Buildings in the countryside Vernacular survivals Rural buildings at risk The meaning of tithe barns Celebrating the urban fringe No 178 December 2023 Institute of Historic Building Conservation
Consulting Structural Engineers Consulting Civil Engineers Our long-established heritage team provides a full range of conservation engineering services covering the inspection, assessment and repair of historic structure and infrastructure of all periods. With national coverage we can help you manage the special challenges presented by historic buildings and maximise opportunities for their future use. Our team includes chartered structural & civil engineers, conservation accredited building surveyors and members of the conservation accreditation register for engineers (CARE) which identifies specialist engineers skilled in the appraisal and repair of historic structures and sites. design@conisbee.co.uk www.conisbee.co.uk @conisbee_london London 020 7700 6666 Norwich 01603 628074 Cambridge 01223 656058
CONTEXT 178 : DECEMBER 2023 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 Vice President Rebecca Thompson, vicepresident@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@ihbc.org.uk Administration Officer Lydia Porter, admin@ihbc.org.uk Branch Liaison &Volunteer Support Officer Jude Wheeler, support@ihbc.org.uk Education,Training & Application Support Officer Angharad Hart, training@ihbc.org.uk Membership Services Officer Carmen Moran, membershipservices@ihbc.org.uk Professional Development Officer Ramona Usher, professional@ihbc.org.uk Professional Services Officer Michael Netter, services@ihbc.org.uk Committee Chairs Policy Roy Lewis, policy@ihbc.org.uk Membership & Ethics Andrew Shepherd, membership@ihbc.org.uk Education Chris Wood, education@ihbc.org.uk Communications & Outreach Dave Chetwyn, communications@ihbc.org.uk Branch Contacts North north@ihbc.org.uk North West 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 South West 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 Rest of the World overseas@ihbc.org.uk 2 Briefing 4 Periodically 7 Obituary: Gordon Sorensen 9 Editorial 10 Understanding vernacular architecture Alexandra Fairclough 13 Rural buildings at risk Jonathan Thompson 16 Fringe benefits Michael Taylor 19 The meaning of tithe barns Anthea Jones 22 Surveying vernacular roofs Terry Hughes 25 Deciding on treatment for a timber frame Joe Thompson 28 Power houses Ben Cowell 30 Sustaining a rural village Dan Rigamonti 35 Reversibility in conservation ethics Alfie Robinson 37 A listed bridge too far Douglas Campbell 40 Zen and the art of cycling exploration Ian Wray 43 Legal update 45 New members 46 New member profile 47 Notes from the chair 48 Inter alia 49 Director’s cut 51 Vox pop 53 Book reviews 57 Products and services 60 Specialist suppliers index
Editor Rob Cowan Editorial Coordinator Michael Taylor, ihbceditorialboard@gmail.com Editorial Board Nigel Crowe Aimée Felton Peter de Figueiredo (book reviews) Rebecca Madgin Duncan McCallum Fiona Newton 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 2023 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. Context themes and copy deadlines Context is published four times a year in March, June, September and December. The next three themes and copy deadlines are: Hadrian's Wall, March, issue 179 (22 January) Built and natural environment interface, June, issue 180 (22 March) Urban housing, September, issue 181 (22 July) Please contact Michael Taylor at ihbceditorialboard@gmail.com to discuss any editorial submissions or for information about the Context editorial board. 2 CONTEXT 178 : DECEMBER 2023 Briefing Heritage funding Twelve heritage buildings have been awarded a share of £12.2 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. They include the Grade II* listed Cardiff Market (pictured), which opened in 1891. The market’s structure will be restored, reducing energy costs, and the project will work with market traders to care for heritage stalls, and present the market’s historic significance. The Ice House in Great Yarmouth, which was once used to house freshly caught seafood to be transported to London’s Billingsgate fish market, will be transformed into the UK’s Centre of Excellence in Outdoor Circus and Arts. The Strand Arts Centre, Belfast, Northern Ireland’s last standing picture house, will have its 1930s architectural features and decor restored. Twenty years of modern Kaunas Unesco has listed the modern architecture of the city of Kaunas, Lithuania, as a world heritage site (Modern Kaunas, the architecture of optimism, 1919–1939). The experts who drafted the application were led by Marija Drėmaitė of the faculty of history at Vilnius University. ‘From now on, this architecture will be considered a characteristic example of the modernisation of the whole of Eastern and Central Cardiff Market: the National Lottery Heritage Fund will support its restoration. The neoclassical Bank of Lithuania building in Kaunas dates from 1928. Buildings in the countryside Vernacular survivals Rural buildings at risk The meaning of tithe barns Celebrating the urban fringe No 178 December 2023 Institute of Historic Building Conservation Cover: A house in rural Surrey (Photo: Rob Cowan)
CONTEXT 178 : DECEMBER 2023 3 Europe,’ Drėmaitė says. ‘If you want to discover what happened in the countries that emerged from the grip of empires between the two world wars, come to Kaunas.’ Drėmaitė sees the expansion of tourism as one of the most important economic benefits of inscription. ‘Many countries compete and seek to be included on this list with the aim of promoting cultural tourism,’ she says. ‘The way to receive indirect funds has also been opened up, through the organisation of conferences, restoration and conservation.’ Funding for Malton The Grade II* Wesley Centre in the market town of Malton, North Yorkshire, has received £370,000 from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, a part of the government’s levelling-up programme. The restoration and re-ordering of the building will include a flexible 600-seat auditorium. Remaining a place of worship, as it has been continually since 1811, the Wesley Centre is planned to serve a range of social needs, and to be a major centre for the classical arts and for community recreational use. The building had been at risk of demolition after the discovery of a significant structural problem with its roof in 2015. Work has been undertaken to restore the roof, a connected office building and the main interior of the original building. The Wesley Centre is a rare surviving Methodist church of its era, being one of 13 designed by the architect William Jenkins, who worked with the founder of Methodism, John Wesley. Of the four remaining today, Malton’s building is the oldest. Roman backdrop A frons scenae was installed for a period in the summer in Shakespeare North Playhouse’s Cockpit Theatre in Prescot, Lancashire, primarily based on that at Palladio’s Teatro Olympico in Vicenza. The term, deriving from ancient Roman theatre architecture, refers to the grand backdrop that frames the stage, encompassing the stage itself and the surrounding architectural elements. The only other frons scenae in the UK is in the Sam Wannamaker Playhouse in Shakespeare’s Globe. Photogrammetry at Crystal Palace New interactive 3D scans of the 29 surviving Victorian sculptures in Crystal Palace Park, south London, have been launched by Historic England, in collaboration with the Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. The dimensionally accurate photogrammetric models have been created from multiple digital scans of the famous Grade I listed beasts. People can now get up close without damaging the vulnerable sculptures. The models will also allow conservators to plan for their maintenance. The sculptures were created in 1853–1855 by artist Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins as part of the The Wesley Centre, a rare surviving Methodist church of its era (Photo: Guzelian Photos) Shakespeare North Playhouse’s frons scenae (Photo: Andrew P Brooks) original design of Crystal Palace Park. The park was laid out to plans by Joseph Paxton. Contrary to popular belief, only four of the sculpted animals are technically dinosaurs. The collection includes ancient mammals and amphibians which are also now extinct, and marine and flying reptiles. A 3D scan of one of the Crystal Palace dinosaurs (Image: Historic England) Domestic retrofit guidance John Preston writes: 2023 updates of the government’s domestic Retrofit Guidance PAS 2030 and PAS 2035 have been published and are now at last free to download, with a white paper setting out the background, at www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/ standards/pas-2035-2030. Good news is that PAS 2035 now has a clear path for traditional and protected buildings, requires additional qualifications for them, and includes Guidance for the Assessment of Traditional Buildings at Annexe E.
4 CONTEXT 178 : DECEMBER 2023 Periodically The link between heritage professional skills and heritage craft skills has never been as strong as it could be. This has always been a particular concern of Historic Buildings and Places (the former Ancient Monuments Society). Since the foundation of the AMS in 1924, one key objective has been the promotion of craftsmanship, with a recognition of the role this plays in repairing and maintaining historic buildings. Heritage Now The availability (or absence) of suitable craft skills has become increasingly apparent in recent years, highlighted since 2017 in particular by the biannual publication of the Red List of Endangered Crafts by the Heritage Crafts Association. Heritage Now (Issue 03/23) draws particular attention to the 2023 edition of the Red List (which reviews 259 traditional crafts). It identifies concerns about the availability of many diverse and scarce skills and products, including those for the repair and maintenance of our building heritage. Among these are crafts that have become extirpated since 2021; crafts that are endangered, some critically; and those considered still to be currently viable. Readers may wish to reflect if any of their professional activities might be directed towards keeping these skills alive. SPAB Magazine The educational remit and fostering of craft skills plays a key part of what the SPAB does. The autumn 2023 issue of the SPAB Magazine emphasises this role, which is illustrated by the approach to the philosophy and practice of traditional repair and maintenance across a range of buildings. Some of them post-date its statutory casework remit of buildings ostensibly dating before 1720. The magazine references the new SPAB initiative aimed at addressing the shortage of the home-produced hazel thatching spars that hold straw or reed in place on roofs. Hazel spars are a by-product of coppicing hazel, as part of traditional woodland management. Spar making in the UK has declined and thatchers have relied heavily on spars imported from Poland. This supply has dwindled for a variety of reasons, including increased transport costs, and has become unreliable and intermittent. Although plastic spars are available, they are non-traditional and environmentally unsound, and the society does not advocate their use. However, without spars thatchers cannot thatch, so there is a pressing need to revitalise the production of homegrown hazel spars. The society is working with the National Trust, the National Coppice Federation, groups representing thatchers and the IHBC, to recruit the support of conservation officers for this initiative. The SPAB continues to promote its exemplary practical Old House Project at St Andrew’s, Boxley in Kent. An article in the present issue explains the approach to research, investigation, community engagement, and identifying and devising appropriate repairs. The works are now well advanced and 2023-24 is the final year of work. On completion, the SPAB hopes that St Andrew’s will be exemplary not only in terms of conservation and sustainability, but also as an appealing place to live, complete with contemporary comforts, compatible with its listed status and the society’s repair philosophy. Completion will enable the society to repay an AHF Heritage Impact Fund loan, which was the first of a new stream of support that incentivises community engagement. The issue also covers the tellingly illustrated, SPAB sustainable heritage award winner at Blackpool Bull Close, Dunbar. There the focus has been on reusing existing materials, replicating methods from residual evidence, and sourcing new materials as locally as possible to create an authentic lowcarbon and mostly plastic-free rebuild. Again, the works reflect the society’s ethos, and the project was also found to inspire greater community cohesion, HERITAGE NOW The Magazine of Historic Buildings & Places | www.hbap.org.uk NO. 7 (WINTER 2023) LOOKING AHEAD TOWARDS OUR CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS
CONTEXT 178 : DECEMBER 2023 5 empowerment, urban regeneration, training and development, and the principles of the circular economy. Although somewhat straying somewhat beyond the 1720 date of its statutory remit, the current issue also celebrates the exceptional achievement of reclaiming the 200-yearold outdoor bathing pools at Cleveland, Bristol, after a 19-year campaign. The baths originally opened in 1817, but by 1975 Bath Council had built a new sports and leisure centre in the city centre, fed by the famous thermal springs, and in a programme of rationalisation it closed the pools in 1978. They briefly reopened in 1983 and 1984, only soon to be virtually forgotten, despite their Grade I listing. The long road back to successful regeneration has not been helped by the impact of Covid, but the imaginative approach to funding included an ability to tap into the publicsector decarbonisation fund. This, and the importance of sustained voluntary effort, are all explained in this inspiring case study. Construction Historian The most recent addition of The Construction Historian (Issue 12, Summer 2023) has an article by Nick Bill about the forgotten timber roofs of Kings Cross Station. Built between 1851 and 1852 as a London terminus for the Great Northern Railway, the station was centred on two parallel sheds, each 800 feet long and 105 feet wide, divided by a brick wall formed by piers and open arches. That structure seems to have gone largely unnoticed within engineering circles at the time. By 1868, barely 18 years after its original construction, works were underway to replace the timber ribs on the eastern shed roof of the arrival platforms with the wrought-iron-plated girders that can be seen today. The article rehearses the theories about why the original eastern roof had performed so poorly. In 1886, when a decision was taken to renew the western shed roof of the departure platforms, it was reasoned that lesser severity of decay might be attributed to the positioning of standing steam locomotives during normal operations. It is an interesting insight into operational factors determining the reasons for structural decay. The issue also deals with one aspect of the benefits provided by the Construction History Society to research: the ability to tap into worldwide experience. One such case involves a ‘faulty’ form of historic nail which turned up in building renovations in Sunderland. This displayed a curious but pronounced longitudinal split and an arched bow out to one side, seemingly a distinctly mid-19th-century phenomenon. The author refers to different manufacturing processes and characteristics, relating to construction using nails of this kind. This may be useful in a dating context, and it shows the power of incremental knowledge provided by, among others, construction historians in Sweden, Latvia and Australia. An article by RJ Barwick describes the relatively short life of Leighton Public Baths, completed in 1934 and demolished in 1991 (a very unprepossessing Tesco superstore now occupies the site). The baths were noteworthy for the steel-frame construction and the splendid internal spaces, exemplified by the large bath hall, diving stage and underwater lighting. During the winter months the baths were converted into an entertainment venue, famously hosting the Beatles in 1963. This building seems to have been a regrettable loss, leading to speculation about whether in a later era it might have been listed. It is worth drawing attention to the existence of the History of Structural Engineering Group, active since 1973. It is not necessary to be a member of the institution or an engineer to join the group, which includes historians, architects and other professionals, who are encouraged to share their knowledge and experience. The Victorian Not only do fixtures provide a useful guide to the dating and evolution of historic buildings, but the decorative schemes may also be informative. The Victorian (No 73, July 2023) looks at interior decoration with Wendy Andrews, a committee member of the Wallpaper History Society. She explores the extraordinary resources of the 24 Cowtan and Sons order books for wallpaper held at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Cowtan’s client list read ‘like an extract from Debrett’s’, with orders from Buckingham Palace, Hampton Court Palace,
6 CONTEXT 178 : DECEMBER 2023 Woburn Abbey, Highclere Castle, Alnwick Castle and Holkham Hall. Owners of other grand houses, townhouses and vicarages ordered wallpapers for a variety of interiors. These included drawing rooms, dining rooms, boudoir rooms, nurseries, and bathrooms. Wallpapers for servants’ accommodation included butlers’ pantries, housekeepers’ parlours, cooks’ sitting rooms, and cottages for coachmen and gardeners. The books reveal the use of various styles of wallpaper for different rooms, and varying quality of papers. Servants’ rooms and cottages were usually papered in cheaper, but nevertheless bright and cheerful, machine-printed papers of simple designs. Some of these designs may survive, or may be obscured by later overpapering, but when inspected may form a useful basis for dating interiors. The existence of the Cowtan order books, and other publications on historical wallpapers, may prove useful. Elsewhere in this issue, Olivia Horsfall Turner, a senior creator at the V&A, looks at the transformative role of wallpaper designs by Owen Jones which are featured in her new book on the subject. A short article by Lieske Huits discusses the issue of dust and style in the Victorian interior. Elizabeth Crawford looks at the evidence of the Garrett cousins’ decorating business, using the auction