Context 158 - March 2019

4 C O N T E X T 1 5 8 : M A R C H 2 0 1 9 programme, the new Inspiring Fundraising digital toolkit is an online resource that encapsulates elements of the training delivered through the programme, using films, animations and case studies. It offers users a step- by-step guide to fundraising. The partners in the RSH programme have also released the findings of a major new report into the current funding landscape for Scotland’s heritage sector. The State of Heritage Funding Now highlights the effects of decreasing lottery funding as a result of declining National Lottery ticket sales, and a fall in local government budgets for cultural and related services. Despite this trend, the research shows a continued strong reliance by the heritage sector on grant and lottery funding, with only a third of heritage organisations surveyed currently sourcing any funding from corporate support. Ice house rediscovered A huge underground ice house dating from the 1780s has been recorded by buildings archaeologists from MOLA working on behalf of Great Marlborough Estates during the redevelopment of Regent’s Crescent in London. The ice house has been designated as a scheduled monument by Historic England. It is hoped that public access, by way of a new viewing corridor, will be made available at certain times of year during archaeological and architectural festivals. Located just off Regent’s Park, the subterranean ice house would have been one of the largest of its kind when first built, measuring 7.5 metres wide and 9.5 metres deep. The red-brick, egg-shaped chamber survived the Blitz despite the destruction of the mews houses above. It remains in excellent condition, as do its entrance passage and vaulted ante-chamber. In the 1820s the ice house was used by pioneering ice-merchant and confectioner William Leftwich to store and supply high-quality ice to London’s Georgian elites, long before it was possible to manufacture ice artificially. Leftwich was one of first people to recognise the potential for profit in imported ice. In 1822, following a very mild winter, he chartered a vessel to make the 2,000-kilometre round trip from Great Yarmouth to Norway to collect 300 tonnes of ice harvested from frozen lakes. Built in 1819, the Grade I listed Georgian Regent’s Crescent was originally designed by John Nash. The houses were destroyed during the Blitz and replaced in the 1960s by a replica. The developers claim that the redevelopment of the crescent will be executed in an historically authentic way, from the shape of the windows to the lime-washed render wash used on the facade. Reforms to Welsh planning law The Law Commission has proposed over 190 technical reforms to planning law as it applies in Wales. This is intended to lead to the appearance of a new Planning Act, as the centrepiece of a new Planning Code for Wales. The commission’s 193 recommendations would cut back and simplify the legislation. They include making clear the principles underlying the planning Buildings archaeologists from MOLA record the Regent’s Crescent ice house (Photo: MOLA) A drawing by the architect and illustrator David Birkett, who has retired as IHBC south branch treasurer after more than 25 years. Birkett writes: ‘I had the privilege of being the first treasurer when the IHBC arose from the swamp of the Association of Conservation Officers. That, I remember, was quite blokish and the refinements of administration were still in the cocoon of early pond life. Since 1993 I have hung on with my home-made spreadsheet. It has been hugely enjoyable and an honour to serve in this role for so many years.’