C O N T E X T 9 1 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 5 Are you missing copies of Context? Did you lend your copy of Context to someone and it was not returned? Have you gone to refer to a particular issue only to find it missing? Annoying isn’t it? Now members can obtain back copies of Context free of charge. There is a stock of most issues going back to issue 17. To check availability contact Lydia Porter at the business office by email at admin@ihbc.org.uk or by phone on 01747 873133. ‘What is so special about the pathetic rubble walls of remote St Columba’s that Historic Scotland insists it can not be re-roofed and restored? The problem is that Historic Scotland – like English Heritage – is now dominated by academic archaeologists, who – as Betjeman pointed out – lack any aesthetic sense. Their pedantry over St Columba’s suggests they also lack commonsense.’ ‘Piloti’ writing in Private Eye about plans to re-roof the 14th century St Columba’s Church at Uidh on the Isle of Lewis. ‘The convention would only have teeth if prosecutions can result, and the only way to do that is to set up an international court. ‘The convention is either ignored, downplayed or the buildings are actual targets in wars about ideology and nationalism. In those kinds of conflicts you are on a hiding to nothing.’ Robert Bevan, author of a forthcoming book on conflict and architecture, commenting in Building Design on the government’s proposal to put little blue flags on important buildings that should be protected from attack in time of war under the 1954 Hague convention. ‘THE [conservation] area is festooned with mansards, and is it not the job of the conservation department to ensure a degree of consistency in the streets? As a result of my sudden interest, a conservation officer is released from his Pevsner-lined lair (or so I like to imagine it) and we take a stroll round the zone. ‘I am seeing my patch in a whole new light. But he is adamant on the crucial point: Georgian architectural fashions included the mansard – and we boast a few Georgians near the common – but mansards are wholly out of place on a Victorian house. “But,” I ask him, “don’t houses grow; shouldn’t they change over time according to need and use?” ‘He looks at me strangely, as if I’ve just told him that the moon does not supply the world’s demand for blue cheese. “My task,” he states clearly, “is conservation. I can not bear to see a mansard on a 19th-century property.” “But most people don’t look at a mansard and say ‘That’s Georgian, what the hell’s that doing there?’” “But I do.” “But no one else does.” “I’m the conservation officer! That’s what I’m supposed to do.”’ Jonathan Myerson, a councillor in the London Borough of Lambeth, writing in the Guardian. ‘Church buildings are a hugely important part of [the] heritage. From the glories of Canterbury Cathedral to the less spectacular but equally beautiful Church of the Holy Trinity in my own Tottenham constituency, they are enduring examples of the finest of this country’s architecture. As a former chorister at Peterborough Cathedral choir school, I can speak first hand of the inspiration and perspective brought about by spending time in these magnificent spaces.’ Culture minister David Lammy MP announcing the future of the ecclesiastical exemption. ‘It is incredible to think that when the Pyx door was made, the Norman Conquest had not yet happened andWilliam of Normandy was still a young man of about 20 years old.William was later crowned King of England on Christmas Day 1066 just a hundred feet away from the door.’ Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage, commenting on the discovery of the oldest door in Britain atWestminster Abbey, following a study by English Heritage with the support of the Dean and Chapter.The door to the Chapter House outer vestibule is now known to be the only surviving Anglo-Saxon door in England, dating back to the 1050s. ‘I warned the owner he either comes up with something or we will slap him with an urgent repairs notice as an adjunct to a compulsory purchase order. ‘I also told him that if the building burned down, the only thing we would consider is a rebuild.We would refuse any housing estate on the plot and would resist any development at all on the grounds.’ Conservation officer Peter Thornborrow quoted in Building Design on his determination to save Barrington Park in the Cotswolds, whose owner is likely to be permitted to demolish the house’sVictorian wings so that he can afford to repair the Georgian core. Immortalised in wood The owner of a listed building in Ludlow, Shropshire, has been so pleased with the restoration work on his property that he has had a wood carver immortalise all the key individuals who have contributed to the work. Colin Richards, conservation officer with South Shropshire District Council, is among those elevated. His contribution to the project was advice and hands-on demonstrations of traditional wattle and daub and plastering work.
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