair of the SPAB’s Education and Training Committee, Emma Simpson is one of the craftspeople engaged in the pilot phase. She has found working on the fine gauged brickwork and carefully orchestrated elevations of red, purple and orange hued bricks to be a richly collaborative experience, after such a poignant and destructive event. She is impressed by the quality of the work of her 18th century predecessors and has said:, “I feel very proud and privileged to be able to work on Clandon. I just want to give it some care and try to add to the whole way the building’s grown over the years.”

From speaking to those involved in its conservation, it is apparent that all feel connected to the earlier makers, and all see the potential for Clandon to play an important role for this and future generations of craftspeople.

Apprenticeships and on-site skills sharing and training will be embedded in the essential works programme and Clandon will in effect become, in Kent

Rawlinson’s words, “a school for heritage craft”. What is inherent in the NT’s vision and the approach of the craftspeople on site is that there is a great opportunity here for a deeper understanding of past methods and practices, the advancement of knowledge and the application of traditional skills to ensure the building’s future. The analogy of the X-ray is apposite for Clandon affords an unrivalled view of the past and demands informed, pragmatic solutions to ensure its future.

HARD HAT TOURS AND NEW RESEARCH

The wider appeal of Clandon’s haunting, elemental character and the public’s desire to see the house and learn more about the NT’s findings and proposals is

apparent. Since 2016, over 75,000 people have attended hard hat tours at weekends viewing part of the house and temporary displays of salvaged items and new research. Feedback has revealed how fascinated people are by the conservation story and the sense of a continuous thread between the 18th century craftsmen and today’s dedicated craftspeople working on site. Kent Rawlinson recognises that, “visiting Clandon offers both an extraordinary aesthetic and emotional experience and at the same time is a highly didactic experience, for it is possible to learn so much from what the fire has revealed”. The NT will build on this high level of interest in its future interpretation and engagement strategy.

Recent research and collaborative partnerships are also contributing to a deeper appreciation and understanding of the many different elements that are part of Clandon’s collective story. Previously hidden histories have come to

the fore as the demands of the project have necessitated and prompted new research. NT Curator, Rachael Chambers’ investigations into the source of the house’s clay pits, has revealed both a named brickmaker, Thomas Chitty, and documentary evidence that he is employed in making bricks for Lord Onslow’s new house in 1727. Research into the superb plasterwork ceilings and the stuccatore who executed them has led to international collaborations, including with a team of conservators, art historians and conservation scientists from the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI), who are sharing their comparative knowledge of contemporary SwissItalian stuccatore and their techniques, to draw comparisons and inform understanding. These are just two snapshots of a comprehensive and on-going programme of research. For Kent Rawlinson and the project team as

Above The stripped back interior reveals changes made during the process of building

Photo National Trust

Left Concept design - Marble Hall: conserved and stabilised in its firedamaged state it will introduce the story of how this great house was made

Below left Concept design - Roof: a wrap-around roof terrace with rooflights will provide visitors with sweeping views across the historic parkland and back down into the firedamaged house

a whole, Clandon “offers a new lens on the country house and invites reappraisal both of what we knew about pre-fire Clandon but also about comparative country houses”.

Post-fire Clandon presents a new and exciting chapter in the house’s rich history. It prompts you to re-think received knowledge, to seek to comprehend the multi-faceted nature of the materials and layers that make up a house and to acknowledge and admire the often unknown but highly skilled minds and dexterous hands who have contributed to the whole. It is an arresting and deeply evocative place; not simply because of the extraordinary elevations and interior spaces left by the fire, but because of the newfound awareness and appreciation it engenders.

Clandon raises questions and offers answers and has much to teach us both about its own particular history but also the history of country house building and decoration and the draw such commissions held for highly-skilled local and foreign craftsmen. It is also a place abounding with purposeful activity and a tangible sense of opportunity, especially for those working on its conservation and ensuring it is secure for future generations. It is impossible not to draw a direct comparison between the Clandon of today and its forbear – as it was being planned and built exactly three hundred years ago – and to hope that Clandon’s future is once more assured.

The SPAB looks forward to further involvement with the essential works programme and the detailed proposals for the NT’s vision for the repair, conservation and re-fashioning of the interior.

Photo Allies and Morrison

Photo Allies and Morrison

A lifetime of craftmanship

Rory Young was recognised with our Esher Award in 2022, an honour given to those who have furthered the cause of building conservation and the work of the SPAB. Here we publish the speech he gave at the SPAB Heritage Awards in November 2022.

I WAS UTTERLY TAKEN ABACK and wept when I read and re-read Matthew Slocombe’s invitation to receive the Esher Award. I am profoundly grateful and touched. It was the last thing I had expected, having always had a complex about being a ‘SPAB member errant’, almost a ‘SPABoteur’ at times –my needle often wavering on the SPAB moral compass.

Whilst believing in the maxim “Do as little as possible as well as possible”, I have been accused of doing a bit too much to a building for some SPAB sensibilities – fair enough. ‘We have erred and strayed … like lost sheep, and there is no health in us’, as the old Prayer Book says. The SPAB is a bit like a church, and its flock of the faithful; William Morris’ Manifesto reminds one of tough Epistles from St Paul the Apostle, don’t you think?

Exercising tactfulness, discretion and

Photo Mark Fairhurst, courtesy of Country Life Magazine

Photo graph: Charlie JC hichester

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humility at all times is so difficult, as is achieving the ideal balance between doing enough to help an old building to sail on, and doing too much, which could deflect its course though the coming decades.

