CONTEXT The Association of Conservation Officers No 29 March 1991 Building Craftsmanship Focus on the South
2 We are always in front of the competition Wuhor~oof Wile Qio. ]fiimiteh Manufacturersof HANDMADECLAYROOFTILES Strength and Frost tested to BS 402 Suppliedwith a full range of fittings;Ornamentals, Oasts and Kent Pegs, Flat and Cross Cambered.Availablein Red, Mediumand Dark Antique. Acceptedin sensitiveareas and regarded by the most discerningspecifiersas the finest handmade tile on the market. Photographby courtesyof the Royal HorticulturalSociety. Restorationof the roof of their laboratory at Wisley,a Grade II listed building,with TUDORHANDMADEClAY ROOFTILES. TUDORROOFTILECO.LIMITED Newtown Works, Newtown Road, Ashford, Kent TN24 0PN Telephone 0233 635225/6 Fax 0233 625331 CONTEXT 29
CONTEXT No29 ISSN: 0958-2746 Editor March 1991 Jenny Pearce (London Borough of Richmond-on-Thames, telephone 081-891 7313 facsimile: 081-891 7702) 76 Teddington Park Road, Teddington, Middx TWll 8LE, telephone 081-977 0913 Assistant Editor Bob Kindred (Ipswich Borough Council, telephone 0473 262934, facsimile 0473 230851) 4 All Saints Road, Ipswich, Suffolk IPl 4DG, telephone 0473-259441 Context is published guarterly and is distributed to all members of the Association of Conservation Officers. © Association of Conservation Officers 1991 :1r""· i!=i ~i.:, '.1.=1 • i ~ THE ASSOCIATION OF CONSERVATION OFFICERS Officers Chairman: Chris Smith (Stroud Valleys Project Officer, The Shambles, High Street, Stroud, Glos GL5 lAP, telephone 0453 753358) 24 Middle Street Stroud, Glos GL5 lDZ, telephone 0453 753949 • Secretary: Liz Marten (North Herts District Council, telephone 0462 686500 ext 2411, facsimile 0462 480043) 9 Woodlands Close, Cople, Bedford, telephone 0234 838616 Treasurer: Peter Richards (Essex County Council, telephone 0245 492211 ext 51511) 139 Lifscan Way, Thorpe Bay, Essex SSl 2XG, telephone 0702 468252 Membership Secretary: James Ross (Essex County Council, telephone 0245 492211 ext 51672) Three Bears, Laindon Common Road, Little Burstead, Essex CMl 9TL Publicity Officer: Mary King (Preston Borough Council, telephone 0772 266592) 24 Beech Road, Aughton, Ormskirk, Lanes 139 6SJ, telephone 0695 424297 Education Officer: Mike King (TACP Design, telephone 051-708 7014) 24 Beech Road, Aughton, Ormskirk, Lanes 139 6SJ, telephone 0695 424297 CONTEXT 29 Published for the Association of Conservation Officers by HallMcCartney Ltd, PO Box 21, Unit 7, Campus 5, The Business Park, Letchworth SG6 2JF, telephone 0462 675848, facsimile 0462 679356 Annual Subscription (inclusive of post & packing - UK only): .f30.00 Single Copy: .fl0.00 The views expressed in Context are not necessarily those held by ACO or the publishers. Neither the publishers nor the ACO shall be under any liability whatsoever in respect of contributed articles. The products and services advertised in this publication are not necessarily endorsed by the Association. Branch Officers North: Keith Murray, Durham County Council, telephone 091-386 4411 ext 2237 North West: Rob Burns, Wirral! Metropolitan Borough Council, telephone 051-638 7070 ext 211 Yorkshire: Bob Scriven, 2 Lambert Avenue, Roundhay, Leeds LS8 lNH, telephone 0532 668782. (Convenor contact Jacgueline Ryder, telephone 0924 296590) West Midlands: Brian Moore, Dudley Borough Council, telephone 0384 456000 ext 4188 East Midlands Graham Beaumont, Nottinghamshire County Council, telephone 0602 824277 South West: David Richardson, Devon County Council, telephone 0392 n2252, facsimile 0392 272600 South: Katherine Blackwood, Hampshire County Council, telephone 0962 846831 East Anglia: John Preston, Cambridge City Council, telephone 0223 358977 ext 2630 South East: John Davey, Guildford Borough Council, telephone 0483 505050 ext 3633 London: Rosemarie MacQueen, City of Westminster, telephone 071-798 2519 Scotland: Debbie Robertson, Edinburgh District Council, telephone 031-225 2424 ext 6562 Wales: John James, Clwyd County Council, telephone 0352 2121 Northern Ireland Colin Hatrick, DoE Northern Ireland, telephone 0232 653251 CONTENTS Editorial 4 uPVC Windows in conservation areas Simon Unwin 5 BUILDING CRAFTSMANSHIP Introduction. Nigel Barker 6 Bungaroosh. Rob Fraser 7 Royal Pavilion, Brighton. Rob Fraser 8 South Cambridgeshire's thatching controversy. Beth Davies 12 Early days at Single:on. Mike Adams 14 Building Conservation Centre. Tony Wimble 16 Sacrificial goings-on in Guildford. John Davey 18 Coming Events 19 The Kent pegtile revival. Peter Cobley 20 Northern Craftsmen. Keith Murray 21 West Pier, Brighton. Eric Cockain 22 Derbyshire's version of the Crafts Register 27 A disgusting blot on the landscape. Helen Walker 26 Two views of the SPAB repair course. Neil Sumner and Fiona Bushell 28 M'Learned Friend. Curtilage, setting and reinstatement. Charles Mynors 30 Case Study: 5- 7 Holloway Hill, Godalming, Surrey. Nigel Barker and Rob Poulton 32 Law & Practice Thatched listed buildings - planning v the