Institute of Historic Building Conservation No 132 November 2013 Heritage and nationhood
ii C O N T E X T 1 3 2 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 3 H.G.MATTHEWS IS PROUD TO OFFER A UNIQUE RANGE OF HAND-MADE, WOOD-FIRED BRICKS AND TILES, IDEAL FOR AUTHENTIC CONSERVATION WORK ON PRE-19thCENTURY BUILDINGS H.G.Matthews Traditional brickmaking since1923 Tel: 01494 758212 Fax: 01494 758077 The Brick Works, Bellingdon, Chesham, Bucks HP5 2UR E-mail: info@hgmatthews.com www.hgmatthews.com
C O N T E X T 1 3 2 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 3 1 Cover: The Ring of Brodgar, a neolithic henge monument. Orkney’s monumental archaeology raises questions of nationhood, heritage and identity, writes Stuart West (see page 19). www.ihbc.org.uk Registered as a charity in England andWales number 1061593 and in Scotland number SC041945. Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in England number 3333780. Registered Office: 3 Stafford Road,TunbridgeWells, Kent TN2 4QZ. Officers President Trefor Thorpe, president@ihbc.org.uk Chair Mike Brown, chair@ihbc.org.uk Vice Chair Emilia Hands, vchair@ihbc.org.uk Secretary Eddie Booth, secretary@ihbc.org.uk Treasurer Richard Morrice, treasurer@ihbc.org.uk National Office Director Seán O’Reilly, director@ihbc.org.uk Projects Officer Fiona Newton, projects@ihbc.org.uk Consultant Consultations Coordinator James Caird, consultations@ihbc.org.uk Membership Services Officer Carmen Moran, membershipservices@ihbc.org.uk Administration Officer Lydia Porter, admin@ihbc.org.uk Committee Chairs Policy David Kincaid, policy@ihbc.org.uk Membership & Ethics Paul Butler, membership@ihbc.org.uk Finance & Resources Richard Morrice, resources@ihbc.org.uk Education David McDonald, education@ihbc.org.uk Communications & Outreach Charles Strang, communications@ihbc.org.uk Branch Officers North Geoff Underwood, 0191 433 3435 NorthWest Crispin Edwards, 0161 474 2620 Yorkshire David Blackburn, 01943 603479 West Midlands Charles Shapcott, 0121 7044312 East Midlands Roy Lewis, 01623 756623 South Julia Foster, 01296 585888 SouthWest JamesWebb, 01202 732849 East Anglia David Andrews, 07760 208231 South East Sean Rix, 01483 523379 London JohnWebb, 020 8871 6645 Scotland Stuart Eydmann, 01506 775279 Wales Nathan Blanchard, 01492 583443 Northern Ireland Colin Hatrick, 028 9064 1126 Republic of Ireland Cormac O’Sullivan, 00353 5677 62907 Institute ofHistoricBuildingConservation No 132November2013 Heritage and nationhood 2 Briefing 5 Letters 5 Out of Context 6 Periodically Bob Kindred 8 The writer’s voice 10 Supporting columns Brian Morton HERITAGE AND NATIONHOOD 13 Coming to terms with national identity Michael Taylor 14 Georgian Dublin and national identity Erika Hanna 16 Heritage harmony and discord in Northern Ireland Andrew McClelland 19 A view from Orkney Stuart West 22 Sandstone, strikes and storytelling Louisa Moore 24 The contentedness of a contentless Englishness Richard Courtney 26 Conservation programmes in a divided capital Nektaria Kokkinou 27 Saving Rangoon Philip Davies 30 Demystifying linseed paint Michiel Brouns 33 Resurveying Jersey’s historic environment Roger Hills and Aylin Orbasli 36 Using stone consolidants Bruce Induni 39 Heritage asset management in Kent Paul Cuming 41 IHBC membership Paul Butler 42 Conference report: the centenary of the Ancient Monuments Act 1913 David McDonald 43 Notes from the chair 45 Director’s cut 47 Vox pop 49 Book reviews 53 Products and services 56 Advertisers index
2 C O N T E X T 1 3 2 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 3 Editor Rob Cowan Editorial Coordinator Fiona Newton, 01507 602567 editorial@ihbc.org.uk Editorial Board Nigel Crowe Peter de Figueiredo (book reviews) Rebecca Madgin Fiona Newton (chair) Michael Taylor Cartoons by Rob Cowan Context is distributed to all members of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. © Institute of Historic Building Conservation 2013 ISSN 0958-2746 Publisher Cathedral Communications Limited, High Street, Tisbury,Wiltshire, England SP3 6HA 01747 871717 context@cathcomm.co.uk www.buildingconservation.com Non-member subscriptions to Context Context is available to corporate bodies at an annual subscription rate, including postage, of: United Kingdom £60.00 Elsewhere £90.00 The views expressed in Context are not necessarily held by the IHBC or the publisher. Neither the publisher nor the IHBC shall be under any liability whatsoever in respect of contributed articles. We gratefully acknowledge the support of firms whose advertisements appear throughout this publication.While every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this issue of Context is current and correct, neither the IHBC nor the publisher can be held responsible for any errors or omissions which may occur. Briefing Context Copy deadlines Context is published five times a year, in March, May, July, September and November. The next five copy deadlines are: March, Issue 133 17 January May, Issue 134 14 March July, Issue 135 16 May September, 136 18 July November, Issue 137 12 September The Green Deal and ECO: is the phoney war ending? John Preston writes: Things seem to have been very quiet on the Green Deal front, at least so far as traditional buildings are concerned. How long this will last is another matter, particularly given the political imperative of the 2015 general election. The government will want visible results on the ground well before then. At the time of writing, the latest effort to kick-start the Green Deal is the £20 million announced in July for a Street-by-Street scheme. In principle this is very welcome, as it opens the possibility of a coherent approach, which has so far been lacking, in architectural and townscape terms as well as in energy saving. The apparent lack of impact on traditional buildings, so far, may be due to strong formal obligations on Green Deal providers to identify and provide appropriate skills for ‘vulnerable buildings’ (Green Deal Code of Practice, Version 3, July 2013, paras 41–44). These include a significant specific reference to conservation officers: ‘Where the Green Deal provider considers that the building is a vulnerable building, the Green Deal provider must also consider whether an architect or surveyor with specialist skills in respect of vulnerable buildings should be consulted. If the Green Deal provider is in any doubt about this, they must consult the local authority historic buildings or conservation officer.’ Thwarted by slow progress with the carrot of Green Deal and ECO (Energy Companies Obligation), the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) found a stick in the form of forthcoming regulations to the Energy Act 2011, which will enable it to compel the private rented sector to upgrade its properties (around 60 per cent of which are pre-1919). From 2018 these regulations are likely to require landlords to upgrade all rental properties, at new lettings, to meet a specified energy performance (Band E?). This requirement will apply to commercial as well as residential lets. The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) was the lone ‘heritage’ interest invited by the DECC on to the working groups for the private rented sector. The CLA sought support from a group including the National Trust, Church of England, IHBC and Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance (STBA). The National Trust drafted a text of ‘asks’ for the forthcoming consultation on the draft regulations, highlighting the need for a different approach for all traditional buildings (not just listed buildings), and the associated skills challenges. IHBC council agreed the draft text in September. It is hoped that this collective submission (to which IHBC is a signatory) will achieve significant improvements in the consultation draft of the regulations, which is due in December or January. This consultation will be significant beyond the private rented sector, as it will set out a basis for the government’s approach towards all traditional buildings. A second hope is that this approach will be guided by current STBA work for the DECC, including the Guidance Wheel that has been TheWeald and Downland Open Air Museum brought together carpenters, surveyors, civil engineers and architectural historians for a one-day conference on ‘The Medieval Roofs of Europe’. Among the speakers, Heinrich Stiewe of the LWL-Freilichtmuseum, Detmold, spoke of the ‘rhythm of rafters’; Patrick Hoffsummer of the University of Liège explained economic and cultural influences, and how timber-framing design developed as the pitch increased; Ellen van Olst, formerly of the Dutch National Institute for the Historical Research of Rural Agricultural Architecture, described stolp farms, in which all the farm and dwelling functions were arranged around the central crops storage area in the nave.
C O N T E X T 1 3 2 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 3 3 of the Reverend John Venn in 1890, the archway was re-dedicated, with a plaque placed on the archway to commemorate his passing. Red sandstone, commonly referred to as ‘Hereford stone’, is a local vernacular of Herefordshire. Other buildings constructed of it have not undergone as much weathering as Venn’s Arch. For example, the Church of St Mary and St David, Kilpeck, a Norman church dating from 1140, is constructed of red sandstone, and the intricate carved doorway for which it is renowned is in excellent condition. Venn’s Arch is built of a very friable sandstone which does not have the same characteristics as the typical Hereford stone. Poor concrete repairs in the 1970s have accelerated the rate of decay. To add another problem, examination of the laying of the stone shows examples of stones that are cross-bedded, verticalend-bedded and horizontal-end-bedded. Due to the lack of maintenance, the stone has also suffered a large amount of moss and lichen growth, erosion, trialled during the summer. Developed primarily for Green Deal assessors, this will help identify where and what special care and skills are needed for all traditional buildings. I urge readers to look out for, and respond to, the consultation when it appears. Where’s your evidence? Please can Context readers continue to keep their eyes open for images and case studies which highlight issues and opportunities associated with the Green Deal and related issues? We urgently need both horrors and good stories. There is a new and urgent need for good examples of tried-and-tested ‘traditional’ solutions for improving building performance. This is because current approval mechanisms for products and so on are weighted towards new products developed by companies able to pay the fees required for BRE or BBA approval. There are no equivalent mechanisms for approving traditional good-practice solutions (whether or not product-based) which have stood the test of time. Evidence is needed on such products and solutions which may be relevant to traditional buildings, either generally or for specific materials, construction types and so on. IHBC members are asked to provide good examples to be presented to the DECC. The hope is that if good solutions are presented, the DECC can be persuaded to provide a mechanism or funding for approving them. Please send all suggested case studies and links to jpreston@ phonecoop.coop. John Preston, vice-chair, IHBC policy committee Facing the weather John Somers writes: The future of Venn’s Arch in Hereford raises some difficult conservation questions. The structure marks the entrance to a disused city centre cemetery in Commercial Road. The archway, plinth and railings are constructed of red sandstone, Grade II listed. The Jacobethan-style archway has a Dutch gable with pediment, swathed urn finials and other carvings which are barely visible. Despite the extensive weathering, the archway has been standing only since 1881. The structure is dedicated to two of Herefordshire’s greatest benefactors, who are buried in the churchyard. It was originally erected in memory of Emelia Venn, who worked actively with the church and aided Hereford’s poor with her brother the Reverend John Venn. Together, Emelia and John Venn changed the way in which poor people were treated and helped form charitable groups such as the Hereford Society for Aiding the Industrious, which still operates today. On the death Top Building at Hall Farm at Gammersgill in Coverdale has been restored.The Grade II listed building was on the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority at-risk register. Built in the 17th century as a house, it was later extended and divided into two cottages before becoming an agricultural building. The stone inVenn’s Arch, although looking like a sandstone, has the chemical properties of a limestone and is somewhere between the two, in the form of a sort of poor-quality mudstone.