Doing what one thinks is best for a building is of course subjective. Many a heated debate has been had on the scaffolding of a building under repair about the level of stone replacement that is necessary. Is our motivation driven by dogma which might result in doing too little to extend the building’s life and perform its function of shedding water? That approach could be seen as irresponsible, and as one Dean said to me, “decadent” – rather an extreme term. The alternative that I have usually favoured was to replace heavily worn or missing water-shedding features (cornices, string courses, sills and plinths) with new stone.

Or does our motivation stem from an over-thorough approach? My late sparring partner Ian Constantinides used to find this despicable, saying it was

Top The St Albans Seven Martyrs, completed 2015

Above Lettering the Haynes Memorial Seat for Sapperton, Gloucestershire, 2016

“like an anodyne suburban bungalow – carpets and grey shoes with one convenience after another”.

We always need to let the building write its own specification, to constantly listen to it and to let it reveal its secrets by degrees. This means having an intimacy with it – costly in professional time on site, of course.

Photo Max Varvile

Photos Mike Smith

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Left Painting completed stone ‘grotesque’ carving of NHS Covid worker for Christchurch Priory, east gable, 2021

It sounds melodramatic to say it but, more than just respect for old fabric, it is reverence and awe for ‘old work’ that is needed. Only then one is more likely to tread carefully, whatever one’s ambitions for the building might be. I still contend that one should not preclude the chance here and there to honour an old building by adding another layer of interest and beauty – a contribution of our times, but only when such additions might be judged appropriate – to enhance the meaning and message of a

Above Designs for a new Genesis Cycle for Great West Doorway of York Minster

Photo Rory Young Photo Rory Young

building and its genius loci. Fabric that has come down to us through the centuries is precious. But so is the overall cultural significance – for instance, preserving the original purpose of figurative carving on a major religious building so that it continues to speak. In this way we are quickening the building – the old word for giving life to it, for reawakening.

I executed one artwork under the aegis of the SPAB in 2006, and that was ‘The Dance Stone’, a memorial sundial to Harry and Monica Dance in their garden at The Old Vicarage at Methwold, Norfolk. I had the help of the 2006 Scholars, Miriam Kelly and Co, and I took it very seriously. It is a curiosity somewhere between sculpture, building and monument; a folly and a hornbook for the principles of the SPAB. The four quadrants to the ‘obelisk’ are inscribed: ‘Decay calling; Collapse falling; Repair holding; Restore spoiling’. It is intricate, loaded with didactic messages. Water collects in a basin on top and drains out onto the quadrant labelled ‘Decay’, literally illustrating the process.

Let us consider beautiful old wall surfaces – an abiding passion of mine. Even the replenishing of that which has been lost by the attrition of weather and pollution, by reinstating threadbare surfaces with flush pointing or plaster finished with limewash can raise an eyebrow within the ‘Star Chamber’ of the SPAB.

Is that tantamount to surface restoration? Not if it is done beautifully in the spirit of old work, with skill, understanding and confidence that it will gradually weather in the timehonoured way because one is following the original practice.

However I am judged, I hope I have shown the importance of the following:

Of the Seeing Eye – looking and looking again

Of Empiricism – of having a sense of enquiry

Of Excellent Workmanship –appropriate to the job in hand

Of the Nature of Materials – their personalities and how to combine them

Fabric that has come down to us through the centuries is precious

Photo Ralph Hodgson

Above Accepting the Esher Award from Marianne Suhr at the 2022 SPAB Heritage Awards

The restored gates at the official opening of Hay Castle in July 2022. The left gate leaf is being pushed open by master craftsman John Best of John Nethercott&Co

Chris jackson.

Left

Carving a headstone with Martin Hillman, 2022

Above Headstone to Hilary Peters, Little Badminton churchyard, designed and overseen by Rory Young, 2022

Of Chronology – what came after what in the building phases

Being part of the continuum of repair and renewal in a building’s life has been humbling, inspiring and a privilege. I have relished sharing my work experience with Scholars and Fellows. I regret my necessary Purdah during the St Albans Seven Martyrs years: big projects are very demanding.

It was eye-opening to learn at the Dance Scholarship Trust AGM just what one scholarship costs. It was 41 years ago, in 1981, that Ian Angus, here tonight, with Philip Hughes and Shawn Kholucy, came to see me at work in Derbyshire on their Scholarship. In recognition of your generous award to me, it is “only meet and right” for me to contribute to this cause. The value of the Scholarship and Fellowship is proven by the recipients’ subsequent careers, often in charge of our greatest historic buildings.

I know what a joyous sacrifice it was for me doing my eight-month tour of the North of England in 1976–77 on leaving art school. It is always good to witness the beneficial effect on the Scholars and Fellows on their Odyssey. More than one Scholar has said to me that if their house was burning down, they would grab their Scholarship notebooks above all else.

After a battle with cancer, Rory Young died peacefully on 23 February 2023. He will be greatly missed by all those within the SPAB who knew him and appreciated his outstanding contribution to craftsmanshp and conservation.

Photo Rory Young

Photo Rory Young

Celebrating craftsmanship

In 2022, Fullers Builders and the Royal School of Needlework both marked 150 years since their foundation and joined forces to embark on a unique partnership of Skill Swap Days. William Fuller, Director of Fullers Builders, and Emma Doggart, Director of Strategy & External Relations at the Royal School of Needlework, reflect on their skill sharing venture

HISTORY OF FULLERS BUILDERS

Fullers Builders was established by Edward Fuller, who was born in Suffolk into a family of bricklayers and carpenters. In the 1860s, Edward moved to London and worked as a carpenter and established Fullers Builders in Walthamstow in 1872. He had four sons, two of whom went to sea, another was a ship’s carpenter and a fourth, William, inherited the business when his father died at an early age. Three further generations of the Fuller family have managed the company from the headquarters that Edward built in Walthamstow. Fullers now works on a vast array of London’s historic buildings and specialises in conservation and repair, primarily using their own directly employed staff of craft operatives.

HISTORY OF THE ROYAL SCHOOL OF NEEDLEWORK

The Royal School of Needlework (RSN) is the international centre of excellence for the art of hand embroidery. It was founded in 1872 on two key principles: the preservation of hand embroidery as an art form and the support of women’s independence through work. The RSN began in a small room above a bonnet shop in Sloane Street, London, and initially employed 20 women. It flourished and, by 1903, the RSN was able to open a new purpose-built centre on Exhibition Road, close to the Victoria & Albert Museum, employing about 150 workers. In 1987, the RSN moved to Hampton Court Palace. It is renowned for its highly skilled embroidery and high-profile commissions, which have included the wedding dress of Kate Middleton, now HRH The Princess of Wales. It also teaches over 1,500 students annually from around the world.

All photos Royal School of Needlework

Left Emma Doggart learning to build a brick wall

HOW DID THE PARTNERSHIP START?

Emma Doggart: In 2021, I was researching different companies that shared our founding date for possible collaborations during our 150th anniversary year. I think it was fate for us to join forces as completely by chance I saw one of Fullers Builders vehicles at Hampton Court Palace and on the side of the van it featured the date they were founded. Our relationship was cemented (no pun intended!) as we discovered it was much more than just a birthday we shared. William Fuller: We were undertaking conservation work to one of the many

historic chimney stacks at Hampton Court Palace when Emma approached us. Aside from our respective birth dates, we initially did not think that we had much in common, but following discussion it was clear that we shared our core values – maintaining traditional skills and craft techniques.

CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIP?

Emma: By the end of 2021, we had developed a plan to share our anniversaries. Firstly, Fullers very generously sponsored our anniversary exhibition, Crown to Catwalk: 150 Years of the Royal School of

Needlework, which took place from April to September 2022 at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London. This was a showcase of the RSN’s remarkable history, including highprofile projects such as the coronation robe of The Queen Mother, wonderful work by our talented students and pieces from our unique Collection & Archive. The second part of the partnership was the Skill Swap Days. William: We proudly sponsored the RSN’s anniversary exhibition and were keen to develop the partnership more. We primarily work with our hands and there was a desire to investigate sharing some experiences together and Skills

Swap Days were proposed. Our company is managed by those that have completed formal craft apprenticeships and these skills are highly valued and embraced by each and every employee at Fullers. The Skill Swap Days were a huge success for both of us.

WHAT WAS THE BUILDERS’ SKILL SWAP DAY?

William: Our key objective was to show how to carry out a series of typical building tasks. Firstly, we needed an easily accessible venue, and thanks to the generosity of the Diocese of London, we met at the Cloudesley Centre, a fine structure, designed by

Charles Barry, the architect of the Palace of Westminster. This site has recently been subject to various phases of conservation work undertaken by Fullers Builders, under the careful site supervision of Danny Burns. We assembled a team of our craft operatives and organised different workstations featuring carpentry, bricklaying, plastering and plumbing challenges, using both traditional and modern materials.

For carpentry, Lewis and Gary were at hand to dismantle a box sash that required weights and cords to be carefully installed. Sean and Mark, our Master Bricklayers, taught how to build

The Skill Swap Days were a celebration of not only our anniversaries but also the wisdom and knowledge of traditional crafts that continue to shape our environment

Below The group at the embroidery day

Right And the group at the builders day

a wall and for a taste of more modern practices, Harry erected a plasterboard wall that was ready for its finishing coat of plaster. Plumbers, Mark and Joe, had an array of copper pipework and fittings to assemble and thereafter pressure test and Danny also demonstrated plaster moulding. Our staff greatly enjoyed the ability to share their skills and were impressed by the natural abilities that the RSN team displayed. As we tidied away the materials that we had used ready for recycling on another project, we were astounded that the RSN group had made so much progress in a day.

Emma: We were a group of RSN staff and tutors and as soon as we turned the street corner, we were struck by the beautiful building where we would spend the day. We had all put on our ‘best’ builder’s clothes and were nervously wondering what lay in store. As soon as we arrived, we were given a health and safety briefing and a crucial clothing accessory – the hi-vis vest! We

then put thoughts of needles and thread aside, and got stuck into the different workstations, learning how to use our hands a little bit differently. I think the smiles on people’s faces in the photos says it all.

The team at Fullers were brilliant and so patient with us! We all absolutely loved the day and really enjoyed learning something new. Whilst the spirit level was definitely my friend, the plaster’s hawk was my enemy! It was also fascinating learning about the work that Fullers had been doing at the Cloudesley Centre, in particular, the stunning plaster moulds on the ceiling which we had a chance to re-create too.

WHAT DID THE EMBROIDERY SKILL SWAP DAY ENTAIL?

Emma: The Embroidery Day took place at our base in Hampton Court Palace. RSN tutor, Marg Dier, created a special design for Fullers to embroider – an image of a builder’s crane, complete with chain and brick stack! The first

thing everyone learned were some of the basics, including why we use an embroidery hoop, how we can stitch without using knots and crucially the right way to thread a needle. Masako Newton, an expert embroiderer from our Embroidery Studio, helped everyone perfect these crucial beginners’ tasks. Marg then taught a wide range of stitches to give depth and decoration to the design, and she made sure she introduced a very relevant stitch to her new students – Brick Stitch. If you want to find out more about this stitch, which really does exist, you can visit the ‘RSN Stitch Bank’ at www.rsnstitchbank.org.