catalogue of the sale of the contents of their warehouse in 1899. R&G (Rhoda and Agnes) Garrett, house decorators, had been founded in London in 1874 after training with the architect JM Bryan. The auction catalogue reveals a significant degree of late19th-century business acumen. Journal of Architectural Conservation Those whose memories extend back beyond the National Planning Policy Framework will recall the advice in PPG15 regarding alterations: ‘minor works of indifferent quality, which may seem individually of little importance, can cumulatively be very destructive of a building’s special interest’. In the Journal of Architectural Conservation (Vol 29, No 2, 2023) this principle has been likened to that of the Ship of Theseus, the decayed planks of which were gradually replaced until no original timbers were left. That analogy is frequently used in the far east in the conservation of wooden heritage buildings. The essential differences between the conservation process of the mythological ship and actual Japanese practice makes the analogy misleading. In an effort to clear up these long-standing misconceptions, a paper by Alejandro Martinez de Arbulo of the department of design and architecture, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Japan, discusses Japanese conservation guidelines and authenticity, in order to clarify the philosophy and methodology of the conservation of such wooden buildings. This clearly demonstrates an entirely valid but different approach to the conservation of historic buildings from that with which we are familiar in our Eurocentric approach to heritage management. The November issue of the Journal of Architectural Conservation (Vol 29, No 3, 2023) includes three papers from Turkey. There is particular interest in a paper by A Luciani and E Poma about modernist architecture in sub-arctic Sweden by Ralph Erskine, the British architect and planner. Perhaps better known in Scandinavia than in Britain, Erskine was responsible for the listed Byker Wall, Newcastle, and the London Ark office block in Hammersmith, west London. The paper provides a critical comparative analysis of three of Erskine’s projects undertaken between the 1950s and 1960s in the municipality of Kiruna. The aim was to understand the extent to which architectural technology could be developed to adapt modern design and ideals to the sub-arctic climate. The authors’ research is oriented towards examining the augmentation of the heritage value and conservation status of selected designs in relation to Erskine’s architectural vision. As in the near future only one fragment of one of the three original buildings will be preserved. The research is seen as contributing to passing on the heritage value of the design and construction process to future generations. At an early stage, the buildings were considered worthy of formal protection, only later to be determined to have insufficient cultural or historical value to justify such a designation. It was considered that they formed part
CONTEXT 178 : DECEMBER 2023 7 of an uncompleted urban plan, and a disconnected and foreign element in the rest of the local built environment. This lack of formal heritage recognition meant that many subsequent interventions in the form of maintenance and renovation were often performed without the necessary care. The paper is worth reading in the context of modern buildings, not yet considered worthy of formal protection, that may be altered in the interim to make them insufficiently intact and for future statutory protection. Bulletin of the War Memorials Trust The Bulletin of the War Memorials Trust (for example, No 98, August 2023) highlights the many examples of the exemplary grant-aided repairs to memorials throughout the UK. Each case is illustrated with before and after photographs of the sensitive and appropriate works. The trust continually seeks public engagement, not least in seeking assistance from the conservation team to identify mystery war memorials. It frequently publishes photographs of examples still unknown to it (seven in the August issue), asking for help and identifying them and their locations. Bob Kindred MBE OBITUARY Gordon Sorensen, publisher Gordon Sorensen (1959–2023) was for more than 20 years the publisher of Context, his work behind the scenes doing much to make it the journal that it is today. Working with him was a delight. Nothing was too much trouble for him where Context was concerned, and always his gentle sense of humour shone through. He shared our mission to make the journal as readable, accessible, entertaining, attractive and informative as possible. Members of the editorial board have been deeply saddened to learn of his death at the age of 64 after a cancer diagnosis. Gordon was managing director of Cathedral Communications, which he founded in 1993 with Liz Coyle Camp and Jonathan Taylor. Cathedral began by publishing The Building Conservation Directory, which brought free information about conservation technology, materials and specialist skills to thousands of practitioners. Other publications quickly followed, and Cathedral published for several organisations in the heritage sector, including the ASCHB, CIfA, HB&P and, of course, the IHBC. Before founding Cathedral, Gordon had been enjoyed success as an accountant with Price Waterhouse (PwC). His business experience and the skills he acquired were invaluable in running a new company, and developing it over 30 years. Cathedral became publishers of Context in 2002, introducing innovations such as full colour throughout, progressive improvements in design and layout, and recruiting the advertisers who help to make the journal viable. Gordon was a much-loved pillar of his local community in Tisbury, near Salisbury. He was chair of the local community transport service and treasurer of the medieval St John’s Church. He was a formidable sportsman on the tennis court, and in the ice hockey and roller hockey arenas, having come to ice hockey growing up in Ottawa. He represented Great Britain in the Roller Hockey World Cup and played for Tidworth Titans inline hockey team. Gordon leaves a widow, Liz, and two daughters, Shona and Maisie, to whom we send our condolences. (Painting by Rob Cowan) St John’s Church, Tisbury (Photo: Rob Cowan)