4 C O N T E X T 1 3 2 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 3 and gypsum as a result of its city centre location. The future does not look bright for this important monument. A desk-based review of research on the archway found that the stone was believed to be a continental desert sandstone, deposited by wind action (aeolian action). However, when looking closer at the stone, one could see small voids in it. These were believed to be evidence of weatheredout fossil bivalve shells, with a thin line of shell remaining at the back of the voids within the stone and evidence of small-scale cross-bedding. This suggested to Kate Andrew of the Earth Heritage Trust that the stone was actually from a shallow marine environment.With the assistance of the trust, the stone was tested in a solution of dilute hydrochloric acid. It effervesced strongly, suggesting that it contains high levels of calcite (calcium carbonate) in the natural cement that bonds together the sand particles. This finding was unusual as typically a sandstone would be silica-based. The stone in Venn’s Arch, although looking like a sandstone, has the chemical properties of a limestone and is somewhere between the two, in the form of a sort of poor-quality mudstone. The chemical makeup of the stone does not favour the longevity of the structure, which really should not be exposed to the weather. Some people might favour rebuilding it. Others might apply an external experimental miracle consolidant cure. But hundreds of years ago we built knowing that some stones should not be exposed, and we covered them in a lime render or lime wash. The Victorians were notorious for removing the lime render and lime wash to uncover those stones which were never meant to be exposed, and they have eroded significantly as a result. Would it be right or perhaps ironic to suggest that a Victorian building should be covered in a pigmented lime wash or lime render to save it? Normally one would not apply a lime wash or lime render to a sandstone, but given that the properties of the stone are similar to a limestone, a protective limestone layer, although controversial from a visual perspective, would help bond the stone together. Does anyone know of similar cases? John Somers, JS Conservation Management and Town Planning john@jsconservationplanning.com The oldest standing building on Merseyside, Birkenhead Priory, is to be transformed into a multi-purpose community space thanks to a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant of £393,000.The funding will enable works to be carried out to conserve the north and west range priory buildings and complete other restoration works in order to remove the building from the heritage-at-risk register. Dramatic improvement The terraced balconies at the Grade II listed National Theatre have been resurfaced as part of a £80 million refurbishment programme. The balconies provide both public walkways and roofs for offices below. The existing asphalt substrate has been surfaced with a flexible membrane installed by Kemper System. The cold liquid-applied waterproofing membrane was installed in a single wet-on-wet process. The system combines a solventfree liquid resin, using an 80 per cent castor oil formulation and non-woven reinforcement fleece made from recycled plastic bottles. The liquid resin cures to form a permanently elastic monolithic membrane that can not delaminate. The National Theatre’s terraced balconies being resurfaced with a flexible membrane made from recycled plastic bottles.
C O N T E X T 1 3 2 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 3 5 Letters Early adopters From Jo Cormier, Oxfordshire I really enjoyed the photograph of the angel with a mobile phone (Context 130, July, p47). However, you may not be aware that mobile phones have been in existence for a long time. This photograph is of the font in the church of San Frediano in Lucca, Italy. Jo Cormier ‘Hi, George. I’ve got a dragon here.What do you want me to do with it?’ Raising aspirations From Phil Bell, National Apprenticeship Service Many thanks for the very interesting issue of Context (September) following the IHBC’s annual school in Carlisle. One correction: on page 23, the article ‘Apprenticeships: skills development for professionals’ states that ‘all posts are also eligible for a £1,500 grant’.What I said was that the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers was potentially available to employers subject to them meeting eligibility criteria. We would not wish to falsely raise aspirations in the sector. Phil Bell ‘HOW CAN it be worth buying a residential property for £35 million only to knock it down? Opportunities to create a complete new-build Mayfair mansion like this, as opposed to the usual comprehensive refurb, are few and far between. Although the figures seem extraordinary, the potential to significantly increase volume in such a sought-after location goes some way to explaining the incredible price tag.’ Oli Russell, head of property acquisition at Charles Russell, justifying the new owner’s decision to demolish a Mayfair mansion, on the market for £35 million, and rebuild it on a larger scale. ‘WOW. LANDMARKTrust’s Astley Castle wins the Stirling Prize, another great example of heritage and modern architecture working together.’ DCMS minister EdVaizey on Twitter @edvaizey26sep ‘THEWINDOWS Appeal is marvellous – making the building wind and watertight is essential, and windows played such an important part in the story. Peter Pan came in through the windows, and the children followed him out through the windows. It is there that Mrs Darling waited for them to return. ‘There is something very special about windows as the link between this world and the magical one of Peter Pan. The idea that you can sponsor a window and have your very own link with Neverland is wonderful.’ Actor Joanna Lumley launching a campaign to save the house that inspired JM Barrie to write ‘Peter Pan’ – Moat Brae House and Garden, Dumfries, designed by architectWalter Newall and built in 1823. ‘WITH AN unusual blend of new brutalist architecture mellowed by the curves of the roof and the sweeping ranks of the car park, this megastructure was designed to recreate a sense of the monumental within the British town scene: it is a landmark in the innovation of transport-related buildings as well as a landmark of Preston.’ English Heritage welcoming the Grade II listing of Preston Central Bus Station. ‘ARCHITECTS are rarely thanked or honoured in this country, so it’s nice for one of the last state-sponsored projects to be recognised. But I would be embarrassed about freezing the building in time. It was designed to be easy to unpick, so you could whip it down and recycle it easily.We always said if it becomes obsolete, just demolish it.’ Architect ChristopherWoodward talking to the Guardian about the 2010 Grade II listing of Milton Keynes shopping centre, of whose design team he was a member. ‘ONE LOCAL authority in the West Country has one conservation officer but 5,900 listed buildings. Not untypical ratio elsewhere.’ Bob Kindred on Twitter @bobkindred3h ‘THE TRUST is there to promote and preserve places of historic interest and national beauty – not necessarily historic beauty. The Big Brother house has real sociological and historical importance. It was about Britain looking at itself.’ Ivo Dawnay, London director of the National Trust, explaining to the Evening Standard the trust’s decision to open the Big Brother house for a weekend. Dawnay says he has proposed a new tagline:‘The National Trust: not as boring as you think’. ‘WE PAINTED it blue to match the colour on the town newsletter and it is quite eye-catching in blue, but since then we’ve discovered that we needed planning permission to repaint it. ‘We knew the phone box was listed but we didn’t realise we’d need planning permission to repaint it.’ Mike Mills, mayor of Montgomery town council in Powys, on being forced to apply for retrospective planning permission after the council repainted a traditional red telephone box.The disused phone box has been converted into a into a mini tourist information centre, with racks and leaflets. On average just one phone call a day is made from each of the UK’s 58,500 remaining payphones.
6 C O N T E X T 1 3 2 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 3 Periodically First, an apology. For your reviewer the September deadline for this issue of Context brought its annual frisson of anxiety, as there is uncertainty each autumn whether review publications will not only arrive before the copy deadline, but also allow sufficient time to digest the content. In most years, publishers do not disappoint and the post delivers the necessary material to rescue me at the last moment. Alas, not this year. Please excuse the relative brevity of this column as this autumn I have had much less material to work with. The corresponding piece next time may need to accommodate a wider range of reviews of journals than usual, including those expected to arrive too late for this one. With English Heritage (in its as yet undivided form) and some local authorities – at long last – placing greater emphasis on heritage-at-risk issues, it is good also to welcome the higher profile being given by the Theatres Trust through Theatres Magazine (No 37, Autumn 2013) to its Theatre Buildings at Risk Register 2013. In devoting each autumn issue to this problem in future, the trust hopes to better promote the risks to this specialist building type. Currently 48 theatres are on the register and while there has been progress in removing seven (where the future now seems secure), 10 cases have been added. Incidentally, the theatre the trust considers currently greatest at risk is the Brighton Hippodrome (re-) designed by Frank Matcham in 1901–2 and now Grade II* listed. In addition to an overview of the risk entries there are good articles on the historical importance of Brighton Hippodrome, and an inspirational one on Wilton’s Music Hall, east London. This is a unique survival, built in 1858, listed Grade II* since 1971 and on the English Heritage Buildings at Risk Register from 1998. It has recently been repaired externally at a cost of £1.1 million, with fund-raising also complete for the remaining works commencing in the spring of 2014. Much of the credit for the survival of Wilton’s is due to the British Music Hall Society, the 50th anniversary of whose foundation is also celebrated in this issue. The latest issue of The Institution of Civil Engineers Proceedings on Engineering History and Heritage (Vol 166, issue EH3, August 2013) contains much of UK interest following recent more international issues. One paper which might be said to have universal appeal is by Richard Parry. His useful summary of classical writings in construction demonstrates that builders who today might have been termed engineers in antiquity had a clear understanding of what they were doing and were able to describe it lucidly. As might be expected, these feats of engineering in the ancient world related primarily to fundamentals of civilised life and trade: water control, distribution and use, and road and bridges. Good descriptions and explanations of the application of engineering skills are not, as seems assumed by many modern engineers, confined to the last 300 years. Some structures are revered and appear prominently in technical literature; others sink quietly into obscurity or are perhaps simply neglected. The latter seems particularly true of timber-lattice railway bridges in Britain. Although few in number, they represented a significant stage in bridge design, being the precursor of iron-lattice and iron-trussed bridges. Nicholas Bill describes the timber examples, some surprisingly large in scale, built over the period 1840 to 1870, and identifies the principal engineers who were involved. The majority were over-bridges, as it appears that British engineers seldom trusted this form of design to carry a railway. The structures pre-dated an ability to accurately calculate the loads to be imposed. If built with undersized elements, the bridges lacked sufficient stiffness, causing them to deflect and oscillate, requiring modification after completion. Nevertheless, most survived long enough to make them financially viable. The author also refers to early interactions between their British, American and Irish engineers, although the designers in Britain differed from their North American counterparts by leaving their bridges unroofed. Contemporary 19th century photographs and drawings illustrate several of the good British examples. The involvement of British engineer William Teirney Clark in the design and