Building Regulations. Bob Kindred 35 Section 54 notices and non-listed buildings.Joanna Smith 35 ACO study of repairs notices. Bob Kindred 3 5 Conference reports 3 7 ACO Business News 38 ACO Branch News 41 Letters 45 Boob ~ FRONT COVER John Powell of the Brighton Royal Pavilion Conservation Workshops carving a replica mirror frame for the Music Room. ILLUSTRATIONS IN THIS ISSUE Prone cover: Royal Pavilion Art Gallery & Museum, Brighton. Page 6: Mark Sharp's Footstone: Guildford Borough Council. Pages 8 tO 11: Royal Pavilion Art Gallery & Museum, Brighton. Pages 12, 13: Beth Davies, South Cambridgeshire District Council. Pages 14, 15: Mike Adams. Pages 16, 17: Tony Wimble. Pages 18, 19: John Davey, Guildford Borough Council. Pages 20, 21: Kent County Council Planning Department (County Visuals). Pages 22 t0 25: Eric Cockain. Pages 26, 27: Brighton Borough Council. Pages 32 to 34: Surrey County Council. 3
•-- 4 EDITORIAL This issue, whose theme is 'Buildings and Craftsmanship' to coincide with this year's annual course organised by South Branch of ACO, has received much assistance from two of the course organisers, John Davey and Nigel Barker, who have commissioned or written much of the copy. There is therefore a certain bias towards the South in this issue. It is appropriate, as Nigel remarks in his introduction to the theme articles, that craftsmanship should be the theme in our 10th Anniversary year, when the Crafts Council was the venue for our first meetings under the auspices of the Craft Skills Register. By design rather than coincidence, Roy Worskett, who hosted those meetings, is our guest speaker at the dinner on Friday 22 March during the course (and I hope he is not polishing up some old jokes from 1981 for that occasion!) This issue of Context is the last under my Editorship; no, the Men in Suits have not been to see me, and it is highly unlikely that I will be spending more time with my family. However, I have been Editor now for seven years or so and I think it is time to hand the job on; I would like the rime to be able to do some writing myself rather than mainly being responsible for eliminating paragraphs of other people's prose in order to cram the copy into an affordable number of pages. One consequence of the polished format we now have, and of the themed issues, is that more people are volunteering to write - although still not enough from ACO. I will of course be very happy to talk to anyone who would like to offer (or is being pushed) to become Editor. A reasonable standard of literacy, some creative ideas and access to a telephone are the prime requirements; ACO has promised to provide a modest word processor for the paperwork, and the burden of translating a heap of scruffy typescripts into a coffeetable magazine is taken entirely by the publisher. You will gain fame and glory and invitations to press previews with free drinks just like the real hacks. It's almost too good to give up. SURREY GARDENS TRUST Efforts to form a Surrey Gardens Trust are about to bear fruit. An inaugural meeting was held in March 1990 at Chilworth Manor, Guildford, at which it was agreed to form a steering committee to work out the details of its establishment. The steering committee has the support of Surrey County Council and the Surrey District Councils, and its membership is made up of interested persons, some representing complementary organisations such as the Royal Horticultural Society, Garden History Society and National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens. The aims of the Surrey Gardens Trust will be to create widespread interest in parks and gardens of value, and of the need for their conservation and appropriate maintenance; and to carry out survey and research work into sites throughout the ADVERTISEMENT THE CONSERVATION PORTFOLIO In the March 1991 edition of the Portfolio are: CICO Chimney Linings Limited • Chimney lining by the cast in-situ system Historic Building Services Ltd - Scholarly restoration of historic buildings Keymer • Traditional hand made clay peg and oast house tiles J R Nelson Ltd - Specialist sawyers and fabricators of seasoned timber Sandtoft Tileries Ltd - Hand made clay roof tiles Tudor Roof Tile Co Ltd - Traditional hand made clay tiles County, 111 order to advise on practical restoration. The committee is already involved in a number of restoration projects which it is hoped will be underway by spring 1991. The official launch of the Surrey Gardens Trust will take place in May 1991, at Great Fosters, Egham, a Grade I listed hotel set in an outstanding garden on the English Heritage Register. Following storm damage in 1987, a restoration and management plan for the garden has been drawn up by Kim -#ilkie, and is now being implemented. An exhibition is planned for the launch setting out the aimsof the Trust and garden restoration projects already under discussion. A newsletter is being produced, and a programme of events including garden visits and