CONTEXT 178 : DECEMBER 2023 9 BUILDINGS IN THE COUNTRYSIDE Opposite: Recently converted to a holiday home, the Rocket House at Hartland Quay, Devon, was built at the clifftop to house life-saving equipment, including a rocket-assisted cable apparatus for use in rescuing people from shipwrecks. (Photo: Rob Cowan) Editorial The rural context Context is the flag we fly under; in this issue the context is rural. The pace of change is slower in the countryside, and the influence of the natural landscape more dominant than in towns and cities. The slower pace of change leaves a greater proportion of vernacular buildings intact, and confronts us with difficult issues of how to conserve them for viable new uses. By ‘vernacular’ we mean, not the selected supposedly local materials or styles that developers often adopt on the advice of their marketing departments or the council’s planners, but the ordinary (rather than monumental) buildings that were built in a particular place before local styles, techniques and materials were superseded by imports. This is the opposite of ‘polite’ architecture (though many historic buildings have both vernacular and polite elements). A vernacular building reflects the conditions of its time; the availability of construction materials; the cost of transporting and processing them; and the traditions and availability of craft skills. In particular we focus in this issue of Context on farm buildings; on tithe barns, those often unchanged cathedrals of the vernacular; on buildings with timber frames, whose treatment depends on getting the process right; on a Devon fishing village whose houses need to be adapted to, among other things, using energy more efficiently; and on the urban (or rural) fringe, where town and country meet, and whose many surprising juxtapositions are celebrated by some people with the imagination to appreciate the fringe’s sense of place, and its potential to evolve into something yet richer. Conserving individual rural buildings raises the usual questions of how to accommodate new uses, innovative technologies and modern priorities, such as the need to combat climate change. It also leads us to wider questions. A significant proportion of future development – for housing in balanced communities, among much else – will be in places other than in or next to existing towns and cities. Extending or infilling villages and building new settlements in the countryside will depend, if it is to be done successfully, on understanding historic patterns of building. Why did they build like that here, with those materials, techniques, layouts and responses to the typography? And what can we learn from them that will allow us to build in ways that will be environmentally sensitive, locally distinctive and resource-efficient?
10 CONTEXT 178 : DECEMBER 2023 ALEXANDRA FAIRCLOUGH Understanding vernacular architecture Many of them having survived for hundreds of years, and with close links to our varied landscape, our rural vernacular buildings must be understood if they are to be conserved. The rich and varied geological heritage of the UK is the foundation of the stunning rural landscape and the traditional buildings we see today. Our rural vernacular buildings have survived for hundreds of years, whereas many old, traditional buildings in towns and cities have been lost due to urbanisation. Buildings were still being traditionally built until as late as the 19th century, until a time when transport and mechanisation allowed for the economic and efficient movement of materials, and technology allowed for the standardisation of construction resulting in a common form of building. Vernacular architecture can be described as buildings that reflect local traditions using locally available materials such as earth, timber, stone or brick, built for the ordinary person. These buildings vary according to the use of the building, the geology, topography and climate of the region in which they are built, and social, technological and construction concepts. The result is a very varied architecture, even within the same locality, which contributes positively to the character of the countryside in terms of local distinctiveness by appearance, layout, construction methods and materials, and use. In the past, the generally smaller, simpler, less showy buildings were not understood or appreciated. As early as 1857, the architect George Gilbert Scott described such architecture as ‘spontaneous productions of our builders, where no external influence is brought to bear on them’. He is said to have been the first to refer to such buildings as ‘vernacular’.1 He wrote that he wanted to call attention to the meanness of our vernacular architecture, referring to ‘architecture concerned with ordinary domestic and functional buildings, rather than essentially monumental’. The writer, social commentator, and critic John Ruskin (1819–1900) raised the level of interest in our vernacular heritage as a response to the mechanised processes of construction during the 19th century. He inspired the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (1877), the National Trust (1895) and the arts and crafts movement to return to craftsmanship through materials and traditional methods. It was not until the 1950s, when the Vernacular Architecture Group in England was founded, that the term vernacular became fixed when referring to buildings constructed by local tradesmen using local materials and building traditions. The group formalised the previously ad hoc study, categorisation and recording of buildings of the UK. During this time, the art and architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner (1902–1983) was 1 Scott, GG (1857) Remarks on Secular and Domestic Architecture A granary at the Weald and Downland Museum (Photo: Alexandra Fairclough)
