8 C O N T E X T 1 7 3 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 2 Noting that the traditional use of pine (not coal) tar on buildings has largely been lost in the UK but has continued unbroken Sweden, this is where the project team sought advice.Traditional sailcloth of cotton duct canvas is dimensionally stable and was regarded in this instance as a more suitable covering than alternatives manufactured from man-made fibres. The new roofs on large sarking boards were primed first with Swedish pine tar heated on an electric hob to 50°C and thinned with white spirit (10 pine tar: 1 white spirit). The underside of the sailcloth was treated likewise before being laid on the boards with folded and stapled laps. Two coats of unthinned warmed pine tar were then applied to the sailcloth, with both coatings dusted with charcoal. A third coat of tar and two dust coatings of sand were to be applied after six months, and further coats applied after two and five years. This article shows the benefits of wide-ranging and persistent research, and valuable experimentation. As a process, if not a widely applicable technique, it will be of interest to anyone facing such unusual circumstances, requiring the matching of the shapes of difficult surface geometry with traditional materials. Heritage Now Articles of interest featured in Heritage Now (Summer 2022), the magazine of Historic Buildings and Places (the new working name of the Ancient Monuments Society), include an explanation by Andrew Coles, associate director of Julian Harrap Architects, of the ongoing restoration of the Grade I listed St Lawrence Jewry (situated alongside a Roman amphitheatre and the Guildhall in the City of London); some encouraging examples of conservation, restoration and re-use of historic railway buildings by Clive Baker, chair of the judges of the National Railway Heritage Awards; and Paul Holden trying to answer his own rhetorical question of whether biographical dictionaries of architects have a future. Mark Girouard has recently published A Biographical Dictionary of English Architecture, 1540–1640. While this fills a gap between earlier biographical dictionaries by John Harvey, Howard Colvin and others, Holden asks if such books are still necessary. Holden points out that such dictionaries remain an essential tool and first port of call for any established or budding building historian. Despite obvious challenges ahead, these resources have great potential especially in an age where access to online resources and scholarship has never been so easy.What is clear, he maintains, is that the ‘treasure hunt’ of identifying architects with architecture has never been so popular. Finally, the Comment column pertinently asks, in the light of reduced local authority professional resources, where listed building owners are now expected to obtain informed advice regarding proposed alterations to their historic buildings? The answer seems to be – their builder! The Victorian TheVictorian (No 70, July 2022) concentrates on county houses, which along with churches and public buildings showcase Victorian architecture at its finest. Julian Orbach takes the opportunity arising from the publication of the revised Buildings of England volume on Wiltshire to share his experiences of country houses in that county, including well-known ones such as Longleat (altered by JeffryWyatt – who later changed his surname toWyattville – with decorative transformations by JD Crace in the Venetian high renaissance manner); Bowood (altered by Barry); Stourhead; lesser known ones such as Marston Hill Hall; and those built with Victorian new money, many now sadly reduced, ruminated or demolished. Also celebrated are two ‘Victorian jewels’ held by the National Trust. Stephen Ponder marks 50 years since two great 19th-century masterpieces were acquired: Philip Webb’s Standen,West Sussex (1892–4), listed Grade I as early as 1948; andWilliam Burges’s Knightshayes Court, Devon (built 1869–74), and listed Grade I only in 1975. Of further interest is the recently completed renovation of Kelmscott Manor, the Oxfordshire country home ofWilliam Morris.The house initially passed to the University of Oxford but was not particularly well respected or looked after, and the building was already deceptively fragile when ownership passed to the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1961.They undertook an initial five-year programmer of renovation because of the perilous state of the fabric.While visitor numbers increased year-on-year until 2019, it was decided that a new vision for a sustainable future for the house and estate was HERITAGE NOW PROTECTING OUR HERITAGE SINCE 1924 The Magazine of Historic Buildings & Places | www.hbap.org.uk (02/2022) SUMMER 2022
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