lectures is planned for Trust members in the coming year. For further information on the Surrey Gardens Trust contact Brenda Lewis on 081-541 9419. ERRATUM: ISSUE 28 Due to injudicious cutting, the sense of Jane Grenville's summary of the Council for British Archaeology's attitude towards the ecclesiastical exemption was reversed. In the last paragraph of the first page of her article 'CBA and the Ecclesiastical Exemption', where some of the argument had been cut, the wrong conclusion came out - in fact the CBA supported the ecclesiastical exemption. The paragraph should therefore read as follows: The CBA's submission to the Commission in 1980 was good reading. It considers some of the principal objections to the FacultyJurisdiction (and answers some of them). Our recommendations to the FacultyJurisdiction Commission were for the retention of the ecclesiarical exemption, with some very strong provisos. The submission ended with a deliciously phrased threat: "If, however, the reforms we suggest are not comprehensively implemented, and if after a period it is clear that local waywardness and inefficiency persists, the CBA would need to reconsider its attitude towards the ecclesiastical exemption. Apologies to Jane for this error, and to anyone who was thereby misled about the attitude of the CEA.Jane has also written a letter concerning a recent public enquiry relating to ecclesiastical exemption - see Letters page. The Editor CONTEXT 29
Simon Unwin reports that all is not lost in the fight against upvc replacement windows. uPVC WINDOWS IN CONSERVATION AREAS The RIBA recently sent a copy of its ideas for environmentalreform to Prince Charles. In it it refers to the damage being done to conservation areas by the installation of upvc windows. Prince Charles is an enthusiastic supporter of garden villages, some of which are conservation areas,and most of which are suffering very badly from insensitive window replacements. A small victory has been won in the fight against the defacement caused to conservation areas by modern window replacements. In an appeal decision relating to Rhiwbina Garden Village conservation area on the outskirts of Cardiff, a Welsh Office planning inspector .has ruled that window repairs and replacements must be exact replicas of the originals. Rhiwbina Garden Village, designed originally in typical garden village style by Barry Parker and Raymond Unwin in 1912, was run as a co-operative housing company until the late 1960s when the houses were sold off, mainly to sitting tenants. In the mid 1970s it was identified as a conservation area, but this status did not prevent owner occupiers keen to improve their properties, and suffering the high pressure sales techniques of the replacement window manufacturers, from fitting double glazing which gradually diluted the character of the village. The problem was officially recognised in June 1989 when Cardiff City Council, with the support of the Welsh Office, imposed an Article 4 Direction making, amongst other things, the replacement of windows subject to planning approval, something which conservation area status CONTEXT 29 alone does not do. later in 1989 one resident put in an application for planning permission to replace his windows with upvc doubleglazing units fitted with plastics strip inserts to give the superficial appearance of the original small-paned windows. As is normal procedure, this application was submitted to the Rhiwbina Garden Village Conservation Area Advisory Group for its comments. There was heated debate about whether such modern window replacements were close enough in appearance to the originals not to damage the architectural character of the houses. The group concluded that enough damage had already been done (ie before the Article 4 Direction had come into force), and advised the city council that future policy should insist that all further window replacements should match the originals exactly. Planning permission was refused, and the applicant appealed to the Welsh Office. The inspector's decision was announced in September 1990. He refused the appeal, concluding that the proposed windows would "neither preserve or enhance the conservation area". In explaining the decision, he said that, after visiting the village, "it appeared to me that whatever the individual style all the double-glazed units of this type are very clearly recogniseable as replacements of the original windows. They seem to me different in three ways. First there is a reflection off the whole of the large pane of glass compared to the reflection off the small individual panes of the originals. Second, in many cases it appeared that the inset bars in the replacement windows are narrower than those in the originals. Third, the bars in the replacements have a flat appearance compared with the relief aspect of the wooden glazing bars in the originals and the shadows they cast". He further said that in his opinion the advantages of double-glazing could