As part of their day, the team at Fullers Builders were also taken on a guided tour of the RSN, including our Embroidery Studio which specialises in textile conservation and restoration and preparing works for our current exhibition, A Girl’s Education in Stitch. The team was also introduced to some of the stunning work by our degree students

The Fullers team learning embroidery

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studying the BA (Hons) Hand Embroidery which is based at the Palace. William: We were warmly welcomed to the RSN’s impressive headquarters at Hampton Court Palace. This whole experience was a first for us all and an uncertain air filled the room. However, our fears were quickly dispelled as RSN tutor Marg directed us through the first steps of embroidery. As we all picked up our needle and thread, an unexpected silence filled the room, but in a surprisingly short amount of time, threads were being consumed and before long our hoops were filled with vibrant colour.

As part of the crane design, we were encouraged to leave our ‘maker’s mark’, a practice that has been recognised for as long as these craft skills have existed, and an indulgence that was not lost on us. As enthusiasts for our craft, we also leave a mark to record our work. These motifs proved to be great fun and personalities were proudly recorded in thread. It is fair to say that when the end of the day came, we were all almost unwilling to leave. Having spent over 35 years working in the building industry, that is a rare feeling for a Friday afternoon!

Below Finished embroidery of builder’s crane design

HOW ELSE DID YOU MARK YOUR ANNIVERSARIES?

William: Entering our 150th year of trading, Fullers Builders has established an Employee-Owned Trust. Our staff have become the shareholders of the company and will benefit directly from their hard work and enthusiasm – a dynamic arrangement for our next 150 years…

Emma: From showcasing the remarkable history of the RSN in our anniversary exhibition and launching a new book, An Unbroken Thread , to creating an exclusive collection of anniversary memorabilia, themed embroidery classes and talks, it has been a very busy year. We also launched a brand-new directory, called ‘RSN Stitch Bank’ which aims to be the world’s largest directory of stitches. We started with 150 stitches at the end of 2021 and have already doubled the number.

HOW WOULD YOU SUM UP YOUR SHARED EXPERIENCE?

William: We are not sure that our founder Edward could have imagined that we would have the opportunity to celebrate our 150th year of trading or

collaborate with the RSN and enjoy such a truly rewarding experience. Thanks to all at the RSN who were great hosts and remarkably patient whilst generously sharing their skills. Our respective founders would no doubt have approved of this experience; our sights are now set on the next skills sharing opportunity… Emma: The Skill Swap Days were a celebration of not only our anniversaries but also the wisdom and knowledge of traditional crafts that continue to shape our environment. Thank you to Fullers Builders for supporting us in our anniversary year and for making the experience so much fun. Embroidery, and indeed crafts, are well-known for their mindful benefit, and the Skill Swap Days proved to have the same positive benefit by giving a break from the norm and a sense of achievement. In fact, they were so successful that we would like to run more this year with other similar organisations.

www.fullersbuilders.co.uk

www.royal-needlework.org.uk

www.rsnstitchbank.org

Left Marg Dier and Masako Newton learning joinery

CONSULTING ENGINEERS

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Kew Pagoda

Sandycombe Lodge, Twickenham

Masters House

THE FIRST ‘ARCHITECTS’

Knowledge about how we build has always been treated with reverence. In ancient Egypt, books of architectural plans and details were kept in closely guarded sacred books by Pharaohs. While in medieval Europe the secrets of stone construction were protected by the masons’ guilds and during the building of Florence’s cathedral in Renaissance Italy, Brunelleschi charted a fractious relationship with masons over his refusal to divulge the technical construction details to his design.

Architects of the ancient world though were not like the architects we know today. They were design specialists but often also master sculptors, marine or military engineers or designers of public festivals. Indeed, the term ‘to architect’ is used by both Plato and Aristotle to describe civic and intellectual leadership, implying an application of knowledge in practical ways for the common good.

This breadth of skills didn’t change significantly with the fall of Rome. When European economies began to recover between the 11th and 14th centuries CE, the role of the architect reappears in the guise of the master mason. These multi-talented craftsmen-architects trained in the most prestigious building material of the time – stone – through an arduous series of apprentice and journeyman roles. Rarely literate, they nevertheless oversaw the workforce and solved complex structural problems, while developing the design of the building and occasionally picking up the chisel themselves for particularly complex or intricate work. Their knowledge continued to be treasured and passed down through the networks of masons’ lodges.

THE IMPACT OF THE RENAISSANCE

By the time of the Italian Renaissance changes were taking place. Giorgio Vasari’s, The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects, first published in 1550, demonstrates that increasingly architects were spending time studying ancient Roman texts on architecture and drawing and measuring ruined buildings.

The recognition that architecture was a worthy pursuit for scholars led to a growing misconception across Europe

The Evolution of the Architect

that master masons were not sufficiently educated to carry out building design. Leon Battista Alberti went so far as to pronounce that, “the manual worker being no more than an instrument to the architect, who by sure and wonderful skill and method is able to complete his work”. In spite of this view, documentation reveals that Alberti still required significant support from his

craftsmen in the detail of his designs. The intellectualising of Alberti and others led to a profound shift in the ownership of designs, from the artisanal view that – “it is mine because I made it”; to the intellectual standpoint – “it is mine because I designed it”.

The increasing distance between the architect and the artisans on site led to further revolutions in architectural

Eleanor Jolliffe considers the emergence of the professional architect and the changing nature of the profession

practice, including the rise of the architectural drawing. The drawing developed to become a comprehensive instruction document rather than a visual aide to support verbal instructions. Between the 1550s and 1750s in Italy, this shift becomes increasingly clear as the background of architects’ changes from the majority starting their careers in the building

crafts, to the majority emerging from the middle and upper classes with more formal liberal arts educations. Furthermore, the design was no longer decided during the process of building as the emphasis shifted to the completion of the full design before construction started. By the end of the 16th century, we no longer see the architect perched on the scaffolding

with chisel in hand. Instead, the profession is centred around the architectural office.