C O N T E X T 1 3 2 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 3 7 construction of the iconic Széchenyi Chain Bridge across the Danube in Budapest has been described by Sandor Vaci in a previous set of ICE Proceedings (Vol 164, May 2011). It is a fascinating story of British expertise and dogged determination. The first article dealt more with the historical context and patronage of the engineer. In the current article, the author, with British engineer John Vignoles, addresses the challenges of building the bridge in the early part of the 19th century across the ice-bound Danube. This proved a major consideration because of the dangers posed by the river freezing over and the desirability of designing a bridge with the least number of piers. The authors draw on excellent archival material (some vivid contemporary illustrations are reproduced to telling effect) and original contracts to show how the coffer-dams for the piers were constructed, and how well these performed in relation to the potentially destructive power of moving river ice. Those IHBC members who attended the Winchester Annual School last year and visited the cathedral will have been informed about the dangerous subsidence which threatened the building at the beginning of the 20th century as a consequence of the geology of compressible peat over gravel, and a high water table. Those who visited the crypt would have seen the deep ‘pool’ created by the high water table for themselves. For those unable to view this magnificent building and learn of its problems and the solutions, Gwilym Roberts has written an excellent article, which sets out the cathedral’s architectural origins, reconstruction on the 13th and 16th centuries, and the consequences of a prolonged period of 300 years of structural neglect. At the start of the 20th century, defects were becoming very evident.Work was needed to the crypt and the west end, beneath the lady chapel and especially to the retrochoir south wall, which was leaning outward to a dangerous degree. Francis Fox, an engineer with experience of underwater construction, was consulted. He recommended underpinning, but the pits to do this rapidly filled with black peaty water reducing visibility almost to nil. As conventional pumping out was considered too dangerous, a diver was employed to excavate and bottom-seal pits under the walls to enable complete underpinning, eventually extended to virtually all the cathedral’s walls. Diver WilliamWalker worked for five years in atrocious conditions, completing the work mainly by touch. The author clearly and succinctly sets out the range of structural problems faced by the cathedral authorities – with several telling contemporary photographs and drawings – and explains how the underpinning works were undertaken. The memorial tablet placed on the west wall of the cathedral in 1916 to commemorate the heroic work of WilliamWalker (who died in 1912) is also reproduced. The last article in the ICE Proceedings is by Dermot O’Dwyer of Trinity College Dublin. He looks at what the study of multiple case histories of structural successes and failures can tell us, particularly if there are underlying common features. O’Dwyer argues that the study of engineering history in undergraduate engineering programmes should mirror the study of the history of architecture and construction by architecture students. He considers that there are practical benefits in knowing about past engineering practice for the present-day conserving, renovating or renewing of old engineering works. He notes also the importance of cooperation between rival engineers, citing Brunel and Robert Stevenson as historical precedents. In recent abstractions fromNatural Stone Specialist, I noted overviews of limestone and sandstone by Barry Hunt. He has continued with Part 2 on sandstone (July 2013); the characteristic of marble (August); and a similar article (the first of two) exploring the characteristic of granite (September). These continue to concentrate on a stone’s general applications; fitness for purpose; durability; and include a table of some standard tests for its classification. The August issue also has a slightly provocative article on the where to draw the line between ostentation and good taste in the use of stone – and how to keep on the right side of the line. This seems to relate particularly to the requirements by domestic clients for flamboyant cantilevered staircases, for example, and by commercial clients for feature walls in reception areas. The September issue highlights the securing of extended quarrying of Ham Hill stone near Yeovil, following the funding of a three-year archaeological dig on the site. Supplies of the distinctive limestone should be secured for a further 50 years once 10 metres of overburden are removed to reveal 20–25 metres of Ham Hill stone in beds up to 700mm deep. In the latest issue of the SPAB Magazine (Autumn 2013) Matthew Slocombe reminds us that the Chancellor of the Exchequer is understood to have intervened personally to limit the cuts to arts and museums in the comprehensive spending review to five per cent.We all know now that the level of cuts to English Heritage and its client bodies was 10 per cent. By the time you read this, the sector will be considering its response to the consultation on the dismemberment of English Heritage – a foregone conclusion, most may think. Slocombe notes the public English Heritage response to all this as ‘tremendous’ – a curious reaction if ever there was one. For decades, ministers of all parties have pleaded for a reduction in the number of organisations that operate in the heritage field to make communication simpler for government, failing to understand that they all do different jobs and with complementary expertise. Planning minister Nick Boles now seems to take a different view, having declared in a recent speech, that ‘we want plurality’. As Slocombe dryly observes: ‘We applaud this, although Boles then undermined his point slightly by indicating that he reserved the right not to listen to any of the advice being given.’ It hardly needs writing that the SPAB advocates conservative repair, but this concept is often not well understood nor easily practically explained, especially if occasionally quite radical works are required. It is therefore worth drawing attention to two case examples