CONTEXT 178 : DECEMBER 2023 11 BUILDINGS IN THE COUNTRYSIDE referring to traditionally constructed buildings when he wrote that ‘nearly everything that encloses space on a scale sufficient for a human being to move in is a building; the term architecture applies only to buildings designed with a view to aesthetic appeal’.² It was the American writer and architect Bernard Rudofsky (1905–1988) who first promoted the great value of vernacular buildings on the international stage, in terms of their artistic and cultural richness, and functional importance.³ Today vernacular architecture is recognised as an important part of our heritage by international conventions, national laws, policies, standards and guidance. But is it understood by construction specialists or the owners of such buildings? The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS)⁴ succinctly describes the importance of our vernacular heritage: ‘The built vernacular heritage occupies a central place in the affection and pride of all peoples. It has been accepted as a characteristic and attractive product of society. It appears informal, but nevertheless orderly. It is utilitarian and at the same time possesses interest and beauty. It is a focus of contemporary life and at the same time a record of the history of society. Although it is the work of man it is A slate cottage in Grasmere (Photo: Alexandra Fairclough) A thatched cottage near Steventon, Wiltshire (Photo: David Waites) ² Pevsner, N (1943) An Outline of European Architecture, Thames and Hudson ³ Rudofsky, B (1964) Architecture without Architects, Doubleday ⁴ Founded in 1965 following the Venice Charter 1964, ICOMOS offers advice to Unesco regarding world heritage sites ⁵ Introduction to the ICOMOS Charter on the Built Vernacular Heritage (1999) ⁶ Historic England (2008) Conservation Principles, Policies and Guidance A bank barn in the Westmorland Dales (Photo: Alexandra Fairclough) also the creation of time. It would be unworthy of the heritage of man if care were not taken to conserve these traditional harmonies which constitute the core of man’s own existence’.⁵ One of the essential tools in the UK heritage specialist’s knowledge toolkit is a thorough understanding of the history of our built heritage, including both polite and vernacular buildings. That equates to at least 1,000 years of building. Vernacular buildings are the most varied, all of them being different, which makes understanding them a little more difficult. They provide information about the living conditions, local traditions, skills and customs of our ancestors. They are a tangible link to our historical interaction with the land and its materials, demonstrating a record of traditional construction techniques and craft skills. This makes them individually important. These elements constitute the heritage values referred to as evidential, historic, aesthetic and communal, which together contribute to significance.⁶ The conservation professional must be able to identify vernacular buildings, and their importance in relation to the locality and the social context in which they were built. They should be able quickly to survey and analyse a building to establish the materials used, the form of construction, its condition, and any maintenance
12 CONTEXT 178 : DECEMBER 2023 requirements. They should recognise alterations undertaken since the property was first built and often assess any new development proposals, including design, and especially the impact on the host building. It is crucial for the heritage specialist to understand ‘significance’, including the uniqueness and fragility of our traditionally built heritage as we approach the biggest challenge of this century: that of climate change and the objectives of achieving a target of net zero for greenhouse-gas emissions by the year 2050. Given that the UK has one of the oldest and least efficient housing stocks in western Europe, such improvements will require alterations to many vernacular heritage assets, whether designated or not. Clusters of rural vernacular buildings contribute significantly to the character of many of our conservation areas. While some of these are listed as buildings or structures of special architectural or historic interest, many are unlisted and vulnerable, and require careful attention. Age and rarity of a building is a consideration in the listing process, and all buildings erected before 1700 that contain a significant proportion of original fabric should be listed. However, vernacular architecture was not as well understood at the time of the early listings as it is now. In addition, many of the later listing surveys would not have included internal or rear inspections, and those located off the beaten track may have been missed. Both the British Standard 7913: Guide to the Conservation of Historic Buildings (2013) and the PAS (Publicly Available Specifications) 2035/2030:2023, which set out specific standard requirements for retrofitting dwellings, are intended to ensure best practice in the management and treatment of historic buildings, whether listed or not. However, this does not ensure that all practitioners have a thorough knowledge and understanding of traditional buildings, or that they can adequately identify their significance. Moreover, heritage statements relating to listed buildings submitted as part of works to or development of or relating to a listed building cannot always be relied on, as they can vary in quality and accuracy, despite all the guidance available⁷. Vernacular buildings vary in type and form, depending on their function. They include dwellings, farm buildings and small industrial buildings. To understand these buildings and define significance, the heritage specialist needs first to gain an understanding of each building type; the geography, social history and geology; and, related to that, the palette of walling and roofing materials used in each region, subregion and area. The study of vernacular architecture has been developed by archaeologists, academics and professional and amateur enthusiasts over the last 70 years. Many accessible regional groups study traditional buildings and have useful archives. There are many resources to aid the understanding and interpretation of vernacular buildings of all types, including scholarly books and excellent guidance from the government agencies⁸, the IHBC and the national amenity societies. The Vernacular Architecture Group has an extensive bibliography.