easily be secured without resort to removal of the original windows. He also explained that he recognised the importance of the proportions of the original windows, and their relationship to the proportions of the elevations as a whole. The decision is welcome to all those who have recognised the defacement caused to the integrity of early 20th century planned housing developments by replacement windows. It is hoped that the lesson established in Rhiwbina will be learnt in other areas too. The applicant had also applied for permission to replace his natural slate roof with artificial slates, which would necessarily have been different in size to the original. Despite protest from the conservation advisory group, Cardiff City Council had actually approved this part of the application. The inspector, however, in determining the appeal, overturned this decision, insisting that the roof should be renewed in natural slate to match exactly the adjoining properties. Dr Simon Unwin is a lecturer in the Welsh School of Architecture, University of Wales, Cardiff. His research into the present state of garden villages in Wales is being funded by the Welsh Office in memory of Edward Hubbard, architectural historian, collaborator with Nikolaus Pevsner, and author of the Clwyd volume of the Buildings of Wales series, who died on 29 May 1989. 5
6 MARK SHARP'S FOOTSTONE Mark Sharp was a carpenter of Lewes (died 1747) who is commemorated by both head and footstones in the churchyard of StJohn-sub-Castro in Lewes. While the headstone is more conventionally decorated with a representation of the LastJudgement, the smaller footstone is given over to his carpenters tools. The above illustration is being used as the logo for for the Annual School. BUILDING CRAFTSMANSHIP Nigel Barker, one of the organisers of this year's Annual School, reflects on its theme. It is apt that the subject for the Annual School in this, the tenth, year of the ACO should be Building Craftmanship. A decade on from the formation of the ACO by enthusiasts working on the Crafts Council's National Craft Skills Register, it seems appropriate to highlight the achievements and continuing problems. Sadly, it is still too often the case that the conservation officer will see very poor workmanship in what should have been, in theory, simple minor repairs. This seems paradoxical given the growing appreciation of, and support for, our built heritage. However, it can be argued that the perception of historic buildings work as being 'specialist', whilst vital, has been a two edged sword. Although the opportunities for professional conservation training are expanding (new courses at Reading and Oxford) and professional barriers arc to some extent coming down, most conservation training is still aimed at the architect, historically, the professional involved with conservation. Unfortunately, the vast majority of owners of listed buildings do not employ architects, and in this situation the decline in the tradition of craftmanship has been a continuing cause for concern. This concern is not new, but has been growing since the emergence of the conservation movement in the late 19th century when the distinction of conservation work was first made. The separation of conservation work from the general run of building activity has become ever more stark until, by 1975, Bernard Feilden could write: The trades of bricklayer, mason and plasterer which produced the glories of Hampton Court, St Pauls Cathedral and Melton Constable have all been telescoped into the 'trowel trades'. Likewise carpenter, joiner and cabinet maker have been compressed into the woodworking trades. The old fashioned and elaborate edifice of the City & Guilds Craft Training with five years apprenticeship has been simplified and condensed at the wishes of the building industry. The skills required in the present day building industry are now inadequate for conservation work, where a craftsman needs the ability to think out problems himselfbased on a knowledge of traditional techniques and materials. The confinement of conservation work into its own professional specialism has its dangers, as David Anstis, writing in the Architectural Association Quarterly in 1960, pointed out: pressures for roo specific vocational learning, or for the sort of pre-defined knowledge and values said to come from a thorough course of history study will achievelittle of consequence. Rather, there will continue to be a situation where conservation activities are limited tO a few well known specialists together with a fringe of relieved escapists from the twentieth century ... and it is these dangers that have to be addressed. Whilst the owner of an historic building maywellsee the need to employ a suitably experienced craftsman for those repairs regarded as involving unusual or historic materialsor skills,such as thatching, the separation of conservation craftmanship into a specialism will leave the same building vulnerable to