8 C O N T E X T 1 3 2 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 3 discussed in some detail in the latest issue of the magazine. Both are usefully informative. The first concerns the repair of the medieval west doors to the St Nicholas’ chapel, Kings Lynn. It has taken 10 years to choose the best repair option for these doors, which despite 20 coats of over-painting still retain some original decoration. Their detailed condition and recent conservative repairs are well illustrated. The second case concerns the c1880 lead dome at Brompton Oratory in Kensington. Here the works, though relatively minor, were wide ranging and at a high level. In particular they involved repairs to the timber sub-structure, whose decay had been caused by the unsuitable detailing and inappropriate original sizing of the original architect’s elaborate (scrollwork) lead detailing. It is good to read of SPAB’s working in concert with other national amenity societies in defence of heritage assets. But it seems slightly odd to devote so much attention in the magazine to casework from the 19th century (Smithfield Market redevelopment, London); and the 20th century (Southbank Centre, London); and to the decade-old repair of survivals from the Great Exhibition of 1851 – the listed Victorian concrete dinosaurs in Crystal Palace Park, London. Bob Kindred MBE From ‘Heavenly Mansions: an interpretation of Gothic’ in John Summerson’s Heavenly Mansions and other Essays on Architecture (1963), originally presented as a lecture to the RIBA in 1946 Romanesque is puzzling, ambiguous, incomplete. The point of all its business eludes one. Then, suddenly, the creation of gothic explains everything. Some extraordinary men--some among Abbot Suger’s masons at Saint Denis, some elsewhere--saw precisely how to arrive at a true synthesis of the warring elements in Romanesque. They were followed by others and within a hundred years the whole of the first and decisive chapter of Gothic had been written. The nature of Gothic architecture has been expressed in many formulas, but almost all, since Viollet-le- Duc, are based on technical rather than aesthetic premises. These premises may be perfectly correct, but to give them primacy in an exposition of Gothic architecture is to perpetuate the 19th-century fallacy that architecture is a matter of structure plus adornment. Viollet-leDuc, by analyzing French Gothic in terms of equilibrium, made it seem that this was so; but you have only to examine Viollet’s own personal background to see why it was necessary for him, in his time, to see Gothic in this way. His method was to break down the Gothic problem from outside, to expose it in the terms which his age and his temperament dictated. His method has dominated the exposition of Gothic ever since; but I venture to suggest that for us, in our time, the rationalistic, non-psychological method is inadequate. And (in view of the fact that Gothic is taught in the schools) positively harmful and misleading because it prompts modem analogies of the most absurd kind... As everyone knows, one of the most striking innovations in Gothic is the universal adoption of the pointed arch in place of the round arch. The reasons for its adoption have often been summarized in terms of statical expediency, but there is plenty of evidence to show that it was a matter of deliberate choice – a matter of taste. The pointed arch, with the cusp and one or two other things were stolen from Arab art across the Pyrenees. It was used here and there, in a casual way, in Romanesque work, for the novelty of the thing, and then seized upon as an essential by the creators of Gothic. It was seized upon as essential, not because it was materially essential, but because the pointed arch struck that note of fantasy which was what the mind of the age desired… The pointed arch was, of course, structurally convenient; but this matter of convenience has been overstressed. I repeat that Gothic created and simultaneously solved its problems. The notion of the Gothic system solving the Romanesque problem is, from the point of view of structure, unreal. We are told that the pointed arch rendered possible the high, brittle structures of the 13th century. But this is not strictly true; structures just as high and just as brittle could have been constructed on a round arched system. Certainly, the pointed vault exerts a smaller outward thrust against the walls; but in such a very slight degree that one can not conscientiously see any compulsion in this circumstance. It is convenient, as the builders of Durham early discovered, to use pointed transverse arches in a vault, thereby facilitating the use of semicircular diagonals while retaining a level ridge. But here again it is no more than convenience; and it can not be seriously maintained that in these great ceremonial buildings the ancient, superb discipline of the round arch was disrupted merely for the sake of a limited degree of technical convenience. No. The pointed-arch system was, I believe, adopted for this reason: it had an air of fantasy – perhaps, dare one guess, of Oriental fantasy.
C O N T E X T 1 3 2 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 3 9 Tel: 01621 818155 Email: sales@mumfordwood.com www.mumfordwood.com Visit us at The Building Centre, London or our Essex showroom. QUAL ITY BE YOND COMPA R E uality and longevity - attributes at the heart of every Mumford & Wood window, door and garden room. Our bespoke collection combines technical expertise with modern manufacturing techniques to deliver market leading performance, superior aesthetics and the highest levels of customer satisfaction. To enhance the authenticity of period restorations and traditional new build projects, our award-winning Conservation™ range now includes: Wider range of glass units: 12, 14 and 24mm thick NEWslim 12mm double glazed Box Sash window with original putty glazed appearance NEW24mm triple glazed Box Sash window achieving an excellent 0.8 W/m²K U-value NEWinternal glazing for enhanced aesthetics and improved security BSI energy ratings, BSI Kitemark, Energy Saving Trust recommended, Secured by Design accredited Whichever Mumford & Wood window, door, garden room, orangery or roof lantern you select, you can be certain of quality that is beyond comparison. T H E F I N E S T T I M B E R W I N D O W S & D O O R S B E W A R E O F I M I T A T I O N S SINCE 1954 Q
