Context 170 - December 2021

The River Severn The Severn navigation Powis Castle: a great survivor Repairing the Iron Bridge No 170 December 2021 Institute of Historic Building Conservation C O N T E X T 1 7 0 : D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 1 1 www.ihbc.org.uk @IHBCtweet Registered as a charity in England and Wales number 1061593 and in Scotland number SC041945. Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in England number 3333780. Registered Office: Jubilee House, High Street, Tisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6HA Officers President Mike Brown, president@ihbc.org.uk Chair David McDonald, chair@ihbc.org.uk Vice Chair Lone Le Vay, vchair@ihbc.org.uk Secretary Jo Evans, ihbcsecretary@ihbc.org.uk Treasurer Jill Kerry, treasurer@ihbc.org.uk National Office Director Seán O’Reilly, director@ihbc.org.uk Operations Director Fiona Newton, operations@ihbc.org.uk Consultations Coordinator consultations@ihbc.org.uk Membership Services Officer Carmen Moran, membershipservices@ihbc.org.uk Professional Services Officer Michael Netter, services@ihbc.org.uk Administration Officer Lydia Porter, admin@ihbc.org.uk Committee Chairs Policy Roy Lewis, policy@ihbc.org.uk Membership & Ethics Andrew Shepherd, membership@ihbc.org.uk Education ChrisWood, education@ihbc.org.uk Communications & Outreach Dave Chetwyn, communications@ihbc.org.uk Branch Officers North north@ihbc.org.uk NorthWest northwest@ihbc.org.uk Yorkshire yorkshire@ihbc.org.uk West Midlands westmids@ihbc.org.uk East Midlands eastmids@ihbc.org.uk South south@ihbc.org.uk SouthWest southwest@ihbc.org.uk East Anglia eastanglia@ihbc.org.uk South East southeast@ihbc.org.uk London london@ihbc.org.uk Scotland scotland@ihbc.org.uk Wales wales@ihbc.org.uk Northern Ireland northernireland@ihbc.org.uk Republic of Ireland republicofireland@ihbc.org.uk Cover: At weekends, the new lighting scheme for the Iron Bridge recreates the fiery skies of the 18th century – see page 29 (Photo: English Heritage) 2 Briefing 4 Out of Context 5 Periodically 8 The writer’s voice 11 Editorial 12 The Severn navigation Peter Brown 15 The heritage of the lock islands DavidViner 19 Powis Castle: a great survivor Amy Reynolds and Alexander Turrell 22 Paddling into the urban past Nigel Baker 25 Forthampton Court and the Severn Anthea Jones 29 Repairing the Iron Bridge Bill Klemperer 35 What was Unesco up to in Liverpool? IanWray and Dave Chetwyn 41 Restoring Broadbent’s Bath House Paul Kenyon 43 A tale of two pubs Rebecca Burrows 46 Notes from the chair 47 New members 48 Director’s cut 50 Vox pop 51 Book reviews 56 New member profile 57 Inter alia 58 Products and services 60 Specialist suppliers index