damage from the jobbing builder employed by the same owner tO carry out re-pointing; as this is commonly regarded as a simple task, not specialist, and one every builder can do. Until the separation between conservation craftmanship and general construction is reduced with some form of basic training common to both (utopia I hear you cry!)it is the conservation officer who most often has to bridge the gap and break down the barriers. This can be done by encouraging the revival of old industries, as with peg tile manufacture in Kent; or by sponsoring craft training. The production of clear technical guidance aimed at both the contractor and - most important - the owner, is also vital. It is encouraging that English Heritage is involved in trying to co-ordinate this. But the gap can only be bridged if conservation officers themselves have an understanding of the evolution of building types and their materials, and some idea of where the traditional skills necessary for successful building conservation can be found. By ensuring the the "average" owner of the more modest historic building (ie over 90% of listed buildings) is made aware of the skills available, with luck the market for those skills will grow and encourage wider appreciation of, and support for, the traditions of building craftmanship which are the subject of the Annual School this year. Nigel Barker Surrey County Council CONTEXT 29
BUNGAROOSH (BUNGAROUCHE, BUNGLAROUGE?) and other horror stories - or why you shouldn't stand in a bay window in Brighton. Rob Fraser However you spell this concoction, it is the mixture which makes up many of the structural walls of Brighton and is respon - sible for much structural instability, dry rot, dampness, and probably plague and pestilence as well. It is the sort of cobbledtogether material that emerged from those desperate days of cowboy (shepherd?) builders, hurried and financially rocky developments, and a lack of adequate building regulations, that characterise the Georgian and Victorian eras. Up to the time when Brighton became fashionable most houses seem to have been constructed reasonably soundly in the vernacular tradition. These include timber framed (partly weatherboarded, tiled or rendered), flint cobble in courses, or knapped flint from the fields. Perhaps learning from the speculative builders of London, the builders of Regency Brighton concentrated largely on the front elevations. These were often brick - sometimes London stocks, other times grey glazed or brown multi bricks, probably from the brickfields towards Hove. The party walls, however, seem invariablyto be bungaroosh. Often the rear wall was bungaroosh too and if an owner was singularly unlucky the front wall could be as well, underneath the elegant render facade. The material is basically a freely interpreted flint rubble. A lime mortar was made up, and poured into shuttering, and anything else that came to hand was bunged* in too. This could include old bricks, bits of flint, odd lumps of wood, lumps of chalk, in fact anything solid. The spacing of the shuttering even seems to have regularised after the coming of the railways,since sleepers were conveniently available! Lengths of bungaroosh walling were usually supported by brick piers at intervals, although on lesser houses these are not always to be seen. Chimneys and flues were alwaysbrick. Into the mixture in the shutters were added whatever fixings were required for supporting other structures, so baulks of timber or brick courses could CONTEXT 29 be set into the bungaroosh to support floors or plaster battening. It is not easy to tie into bungaroosh, so if a series of houses in a terrace was not built contiguously, it is not unusual to find vertical joints between the front wall and party walls. This can be a boon if the front wall falls off, since it leaves the rest of the house standing. Any combination of brick, timber and bungaroosh (or flintwork etc) seems to have been considered acceptable. I have seen a bungaroosh wall with a timber lintel surmounted by two or three courses of brickwork (to enable corbeling to support a cornice) and this topped by a bungaroosh parapet. Not surprisingly this lot tried to fall down after 150 years when the timber lintel rotted and the weight of the cornice pulled the brickwork out from under the parapet. Most of the time, however, bungaroosh stays in place - probably through force of habit. All the bits of timber in the mixture tend to create a rather pleasant breeding ground for rot and exotic fungi. Since the mixture is very porous, the rot circulates quickly, and can usually find some damp somewhere to feed on. In fact bungaroosh has to be a little damp. Too dry and the now leached mortar crumbles, too wet and it becomes mobile. My predecessor considered that on this basis you could probably demolish a third of Brighton with a well-aimed hose. There is no way of repairing the stuff, should you wish to. The only solution to a blown area of