DEVELOPMENTS IN BRITAIN

In Britain, as in much of Europe, its Renaissance came later than Italy’s but the idea of architecture as an intellectual pursuit of the upper classes was embraced. Italian architects were

Photo J. Paul Getty Museum

Above Italian illuminated manuscript, circa 1250, showing a king directing a mason

Left G Partnership Architects, 1956

invited from overseas by the royal courts to add the latest flourishes to buildings, but the craftsman-architect still persisted. The housebuilding boom catalysed by the English Reformation and the division of former church land, reached its climax in the reign of Elizabeth I and saw the rise of the amateur architect – men of some status and education (often members of the clergy, aristocracy or minor nobility) – with an intellectual interest in practising architecture but usually with private sources of income. A patron might also act as his own architect, advised by specialist craftsmen and the architectural pattern books (with varying levels of accuracy) that were flooding the market at this time.

Alongside these independently wealthy men, there was the development of the role of semiprofessional architect in the form of the master mason or craftsman who assisted these patrons with their designs. Robert Smythson is one of the most noted of these highly skilled designers working with Sir John Thynne at Longleat and Sir Francis Willoughby at Wollaton Hall. Slowly these transitional roles professionalised

Top left A 16th century building site

Top right Housebuilding in the 18th century

and the separate role of the professional architect emerged entirely distinct from either amateur or craftsman status. The craftsmandesigner would, however, continue to exist alongside the amateur architect in Britain until the second half of the 18th century.

The Great Fire of London in 1666 was to crystallise the new professional architect role. The sheer scale of rebuilding work required dedicated architects, like Christopher Wren, who was appointed King’s Surveyor of Works in 1669. The architect moved from adviser to the client to overseer of the works and clients were compelled to find builders willing to work under the architect. This development forced the construction industry’s structure to change to something approaching the modern model.

This slow shift from medieval Europe to the 17th century adjusted the social hierarchy of construction. In the Middle Ages rival towns would compete for master masons in the way modern day football clubs compete for famous players. Their role, knowledge and skills were highly valued by medieval society. The intellectualising of

By the end of the 16th century, we no longer see the architect perched on the scaffolding with chisel in hand. Instead, the profession is centred around the architectural office

Photos RIBA Collections

architectural theory in the Renaissance led, as we have seen, to the rise of the professional architect as a distinct role from construction. With the exception of aristocratic amateurs, architects had been seen as a sub-set of construction workers almost continuously since ancient Greece.

However, the combination of professional architect sitting in an overseer role, combined with the acceptance of architecture as a ‘learned’ art which could acceptably be practised by aristocrats, led to the implication that there was more social value in the intellectual side of architecture than the knowledge and craft of building. It was a slow but significant shift with consequences that are felt in industry tensions – and in the architecture we build – to this day.

THE 19TH CENTURY

By the early 1800s, we see yet more diversification of construction in the rampant demand created by a rapidly industrialising Britain and its growing

Empire. A new role appeared for men with no connection or interest in architecture other than the purely financial. Following the stock market crash of 1825, these men began to undertake construction work for others – subcontracting out the actual construction work and simply managing the process – in effect, ‘general contracting’ as it is now known. This led to a rapid drop in the perceived social value of building crafts as they became ‘subservient’ to this new role and a corresponding decrease in articled apprenticeships.

Combined with the architect’s increasing remove from site, one of the results was a slow but steady decrease in build quality and a rise in profiteering behaviours. The construction industry began to be seen as rife with fraud. Architects became such a byword for hypocrisy that Charles Dickens was able to satirise them in the character of Seth Pecksniff, the architect villain of his 1844 novel Martin Chuzzlewit.

THE FOUNDING OF RIBA AND THE SPAB

In an attempt to protect their role and safeguard the profession by holding it to recognised standards, a group of architects formed what would become the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 1837. They insisted on a membership criterion that refused membership to those who had ‘any interest or participation in any trade or contract connected with building’. The RIBA’s stand was controversial and divisive.

In 1877, the designer, writer and architectural conservationist, William Morris, and the architect and designer, Phillip Webb, co-founded the SPAB with a manifesto that responds directly to the industrialising construction industry. It calls for caution and craftsmanship in the care of old buildings and rails against the loss of historic fabric and the loss of building craft skills in its mention of the ‘tricky hand of some unoriginal and thoughtless hack of today’. Philip Webb

Building Design Partnership Offices, Sunlight House, Manchester, 1986

Photo RIBA Collections

eschewed the opportunity to join the RIBA and on occasion chose to refer to himself as “a drains man” – an acknowledgement perhaps, that he saw greater value in direct knowledge of building technology than the intellectual theory of architecture.

THE EVOLVING ROLE OF THE ARCHITECT

Webb was in the minority, however, and the professionalising zeal of the RIBA architects won the day. Their lobbying eventually saw the architectural profession regulated with specific standards, codes of conduct and, crucially, a defined education. Today ‘architect’ is a legally protected title in

Britain. The trend of the profession continued away from an understanding of building crafts and towards a more professional managerial role.

The collective knowledge of building crafts by the architects of Britain continued to wane and with the loss of life in two world wars, so did the inherited knowledge of the craftspeople and contractors. Britain emerged into the 1950s in debt, and with crippling shortages of materials, skills and knowledge. Alongside this were new construction technologies born out of

the developments in military technologies from the wars. Yet, problems with shoddy construction work did not go away.

Nevertheless, the scale of reconstruction required after World War II catalysed the growth of the construction industry and the nationalisation of much of the architectural services industry, pulling them ever further from their roots in construction. The belief at the time was that this demand and the importance of the work – in rebuilding cities and founding a welfare state – meant that architecture needed to attract the ‘best’ trainees.

