Context 155 - July 2018

Editor Rob Cowan Editorial Coordinator Michael Taylor, ihbceditorialboard@gmail.com Editorial Board Tom Copp Nigel Crowe Peter de Figueiredo (book reviews) Rebecca Madgin Fiona Newton Gordon Sorensen Jonathan Taylor Michael Taylor (chair) Cartoons by Rob Cowan Context is distributed to all members of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. © Institute of Historic Building Conservation 2018 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 Context on-line archive Past issues of Context can be viewed on the IHBC website. The archive provides a searchable database and reference for key articles. See www.ihbc.org.uk/page55/ context_archive. 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 themes and copy deadlines Context is published five times a year, in March, May, July, September and November. The next three themes and copy deadlines are: IHBC Annual School , September, issue 156 (13 July) Europe , November, issue 157 (14 Sept) Highlands & Islands , March, issue 158 (11 January) Please contact Michael Taylor at ihbceditorialboard@gmail.com to discuss any editorial submissions or for information about the Context editorial board. 2 C O N T E X T 1 5 5 : J U L Y 2 0 1 8 The future of churches and cathedrals Keri Dearmer writes: The Taylor Review: sustainability of English churches and cathedrals, published in December 2017, aimed to scrutinise the funding and sustainability of listed Church of England buildings and to look at how their future might be ensured. Churches are funded by their, often dwindling, frequently ageing, congregations. Hopefully, they are also funded by their local communities. Just because someone does not worship in a church does not mean that the building is not important to them, but a level of community involvement is required that some churches have not yet managed to achieve. Churches make up 45 per cent of the Grade I listed buildings in England and 78 per cent of the Church of England’s 16,000- odd churches are listed. Of the churches, 6.9 per cent are on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register . A multitude of listed tombs and war memorials, halls and vicarages are also in the Church of England’s care. The Taylor Review led to a number of recommendations under two separate headings. The first, ‘Enhancing and resourcing community use and care of church Underpinning work to tackle subsidence at St John the Evangelist, Upper Norwood, London, was supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The church, completed in 1887, was designed by JL Pearson.