⁹ A handbook with approximate dates and identification tables to assist when looking at vernacular buildings is the authoritative text by the late RW Brunskill, the Illustrated Handbook of Vernacular Architecture. In terms of repair and maintenance as well as retrofit, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings provides an extensive online knowledge base. There are also building masonry databases for England1⁰, Scotland11 and Northern Ireland1², and one in the pipeline for Wales1³. A good knowledge of vernacular buildings will help to ensure that any alterations will be sensitively executed. It will provide the basis for understanding how the structure and materials of a building relate to its environment, to prevent building failures and to ensure that any retrofit proposals for energy saving will be effective. The significance of each vernacular building and its capacity for change are based on many different but interlinked factors. By understanding the UK’s vernacular heritage and the close links to our varied landscape, people begin to value them and care for them ensuring their survival for future generations. Alexandra Fairclough, a conservation officer in Cheshire, studied with RW Brunskill at Manchester University’s school of architecture. She lectures on architectural history, building conservation and heritage law, including vernacular architecture, as a visiting lecturer at Birmingham City University. She is a member of the Vernacular Architecture Group. A Wealden house in East Sussex (Photo: Alexandra Fairclough) ⁷ For example, Historic England (2019) Statements of Heritage Significance: analysing significance in heritage assets, Historic England Advice Note 12 ⁸ Historic England, CADW, Historic Scotland and the Historic Environment Division of the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland ⁹ https://archaeology dataservice.ac.uk/ archives/view/ vagbiblio/ 1⁰ Building Stones of England, Historic England 11 The Building Stone Database for Scotland 1² The Natural Stone Database, Department for Communities, Northern Ireland 1³ Building Stone in Wales projects, Museum Wales
CONTEXT 178 : DECEMBER 2023 13 BUILDINGS IN THE COUNTRYSIDE JONATHAN THOMPSON Rural buildings at risk The problem of rural buildings at risk demands a focus on prevention; encouraging sensitive re-use; and preventing the small minority of malign owners from profiting. Perhaps half a million traditional farm buildings (half the total) have been lost since 1919, around 15 buildings each day. Most of those that remain are important as heritage, and to rural landscapes. But agricultural and legislative change mean that very few have a genuine economic use: they cannot generate (directly or indirectly) enough income to cover their maintenance costs. The same is true of the surprisingly large legacy of rural industrial buildings: if we mine slate or copper, it is not with 19th-century infrastructure. Although some heritage owners do cross-subsidise crumbling buildings from other income, very few can afford their long-term costs – perhaps £50,000 or more than £150,000 to put them into repair, and another £3,000 or £10,000 a year to maintain them thereafter. For some buildings, decades of persuasion by the Heritage Alliance, Historic England, the CLA and others has secured some agri-environment funding, but relentless pressures on taxpayer funding – the NHS and pensions, for example – means that it can support only a small proportion. It is primarily up to us in the heritage sector, not governments, to save buildings at risk. The usual solution is a new use which generates funding to cover their costs. Most can, with appropriate design, be re-used very successfully. The Landmark Trust, for example, rescues buildings by converting them to holiday use, which crucially funds their maintenance thereafter, and so persuades funders to cover the upfront costs. Other building preservation trusts and (on a greater scale, but usually unpublicised) private and commercial owners re-use buildings too. There are, however, major hurdles. One is that where the end value of the building is less than the costs of repair and conversion (a conservation deficit) there is a problem. There is no magic solution, though it is surprising how, if economics is the only issue, funding may be found from somewhere. Usually, however, economics is not the only issue: there are several other, more soluble, problems. If we in the heritage sector overcame these, we could substantially reduce the problem of buildings at risk. Under wraps in East Sussex A thatched barn in Somerset
14 CONTEXT 178 : DECEMBER 2023 Nationally, planning policy is generally helpful. The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) encourages the re-use of rural buildings, especially heritage (current paragraph 80); prior approval schemes (see below) encourage re-use; and Historic England’s The Adaptive Reuse of Traditional Farm Buildings (HEAN9, 2017) encourages ‘new… uses that enhance their historic… significance’. These policies, however, have made little impact on the first problem: that at the heart of most rural local plans are formidable policy presumptions that development outside major settlements – as crumbling rural heritage usually is – is ‘unsustainable’ and thus unacceptable. Given the primacy of the local plan in planning (and appeal) decisions, these policies make it extremely difficult to obtain, or indeed for the local planning authority to grant, consent to re-use rural heritage at risk, however compelling the heritage case, even with pro-heritage policies in the margins of the plan. This means that sympathetic applications are refused (‘the proposal is unsustainable and inconsistent with policies H1 [etc] in the local plan…’). Worse, the high application costs and low probability of success mean that most people with redundant crumbling heritage, understandably, do not try. This is lethal for rural heritage. Class Q prior approval This is a challenging problem that the heritage sector cannot easily address by itself. The obvious solution is the Class Q prior approval scheme for residential conversion of agricultural buildings (and Classes R and S for other uses). Class Q is highly restrictive, and it leaves the decision with the local planning