Leaning heavily on the past century’s belief that architecture was a professional, intellectual art, this led to the raising of entry qualifications for architecture to degree level and (I believe) the illogical division of the profession into ‘architects’ and ‘architectural technicians’. The former was intended as the intellectual theoretical branch of the profession and the only ones to merit the title ‘architect’. The technicians were to provide ‘highly competent technical assistance’ and were trained in the more ‘mundane’ matters of technical detailing and building process that, it was believed, did not require the same level of academic rigour as the architect role. Arguably this has contributed to a decline in design quality, as buildings and details are drawn and agreed without a clear understanding of how they will be implemented on site.

This separation, and the accompanying fracturing and specialisation of both design and construction, did not solve the construction industry’s problems. To some extent, this change was necessary due to the growing scale, bureaucracy and complexity of many of Britain’s building projects. However, by the late 1980s there were government reports calling for greater collaboration and partnership across design, procurement and construction.

Design and construction cannot exist without each other and to artificially sever them seems to have left us all the poorer. The SPAB works to remedy this through its Scholars and Fellows, its advocacy and the SPAB Approach, but the entire industry should look for ways to bridge this continuing divide.

Eleanor Jolliffe is a practicing architect and coauthor with Paul Crosby of Architect: The evolving story of a profession (RIBA, 2023).

Photo RIBA Collections

Photo Serena Gildea

Above The 2022 SPAB Scholars and Fellows in Donegal

English Garden Eccentrics: Three hundred years of extraordinary groves, burrowings, mountains and menageries

By Todd Longstaff-Gowan Paul Mellon Centre / Yale University Press. £30.00

It is refreshing to find a book that has a different take on garden history –‘eccentric’ garden-makers and how garden-making can be viewed as autobiography and how many gardens ‘lose their soul’ when the owner dies. The gardens discussed are diverse in size and style and involve exotic plant collections and adventurous topiary as well as quirky landscaping, sculptures, buildings and recreations of the gardeners’ favourite places. All of these gardens apparently attracted attention at the time.

The book is a collection of essays on 21 different English gardens, some are wellknown and still exist, others disappeared many years ago. The list at the end of the book explores the current state of the gardens, which I found very useful as having read about the gardens, I was very keen to learn what their fate was and maybe add some of the more obscure ones to my list of gardens to visit.

Each essay is very detailed and we learn what the gardens looked like in their heyday and how they were received, using visitors’ own accounts. This is fascinating archival detail, as many of the gardeners did not leave a record of their work and what they set out to achieve and why. What also stands out are the amazing drawings, plans and photographs of many of the gardens. They really help to bring them alive, particularly for the gardens long since gone.

I found all the descriptions fascinating although I did not always feel that the eccentricity or distinct personality of the gardener or garden owner came through. In other words, some of the gardens appeared to be different just because the owner had vast wealth at their disposal so the overall effect would inevitably be astounding. However, some of the gardens really were unusual! Most of the garden-

owners were inevitably men but the handful of gardens designed by women remind us that some independent women were able to use their wealth and creativity and not worry about what society thought of them.

There are too many interesting anecdotes or stories to repeat here but as a keen topiarist myself, I enjoyed reading about the Countess of Dudley and her ‘stop and buy’ topiaries. Rachel Anne Gurney (1867–1920) was brought up modestly as her father had lost his money but she married the very wealthy 2nd Earl of Dudley and they lived at Witley Court in Worcestershire. This already had a glorious garden and opulent mansion, but she added a modest and more homely garden, with a long herbaceous border and exotic topiary. She could have bought the topiary in from a nursery but instead she went round private gardens asking to buy the ones she liked the look of.

Another case study that caught my eye was that of Charles Waterton (1762–1865), who after many years of foreign travel and hunting decided to create a sanctuary for animals (particularly owls) on his vast estate. He sounds like a modern gardener with his bird boxes, trees and planting for wildlife, and concerns about conservation and pollution. He had flower gardens and a grotto – that was very fashionable at the time and encouraged visitors to sit and have tea. Visitors wanted to meet him as he was known as a tad eccentric and had been such an exotic adventurer.

The book does not have a conclusion or drawing together but as the case studies are so diverse, this would be difficult. The main thing is to enjoy the individual and interesting stories of garden-making and their creators.

JULIE CHARLESWORTH

The gardens discussed are diverse in size and style and involve exotic plant collections and adventurous topiary as well as quirky landscaping, sculptures, buildings and recreations of the gardeners’ favourite places

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NOTES

The SPAB’s technical activities are at the heart of its work to protect old buildings. These activities embrace, amongst much else, telephone advice, publications and courses of a technical nature, as well as our supporting research. Douglas Kent, SPAB Technical and Research Director, highlights our technical and related news

FIRE SAFETY IN HISTORIC BUILDINGS: ACTIVE MEASURES

FIRE SAFETY ENGINEERING

Retired building surveyor and building/fire engineer Peter Norris gave a presentation on Fire Safety in Historic Buildings to the SPAB Technical and Research Committee last autumn. The Winter edition of our magazine outlined examples described by Peter of passive fire protection applied in old buildings. We now consider cases he gave illustrating active protection.

Active fire protection involves action (manual or automatic) to detect, stop and escape fire. Among active measures are sprinklers and water mist systems, smoke ventilation and fire alarms. Effective fire protection combines both active and passive measures working simultaneously. These measures aim to either increase the time available before escape routes become hazardous (Available Safe Egress Time or ASET) or reduce the time needed to escape to a place of safety (Required Safe Egress Time or RSET).

SPRINKLER SYSTEMS

Fire sprinklers release water when glass bulbs within their heads burst in the vicinity of a fire to suppress it. Sprinkler piping resembles that for standard domestic water supply. An early installation of a sprinkler system in a British historic building was in

Photo James Dobson / National Trust Images

Detail of the Marble Hall, Clandon Park

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the 1990s at Duff House in Banff, Aberdeenshire. A William Adam masterpiece then in a poor state, the building underwent conversion to an art gallery. This provided an opportunity to conceal a network of sprinkler pipes. Sprinkler heads were hidden by cover plates to blend in virtually unseen with the ornate interior.

Peter came to particularly appreciate the role sprinklers can play when upgrading domestic fire protection while reviewing fire safety work implemented at Laura Place in Bath. The ‘Bath code compliant solution’, popular at the time, had been used. It entailed inserting lobbies during flat conversions to create two-door fire separation from stairs (see drawing). Sprinkler installation, however, would have offered a more flexible approach without the creation of lobbies likely to be turned into obstructing storage areas.

WATER MIST SYSTEMS

In contrast to conventional sprinkler systems, water mist systems gently discharge very small droplets of water to extinguish or suppress fires. Water is discharged through pipework under pressure generated by a pump or cylinder.

Peter cited the case of Whatley Manor Hotel in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. The travel distances for escape from various rooms exceeded the maximum 9 m permitted and there was no option for alternative means of escape. The installation of a water mist system offered a trade-off sufficient to permit longer exit travel distances.

At the Old Post Office, Lacock in Wiltshire, the introduction of a mist water system allowed a historic partition to remain undisturbed on the ground floor when part of this became a museum. The partition would

Key:

FD30S = Fire door with 30 minutes’ fire and smoke resistance

FD20 = Fire door with 20 minutes’ fire resistance

Place, Bath: (a) Passive ‘Bath code compliant’ solution incorporating bedroom lobby; (b) Active solution using domestic sprinkler system in the bedroom

LTD

otherwise have required upgrading for increased fire resistance to allow upstairs bedrooms to remain in use.

SMOKE VENTILATION

The principle of smoke ventilation is to minimise the accumulation of heat and smoke to help keep escape routes clear. Peter gave the example of a building in Milsom Street, Bath, where a first floor flat shared an escape route on the ground floor with an adjoining shop separated from it by only a pair of double doors.

On advice from a fire engineer, a lantern rooflight was used at the back of the shop to provide smoke ventilation. To overcome the risk of radiant heat compromising the escape route, 21 mm-thick heatresistant glass was fitted in the shop doors, which required additional hinges to take the heavier weight. The doors were fitted with electromagnets for closure in the event of a fire. The shopkeeper had to be reminded, however, not to obstruct the open doors with display items.

TECHNICAL NOTES

FIRE/SMOKE ALARM SYSTEMS

Fire alarm systems are designed to detect fires early and allow occupants time to evacuate. Public address voice alarms (often known as PA systems or tannoys) provide pre-recorded messages in the event of a fire. Studies show occupants are much more likely to heed an instruction by a voice alarm to evacuate a building than take notice of a fire alarm sounder.

Fixings for fire alarm systems should be made with care, especially as such installations tend to have a short life before requiring replacement. Redundant fixing holes dotted around masonry are an unsightly and all too familiar occurrence. Fixings to walls can be avoided with radio-linked alarms and control panels, as done at Tyntesfield in Somerset; and breakglass call points secured, for example, to freestanding posts.

EMERGENCY LIGHTING

Emergency lighting serves to illuminate escape routes and safety equipment automatically when

there is a power failure. At the John Wood Chapel at Prior Park, Bath, rather than install emergency lighting conspicuously on the ceiling, emergency light fittings were placed discreetly within the recesses of exit doors, which also reduced the risk of them becoming obscured by rising smoke. In a further example, in a shop in Bath emergency lighting could not be installed above steps along an escape route so was fitted alongside them in a discreet manner.

The views expressed on these pages should be seen as contributions to ongoing debates and we welcome comments. Please email any feedback on the technical issues covered to Douglas Kent at douglas.kent@spab.org.uk To contact us about other, unrelated technical matters, please call our dedicated free advice line. This operates between 9.30am to 12.30pm, Mondays to Fridays, on 020 7456 0916. We are grateful to Historic England for its generous financial assistance to help us run this service.

Detail of architectural features which survived the fire at Clandon Park

Photo John Millar / National Trust Images

My OBSESSION WITH DAMP & LIME

Ben Kerslake from carringtonLIME Heritage Skills Training CIC explains how his obsession with lime began and why he is now focusing his time on ensuring that lime plastering is an attractive career choice

Back in the early 2000’s, I was a longhaired hippy living in a strawbale house I had built myself. I was known locally as ‘the mud hut dweller’. Locals couldn't understand how or why someone would build their home from straw.

In my early 20s I started working for a local builder renovating traditional Welsh cottages I quickly noticed a pattern – where modern materials had been used the houses often had damp whereas the houses that had been left alone were damp free. I started researching why this might be – which wasn’t easy back in the infancy of the internet but I soon discovered lime.

My research and desire to learn more led me to enrolling on a masters degree in environmental architecture at The Centre for Alternative Technology. My thesis focused on understanding how natural plasters could be used to alleviate damp - and so my obsession began.

where are all the lime plasterers?

In 2013 I started my own company. I had been working with a large company renovating churches and large historically significant buildings. As interesting as this was, what I really wanted to do was help homeowners understand their homes.

At the time, it felt like the benefits of using lime in solid walled properties was a bit of a secret, only available to those with listed buildings. I wanted to make this information main stream.

