30 C O N T E X T 1 2 4 : M A Y 2 0 1 2 with asbestos tile roofs and timber verandahs. Some of these have now been considerably altered with render coverings, modern PVC windows, and sizable porches and extensions. Princess Ena andVenus (their Pullman carriage names) are among those which retain much of their original bungalow form. The railway companies themselves also provided holiday accommodation in carriages. After the first ten were introduced by the LNER in 1933, the idea soon caught on with other companies.These camping coaches close to stations were used to encourage holiday travel by train.They remained as carriages and were not converted into anything architectural. Although initially popular, their use declined following the second world war. They were re-launched by British Rail in the 1950s, before waning once more in the 1960s. Only a handful of these camping coaches survive. The Welsh coast has its share of railway carriages perched on cliff edges. Aberporth on the Ceredigion coastline has a number of railway carriages holiday homes dotted along the coastal path. Some still have the appearance of carriages simply dropped onto the cliff top while others are clad in timber or roofed with corrugated tin pitched roofs. One of the carriages, timber clad and virtually invisible beneath, apparently retains the panelling, upholstery, light fittings and even carpets of the original 1899 London and NorthWestern Railway carriage. Providence Bungalow in Birtsmorton,Worcestershire, is not a coastal holiday home but cheap inland housing built following the first world war. Like those at Sutton on Sea, this house is made from two railway carriages, set parallel to each other. In this case the carriages are used as the main elevations of the building, front and back, with no attempt to disguise their original purpose or relegate them to the sides. Providence Bungalow was listed Grade II in 2004. Another example of the later inter-war permanent housing is Swindon Villa in Withiel, Cornwall, which was listed Grade II in 1988. Looking for somewhere for a large family to live, the original home owner purchased an old Great Western carriage in the mid 1930s for £20, and borrowed two wagons and horses and a crane to move it three miles from the railway to a piece of common land. The addition of a corrugated tin roof and gable ends give the outward appearance of a simple shed-like cottage. Inside the railway carriage remains as it was when lifted from the rails, even down to the internal partitions. The majority of converted carriages were roofed in pantiles, slates, asbestos tiles or felt. One in Slindon, West Sussex, dating from 1906, stands out for the unique use of a most unlikely roofing material for a railway carriage, thatch. The Town and Country Planning Act 1947 brought to a halt the unregulated development, which had led, among the other shacks, shanties and jerry building, to the surge in railway carriage houses in the 1930s. Pressure to stop plotland development had been mounting through the first quarter of the 20th century. Opposition from prominent architects and campaigners found favour in government. During the foundation of the Campaign for the Preservation of Rural England, Patrick Abercrombie singled out for the greatest condemnation those houses which were based on wheeled vehicles. ‘Since the war innumerable wooden shanties have sprung up, better sociologically but artistically deplorable,’ he wrote. ‘Many of these are on wheels (although unmoved for years) in order to avoid rates; and whole fields have become so packed with them that they are extremely unsanitary… the preserver of rural amenities cannot allow any sort of old junk cabin to deform the choicest spots’1. In the majority of cases railway carriage houses have gone unnoticed and unprotected. Many have been clad entirely, removing all external evidence of the carriage, and eventually the run-down timber house or basic bungalow is seen for its development potential. Even a property worth almost £600,000, attractive and having been retained in good order, in Market Lavington, Wiltshire in 2007, was advertised with permission for a modern replacement dwelling. Many properties built as holiday homes are still in their original use, but most now rented out by the week, rather than being an occasional home to one family. Some have become permanent homes, but full-time occupation of a small property brings with it needs for increased accommodation and modernisation. Extensions and integrity-stripping alterations have led to many surviving properties losing much of their original character. Some properties have been restored as examples of the building type. In Norfolk an 1899 Great Eastern carriage, converted into a cottage at Kerdiston in the 1930s, was recently donated to the North Norfolk Railway and re-erected at Holt. The cottage, restored to its 1935 appearance, is used educationally for school parties and the public, primarily to show what life was like for those who lived in carriages. One final twist of fate sometimes occurs when the building is demolished. Preserved railway organisations, seeking carriages to run with their steam engines, have recovered the most intact or rare carriages for restoration. After at least 70 years of domestic retirement off the rails, they go full circle to return to their original use. At least there are some sorts of conservation body that value their history, if not their architecture. Fiona Newton is the IHBC’s projects officer. Reference 1. Patrick Abercrombie, The Preservation of Rural England, 1926 A thatched carriage at Slindon (Photo: David Boyson)
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgyMjA=