C O N T E X T 1 2 1 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 1 5 Periodically The latest issue of the Journal of Architectural Conservation (Vol 17, No 2) provides the usual invaluable mix of British policy, evaluation methods and technical advances. The first paper looks at the teaching of conservation and vernacular architecture. Much needed, some might say.What makes this paper particularly interesting is that the detailed investigation of vernacular settlements, and the principles for their conservation and reuse, constitute some of the essential elements of a compulsory course in the architecture programme at the University of Cyprus. Given the uncertainty over the future of conservation higher education courses in the UK, this overview from Maria Philokyprou, a lecturer on that course, gives a well-illustrated insight into how it is being done abroad. The growth of ivy on walls has long been considered to be as damaging as the roots, and tendrils penetrate masonry. Many a building-at-risk is camouflaged by such vegetation, obscuring any decay taking place. There is a school of thought, however, that ivy might actually offer some protection of historic building fabric. Heather Viles (who runs the Oxford Rock Breakdown Research Laboratory) and her two co-contributors describe and illustrate the findings of a three-year research project commissioned by English Heritage to evaluate the bio-protection and biodeterioration aspects of ivy cladding. Ivy has been found to provide a thermal blanket to insulate against extremes of heat and cold, and to minimise the effects of particulate pollution. Ivy rootlets adhering to stone appear to create minor damage, but roots that penetrate existing voids can create considerable decay. The automatic response to ivy coverage should therefore not necessarily be removal but, subject to a balanced appraisal to inform decisions to remove, leave (or even plant ivy), while also implementing regular and careful maintenance and monitoring. Your reviewer had written a paper on the current English Heritage-led Heritage Crime Initiative, launched earlier this year with the aim of addressing deliberate defacement and illegal demolition of historic buildings, and of establishing a working understanding between English Heritage, the Association of Chief Police Officers, the Crown Prosecution Service and participating local authorities (those with formal enforcement powers). A network of other supporting heritage organisations, ARCH (Alliance to Reduce Crime against Heritage) is also being established. The paper reviews the impetus in the sector prompted by the government following the infamous Greenside demolition case of 2003 and what the initiative hopes to achieve it its early stages. Turning to initiatives overseas, Avigail Charnov reviews the evolution of conservation techniques applied to earthen structures in the American south west since 1889. The paper explores the balance attempted by the National Parks Service between conserving sites and presenting them to the public. It explores the impact of interventions which, while preventing ruins, have inevitably led to changes in their appearance or status. The techniques used over the last 100 years or so to slow the pace of decay rather than suspend or prevent it are explored. The questions these techniques have posed are examined, along with their advantages and disadvantages. This should interest anyone involved with earthen architecture. The final article, from four authors from the Queen Rania Institute of Tourism and Heritage, the Hashemite University, looks at combining photogrammetric techniques with laserscanning to overcome the laborious task of recording and modelling buildings using traditional surveying techniques and CAD. The techniques are applied to a case study of Gharissa, one of the best preserved historic villages in Jordan. This column does not customarily highlight individual items of the national amenity society casework. But one particular case in Cornerstone, the magazine of the SPAB (Vol 32, No 2, 2011), highlights a wider issue of concern by the society about the operation of the ecclesiastical system. The society was recently exercised about the loss, for its original purpose, of an important 17th-century bell frame at St Matthew’s Church,Wookey, Somerset. It raises important questions about the extent of a chancellor’s authority to vary an existing faculty. A bell historian and expert, John Eisel, has identified the bell frame as dating
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