Due to the lack of lime companies at the time who would work on smaller projects, finding work wasn’t difficult, my biggest issue was finding people to work with me who had experience in lime. Or at least had a vague interest in finding out about it. This lack of trades with the knowledge and experience of lime was the driving force behind my wife, Kate, and I starting CarringtonLIME Heritage Skills Training CIC. We wanted to pass on our knowledge and passion for the material and for traditionally built homes and ultimately increase the number of traditional trades people.

Fast forward 10 years and we are now training around 400 people a year. We have a great mix of homeowners, professionals and trades at our training centre in Gloucestershire. Our students leave as obsessed with lime as I am!

Helping homeowners maintain their homes

If you are a homeowner who has recently tried to find a lime plasterer, then you will know how hard that task can be. If you manage to find one, their waiting list is likely to be long or their cost out of reach.

The majority of students on our short courses are homeowners who are attending because they weren't able to find a trade to take on their project. Most people attend with little or no plastering experience and are often a little nervous. Theses are the students we love teaching the most.

short courses in plastering and pointing

We love to see their sense of relieve when they realise that doing the job themselves is a possibility We encourage all of our students to bring details of their projects so we can give them tailored advice and our support doesn't end when they leave the training centre. We have a Student Facebook group where they can ask questions and share photos. We love seeing how they have got on once our tuition has ended.

your new career in lime

Our main goal as a company has always been to increase the number of professional lime plasterers. Sadly, it can be extremely difficult to get a foot in the door if you have little experience with lime.

So, in 2022 we started our intensive 5-month Professional Heritage Plastering programme. It is aimed at those with little experience and is intended as a stepping stone into the industry.

upcoming short courses

Gain hands on experience of how to use lime mortar on your own building with our range of short courses.

Students receive theory lessons on traditional construction, materials and rules around List buildings, they get extensive practical training, complete a live job and also receive business and marketing lessons. It's been such a positive experience and many of our students have now gained employment in the industry as a result of the course.

Applications for the 2023 course programme open in Spring and we hope to have a number of funded places available – we can’t wait to meet this years students and hopefully create more people that are obsessed about lime as I am.

To find out more about this years professional course visit: carringtonlime.co.uk/heritageplastering-programme

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'I love seeing peoples amazement at the quality they can achieve'

BUILDING IN FOCUS

Dennis Severs’ House

Lauren Wilson, SPAB Digital Communications Officer, shares her love of a local building that was rescued from demolition and transformed into a theatrical home, capturing the imagination of visitors since it first opened its doors in 1980

When I first visited Dennis Severs’ House, I had no idea what to expect. Despite returning many times to escape into its eccentric charms, it remains almost impossible to describe the magic that happens here.

You can find this Grade II-listed building nestled neatly in Spitalfields, East London, just a stone’s throw from the SPAB office. On the outside, it’s one of many in a neat line of Georgian terraced buildings on Folgate Street. But when you enter through the large black door, under a large gas lamp, a whole new world unfolds.

Dennis Severs was a California-born artist, who bought the house as a derelict building in 1979 from the Spitalfields Trust, a local group campaigning to save historic buildings in the area. Using his imaginative flair, Severs wove together a real and imagined history, layering this onto the existing fabric of the building. The vision was not to “restore” the home or show exactly how it would have been lived in, but instead to “bring it to life”. Through artistry and illusion, Severs lovingly transformed 18 Folgate Street into “a three-dimensional historical novel, written in brick and candlelight”.

The cast of the story? An imagined family of immigrant Huguenot silk weavers. The choice is a fitting one. Over the centuries, Spitalfields has been host to a melting pot of immigrant communities. At the time 18 Folgate Street was built, many Huguenot silk weavers established themselves in the area, including Peter Ogier, a wealthy silk merchant who built 37 Spital Square just a few streets along (now home to the SPAB).

As you move from room to room, you become witness to the family’s rise and fall over the centuries – from the lavish 18th century dining room to the cold, creaking Victorian attic rooms. Each room is arranged as if the family had only just left, complete with vivid clues – a half-eaten supper, a handwritten

note, crumpled bedsheets. Visits are conducted in silence, allowing the candlelight and soundscapes to transport you far from the jostling streets outside.

HIDDEN SECRETS

In this building, nothing is quite as it seems. Part of the unique charm is how Dennis Severs and his creative companions merged traditional crafts with make-do flair. Blue and white tiles that at first glance seem like Delftware in fact feature (sometimes humorous) portraits of friends and neighbours. These were the work of artist and potter Simon Pettet, Dennis Severs’ partner. The home is filled with real antiques. But where Severs couldn’t source an artefact, he simply made his own version instead. The four-poster bed that Severs slept in was constructed from wooden pallets from the nearby market. In the drawing room on the first floor, you can

The parlour

Laundry in the attic

find a decorative plaster ceiling that is authentic in its design and construction as a late 17th century recreation. Yet on the ground floor, a similarly convincing plaster ceiling rose is in fact constructed from plastic fruit from the local supermarket, coated with plaster filler and painted white. It’s details like this that make the experience so captivating. You’re enveloped not just by the historic fabric of the building, but by the passion of the artists who breathed new life into it.

If you’re looking for an immersive experience that weaves together history, creativity and atmosphere, you can’t go wrong with a visit to Dennis Severs’ House. Find out more about the history of Spitalfields, including our very own head office, on the blog, on the SPAB website.

Dennis Severs’ House is owned and run by the Spitalfields Historic Buildings Trust.

www.dennissevershouse.co.uk

The drawing room

Overmantel in the drawing room

All photos Lucinda Douglas-Menzies

We offer the invaluable experienceofatraditional builder with the knowledge gained from the successfulcompletion of many prestigious projects, using leadwork, all types of stone masonry, flint work brick work, lime plastering and joinery.

Based near Dunmow we cover North and East London

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