Context 151 - September 2017

48 C O N T E X T 1 5 1 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 7 in a brief period of British naval architectural ambition. Although the principal frontage faces the Hamoaze, the view as you walk through the Main Gate – past the Tuscan columns, each a single piece of granite – is of a broad, straight street flanked by giant facades built almost entirely in Plymouth limestone. The strict symmetry and comfortable Georgian scale of the buildings, together with Rennie’s sparing classical detail, make this one of the most pleasing and complete sites I have visited in the UK, and its redevelopment by Urban Splash was rightly award-winning. When you have finished admiring the Yard itself, it is worth walking through the tunnel to Firestone Bay, which opens on to Rennie’s magnificent cycloidal seawall, built with waste stone from the main site (a clever answer to the government’s increasing concerns over cost). Listed only at Grade II, the wall may not be the first of its type in the UK, but it is certainly an engineering rarity, and it Study Part-time at Oxford Courses in Architectural History • Postgraduate Certificate in Architectural History • DPhil in Architectural History • Day schools • Lecture series • Online courses • Weekly classes Find out more: www.conted.ox.ac.uk/arch18 @OxfordConted Context Advert - August 2017.indd 1 08/08/2017 16:10:58 Informative, enjoyable and thought-provoking. www.westdean.org.uk/bcm cpd@westdean.org.uk West Dean College, Chichester,West Sussex PO18 0QZ BUILDING CONSERVATION MASTERCLASSES Choose from a varied programme of courses Learn from leading practitioners Network with other participants and specialists A Professional Development Diploma in Historic Building Conservation and Repair can be achieved after successful completion of 10 Building Conservation Masterclasses and the submission of a portfolio. Recognised by Historic England “ ” appears to be in excellent condition, despite almost 200 years service. Your favourite place? Mizen Head,West Cork, for its beautiful coastline, quiet harbours, lighthouses and gannets. Your favourite book? The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers. It is a remarkable book by a remarkable man – notwithstanding the turn-of-the-century public school slang (the main character is called Carruthers). It is the most accurate portrayal I have encountered of life in small boats (damp, smelly and cramped) and it gradually reveals the subtle pleasures of coastal sailing. It also lays out the complexity of navigating through the treacherous sands of the German coast, as the basis for a pre-first-world-war spy adventure. What organisations are you a member of? IHBC; National Trust; Friends of Thomas Plume’s Library, Maldon, Essex; supporting member, Dartington Hall Estate. Which one issue would you particularly like the IHBC to campaign on? Coastal conservation, and small harbours in particular, has been overlooked to a large extent by the conservation sector.While there has been a focused recording effort towards coastal archaeology, standing structures remain under threat of loss from coastal squeeze, development, and climate change and its predicted effects – sea-level rise and increasing storminess. I would like to see these issues raised within the IHBC and with other professional groups. An initial step would be to establish a coastal group within the IHBC, which will hopefully bring together interested members to focus attention on this specialised area. HilaryWyatt is an EPSRC fully funded PhD research student at theWelsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University. Building conservation is her second career. Since retraining, she has been employed as a conservation and design officer, and as a surveyor. She is the winner of the 2017 Gus Astley Student Award.