authority. Planning authorities can easily reject Class Q applications, on a series of grounds, and an extraordinarily high 57 per cent of applications are, wisely or not, rejected. Class Q does, however, ask the local planning authority to consider wider issues. Some councils do consider the benefits of conversion, and consents do follow, at least in a minority of cases, though so far there have been relatively few applications for heritage buildings, probably because lower financial returns from heritage re-use do not appear to outweigh the high costs of applications and the high risk of refusal. The heritage sector has been wary of Class Q/R/S, but realistically reviewing these is probably the best or only way of making it less difficult to get consents for heritage buildings outside major settlement boundaries. If we put effort into getting its details right, we could reuse hundreds, perhaps thousands, of buildings which otherwise will probably be lost. Viable uses The second soluble problem is that we often wait until after holes appear in the roof. Heritage being very expensive to repair can easily become at risk; any building without a viable use, or unattractive to users, even if initially in full repair, is at potential risk, so we should try to prevent that wherever possible. With any rural building, we should (after, as always, analysing heritage significance) proactively ask a series of questions. Is this building in a genuinely viable use? If it is, what sympathetic changes are needed (such as extra bathrooms in a house) to make it attractive to potential users? If it is not, can we get it into a viable use? What can we do to help the owner? Does this proposal need tweaking to make it better? What would be the impact on this building’s future if we rejected this application: can we be sure that, in practice, a better alternative would actually happen? We should articulate these key questions in new published guidance. Historic England’s current advice on heritage at risk, that ‘working with the owner is the route to solving heritage at risk’ (Managing Significance in Decision-Taking in the Historic Environment, GPA2, 2015) is a good start. But it needs more detail, as above, incorporating also the advice on holistic decision-taking in the IHBC’s helpful Conservation Professional Practice Principles (2017). Dereliction in Staffordshire A collapsing roof in Cumbria
CONTEXT 178 : DECEMBER 2023 15 BUILDINGS IN THE COUNTRYSIDE Stopping the rot The third soluble problem is an old-fashioned approach to buildings at risk: that the problem is not economics, just disrepair; that disrepair must by definition always be the fault of the owner, who has ‘neglected’ the building; that its future usability and viability are not relevant; and that if it were put into repair at the cost of the owner, but without a viable use, the problem would somehow have been ‘solved’; and so the solution is therefore immediately to use the enforcement powers set out in Historic England’s 120-page Stopping the Rot (2023) to enforce repair. This approach has been remarkably ineffective, mainly because in most cases it is a misdiagnosis, and unreasonable. Most owners hate seeing heritage decay; the reason it does is that they have no choice. Historic England research a decade ago showed that the average conservation deficit on a building on its building-at-risk register was £500,000. In clearer language, if you repaired it, you would lose £500,000. Most people can readily identify with not having £500,000 to lose, so aggressively serving notices on owners who do not is not going to happen, because it will not command public (or local authority elected member) support. The aggressive-notice approach to benign owners is thus ineffective, because it does not happen, but it would be lethal if it did. Rescuing buildings at risk takes time. Nobody would take on a building at risk today if the local planning authority would serve notices tomorrow, requiring a long list of expensive works, of its choosing, to be commenced within 28 days. Malign owners Importantly, however, a small minority of owners of buildings at risk are not benign victims of economics: there is a viable conservation solution, but the owner, often a speculator, is rejecting it. We must deal very proactively with these cases, or speculators will outbid repairing purchasers. Unfortunately we are often bad at this, perhaps partly because the misdiagnosis above (that all owners are malign) diverts us from tackling those who really are malign, but mainly because we assume that hard-pressed local conservation or enforcement officers are well-equipped to handle all owners: some property speculators may variously be unpleasant, obtuse, effectively advised or foreign-based. An effective solution would be a small national team (perhaps of semi-retired people, to maximise experience and reduce costs) with extensive viability and litigation experience, which would proactively identify a sample of egregious and winnable cases, with local planning authority help. The team would then assertively pursue these cases to successful outcomes and publicise them widely to discourage others. The scale of this problem can prompt despair, but plenty of people want to help, including private and commercial owners. Many people look at Historic England’s and SAVE’s lists of buildings at risk, but fewer now act on them. If we in the heritage sector focus much more on prevention; if we help the big majority of benign owners by proactively encouraging sensitive re-use proposals; and if we prevent the small minority of malign owners from profiting from being malign; we could probably at least double our success rate. Jonathan Thompson is co-chair of the Heritage Alliance’s Rural Heritage Advocacy Group, and senior heritage adviser at the CLA (Country Land and Business Association). He was previously chief executive of the Architectural Heritage Fund, and before that head of operations at the Landmark Trust. This article may not necessarily reflect the views of these organisations. Agricultural buildings in Shropshire Shropshire: that’s it fixed… A derelict barn in Yorkshire Dales National Park
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