10 C O N T E X T 1 3 2 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 3 SUPPORTING COLUMNS Survival of the fittest Many freestanding walls are removed unnecessarily when too little consideration is given to their form of construction, writes structural engineer Brian Morton. Situations where there are apparent structural problems associated with leaning, freestanding walls continuously arrive on my desk. Although I have written two previous articles (Context, March 1996 and December 2000) on the stability of such walls, engineers continue to worry about repairing these structures, because they do not comply with rules of thumb that are used throughout the profession. If a wall is leaning, engineers tend to measure the lean of the wall.They use the rule that if the centre of gravity at the base of the wall is outside the middle third of the wall or buttress, it is considered to be unstable. In these circumstances proposals are put forward to rebuild the wall, regardless of its condition and the fact that it might have been there for several hundred years. This article has been provoked by a situation with a boundary wall to a churchyard in Kent. Acting as honorary engineer to the DiocesanAdvisory Committee (DAC), I was asked to comment on proposals submitted to the committee for strengthening the leaning retaining wall, including some local rebuilding. The wall to the churchyard, overlooking a private road, is 1.8–2.5 metres high and retains earth to a height of approximately 1.5 metres.The length of wall about which there is concern is about 15 metres in total. At one end there is an access opening, and the wall follows a curve at its opposite end to a point where the wall continues more or less vertical. A substantial tree is against the wall.The original engineers approached by the church architect put forward proposals based on advice received from suppliers of reinforcing bars. The engineers suggested that they no longer needed to be involved: they would leave it to the ‘specialists’.The price put forward for the work was in excess of £25,000, including VAT. I suggested to the DAC that with this comparatively thick wall, built of soft bricks set into a lime mortar, this would be an unsatisfactory approach.The inherent stability of the construction was the very reason why the wall had survived. The parochial church council, on the advice of the church architect, asked another firm of engineers to carry out a very detailed survey of the wall. After taking measurements of the degree to which the wall was out of plumb at various points along its length, they decided that the wall could fall at any moment.They suggested that a series of buttresses built against the wall in the adjacent private road would be appropriate. In their report the new engineers indicated that temporary support should be provided immediately because the wall could collapse and cause injury or death. The proposal was for a series of small flying buttresses. Aesthetically this could be considered satisfactory, but the associated cost was £25,000–£30,000 plusVAT for The inherent stability of the construction of this comparatively thick wall, built of soft bricks set into a lime mortar, was the reason it had survived so long. Despite an initial estimate of more than £25,000 to make the wall safe, the job was done for little more than £5,000.
C O N T E X T 1 3 2 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 3 11 carrying out the work through to completion, plus fees. It happened that while I was considering the situation, the DAC asked me to look at another high retaining wall, sadly not of good construction, that had partially collapsed. Because of the urgency, work had started in repairing the wall without the necessary approvals from the DAC. Expecting problems, I inspected the situation and found that two bricklayers/stonemasons from a small company in Kent, called Etchinghill Arts, had inspected the wall.They stood back and looked at it sensibly and, before my arrival, stabilised the base of the wall with well-thought-out proposals. I asked them how they were intending to complete the work. They had thought it through logically, and I greatly admired their workmanship and attitude. I subsequently agreed that the work was perfectly satisfactory, and it received DAC approval. My thoughts of course went to the proposals for the flying buttresses for the wall before me, and I decided I would ask these two young bricklayers/stonemasons to come and look at the wall with me.Without question they agreed that the wall could be repaired. They explained to me how they thought it should be done, which was exactly in line with my own thoughts. As always, there was continuous communication between the contractors and me, and there was also a question of trust between the contractors and the PCC. I explained to the PCC that we would not know the likely final cost until we actually started work, but it would certainly be very much less than the proposals for the more sophisticated scheme. I put forward my ideas to the DAC. Because there was effectively a conflict of interests in my acting for the DAC and also the church, where I had been brought only in as an adviser, I accepted a nominal fee for seeing the work through to completion. The proposals were instigated only after much discussion within the Morton Partnership, and with the arboriculturist and the two stonemasons, Mark and Keith, who were instrumental in completing the work to everyone’s satisfaction at a cost of a little over £5,000. I am absolutely satisfied that we have given the wall a greatly extended life, as long as it is properly maintained in the future. My experience suggests that many freestanding walls are removed unnecessarily when quite simple consideration of the form of construction and type of cracking related to its age could lead to many more walls being retained. If the wall under consideration has some length and there are only a few significant vertical cracks, simple repairs can be carried out by experienced workmen under proper professional supervision. Brian Morton MBE is a consultant to the Morton Partnership, founded in 1966. TCS_IHBC Advert_23-06-11 [outlined].indd 1 23/06/2011 15:49:02 Award-winning architects giving old buildings a new future Civic Trust Award Community Recognition IHBC North West Award for Conservation RICS National Building Conservation Award Purcell. Thoughtfully designed evolution. www.purcelluk.com
12 C O N T E X T 1 3 2 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 3 West Dean College, Chichester,West Sussex PO18 0QZ A programme of courses on the repair and maintenance of historic structures validated by English Heritage which include: MASONRY CLEANING THE STRUCTURAL REPAIR OF HISTORIC BUILDINGS CONSERVATION OF HISTORIC CONCRETE PRACTICE AND THEORY: MANAGING CHANGE IN HISTORIC BUILDINGS For more information email: cpd@westdean.org.uk or go to www.westdean.org.uk/bcm BUILDING CONSERVATION MASTERCLASSES Glass for period windows The London Crown Glass Company specialises in providing authentic glass for the windows of period buildings. This glass, handblown using the traditional techniques of the glass blowers, is specified by The National Trust, the Crown Estates and indeed many others involved in the conservation of Britain’s heritage. Specify authentic period glass for your restoration projects. THE LONDON CROWN GLASS COMPANY 21 Harpsden Road, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire RG9 1EE Tel 01491 413227 Fax 01491 413228 londoncrownglass@gmail.com www.londoncrownglass.co.uk Caroe& Partners Architects Wells | London | Cardiff | Ledbury Tel 01749 677561 | info@caroe.co.uk www.caroe.co.uk Contact us: Tel: +44 (0)1202 965295 / 07894 599449 Email: heritage@bournemouth.ac.uk www.bournemouth.ac.uk/bmtharch Bournemouth Archaeology Historic Building Recording & Built Heritage Services • Bespoke research and historical analysis packages • Historic building recording and surveys • Renovation advice • Pre-planning advice • Impact assessments • Statements of significance • 3D laser scanning Our services include: We are a multi-discipline heritage consultancy with a long established track record of providing heritage services and expert advice to all our clients. 5178
C O N T E X T 1 3 2 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 3 13 Coming to terms with national identity Heritage and nationhood For much of Europe, recent history is one of a mismatch between nationality and political boundaries. The impact on eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union has provided the most dramatic examples, but the assertion of national identities within state boundaries continues to affect countries like Spain, Italy and the UK. Our authors in this issue of Context explore the effects of national identity on the historic built environment from a number of national perspectives and through a diverse set of stories. From Australia, Louisa Moore (page 22) describes how historic areas in Sydney, far from being an elitist concern, were saved through the people power of concerted action by trade unions. There are echoes of this story in Erika Hanna’s account of the changing and increasingly democratic meanings attached to the architecture of Georgian Dublin (page 14). Philip Davies (page 27) shows parallels in how the role of Rangoon’s colonial-era buildings are being reassessed in relation to Burma’s national cultural identity. National identity can, of course, lead to conflict. Nektaria Kokkinou’s article (page 26) describes the brutal effects of the Green Line, designated to separate the Greek and Turkish communities, on Nicosia’s architectural heritage. Kokkinou identifies some small hopeful signs for conservation. This theme is taken further by Andrew McLelland from Northern Ireland (page 16). Changing the meaning and identity of some of the landmarks of the Troubles plays a small but important part in the continuing process of reconciliation in the province. The approaching Scottish independence referendum in 2014 dominates current discussion of nationhood in the UK. But Stuart West’s view from Orkney (page 19), which draws on the entire historical sweep of human settlement in the British Isles, offers an altogether more subtle argument than the political chatter in the media. Finally, what of a national identity against which others have defined themselves? Richard Courtney (page 24) calls for a civic rather than an ethnic definition of Englishness. He praises English Heritage’s initiatives in seeking to identify and articulate diverse expressions of English national identity. Places and their meanings will continue to be central to national identity or to the varied plural identities of nations. National identities will thus continue to be a concern of conservation even, as Courtney shows, in his and my home county of Essex. Michael Taylor © Ad Meskens/Wikimedia Commons © Mark Chatterley ©Wknight94
14 C O N T E X T 1 3 2 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 3 HERITAGE AND NATIONHOOD ERIKA HANNA Georgian Dublin and national identity The concept of Georgian Dublin as a heritage site has been formed by ideas of national identity in Ireland, and international notions of conservation and urban value. The 18th-century streets of Dublin have had many meanings and many lives. Built as an articulation of the power and wealth of the Anglo-Irish society, the long streets of red-brick terraces with interiors were a powerful visual reminder of Ireland’s place in European networks of trade and commerce. In the 19th century many fell into decay; their large rooms were subdivided and housed whole families in terrible conditions. As such the decaying city often came to be seen as symptomatic of British misrule in Ireland; indeed, the tenements achieved new notoriety as the backdrop to Sean O’Casey’s most famous plays. During the 20th century the conservation of the city was a site of intense debate, due to its associations with colonialism and poverty, the structural degradation of many of the buildings, and a professional focus on the preservation of set-piece and monumental architecture. However, shifts within Ireland regarding the parameters of national identity and transnational transformations in theories of conservation meant that definitions of the city’s heritage were constantly shifting. Dublin’s 18th-century built environment was often excluded or ignored within conceptions of heritage as they developed from theVictorian period.The image of a prelapsarian Celtic past had held talismanic significance for 19th-century nationalists. Indeed, this was given form through the types of heritage that were designated and sanctified during this time: the Irish language, the oral culture of western communities, Ireland’s history of Catholicism, and the physical remains of a pre-Norman culture. In contrast with these artefacts, the 18th-century buildings of the city were often categorised as the physical remains of British rule, and so outside the heritage of the nation. This attachment to a past unsullied by British influence was only reinforced by the bureaucratic expansion of the 19th-century British state. Westminster’s first attempt to mandate for historic structures, the Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882, extended protection only to uninhabited structures constructed prior to 1700 and listed only 12 pre-modern sites in Ireland. This legislation was taken over, and largely retained, by the new state as the National Monuments Act 1930.While it redefined a ‘national monument’ without reference to a particular time period, its provisions were better suited to the preservation of archaeological artefacts than buildings. The record of items protected bears this out: in 1964 only one national monument under No 34, Arran Quay, Dublin, in 1964. Until the mid-1960s, Dublin was seen as a relic of colonial power in Ireland, not part of the nation’s heritage, and so not worth preserving. (Image courtesy of ElinorWiltshire/National Library of Ireland)
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