bungaroosh is to fill the gap in brick, blockwork, or reinforced cement. No structural engineer would justify a rubble repair, and most throw a wobbly trying to justify the existence of bungaroosh walls. One of the main advantages of this type of lime mortar based material, of course, is that it moves, and it is usually when its movement is sufficient to create a gap against a more solid object, such as adjoining brick construction, that the material appears to fail. In very recent years with very dry summers and stormy wet winters, a number of bays have collapsed, due probably to this differential movement, and the lack of any solid fixing between the timber or brick bays and the adjoining • The probable derivation of Bungaroosh, I believe. BUILDINGS AND CRAFfSMANSHIP bungaroosh wall. By the way, don't stand in a Brighron bay window (as opposed to a bow front which is usually OK) since the weight of the bay is often taken through the window frames on the outside. The only thing tying the bay back may be couple of 6 in nails pulling the bay back against joists running across the building. Next time you admire the Regency terraces, therefore, think of the innocents who have bought one of these buildings with that funny sounding material the surveyor said was in the front wall - can you spell it? Rob Fraser is Conservation Officer with Brighton Borollgh Council. GIVING TOWN CENTRES BACK TO THE PEOPLE Kent County Council has embarked on a series of partnerships with several of the county's Districts and a range of private sector organisations to seek ways of improving both the physical environment and the quality of life in town centres. Around a dozen town centre initiatives have been established, some including the setting up of new posts of Town Centre Managers, jointly funded by the public and private secrors. Conservation will, in all cases, be an important element in the programmes including elements such as Town Schemes, Enhancement Schemes, 'facelift' grants, shopfront and advertisement guidelines. The initiatives aim to bring about more effective management in the public realm by agreeing objectives and focusing the activities and budgets of a wide range of statutory and local authority organisations cowards a common goal. Traffic restraint, pedestrianisation, public transport, policing, art, leisure and the promotion of town • centres are among the features of these schemes, but the key to their success will lie in the achievement of greater coordination and wide support for a shared vision of the future of each town centre. For more details contact: Tony Wimble on 0622 696099. 7
8 ROYAL PAVILION, BRIGHTON It is hardly surprising that the Royal Pavilion appears on the international tourist circuit. The exterior is extravagant, being one of the very few 'oriental' style buildings to emerge from the picturesque movement of the Regency period. Not even this however prepares one for the fantasy of its interior, breathtaking in its style and the delicacy and intrigue of its execution. Much of the beauty which is now revealed has been the result of a seemingly endless process of restoration. Before I describe the elements of the restoration, it is unfortunately necessary to return to your desks for a short local history lesson. Brighton was little more than a fishing village before the Prince of Wales first visited in 1783 aged 21. Seawater bathing and drinking, whose benefits were publicised by Dr Russell of Lewes, had created this first seaside resort. Ballrooms, gaming houses, libraries and comfortable houses to rent followed. It was one such superior farmhouse taken in 1786 by the young prince which became Brighton Pavilion. My copy of The Very Bloody Hisrory of Britain (without the boring bits) describes him thus: "The Prince Regent had been a right trial to his poor mum and dad all his life. He was a gambler, spendthrift, womaniser and incredible drinker. 'Drunk as a Lord' is an expression directly attributable to our George. . . . . His extravagance was unequalled even though he was supposed to make do on what would now be ..(2,000,000 a year. He built the rather gross Buckingham Palace as a little London pad, and the totally over the top (and brill) Brighton Pavilion for somewhere different to go at weekends." Thirty-five years of constant alteration changed the then chic pastoral farmhouse into a royal pleasure palace. The development can be summarised as follows: 1786 Prince of Wales rents "Brighton House"; 1 787 The house enlarged by Henry Holland, an architect influenced by Robert Adam. Addition of circular saloon behind a screen of columns and a further wing to balance the original house. This symmetrical composition is still here, clothed now by Nash's later fantasy. The bow windows and iron balconies became fashionable Regency features; 1795 Married Caroline of Brunswick (an instant disaster); 1801-3 The interiors decorated in a fanciful Chinese style by the firm of Crace. Further extensions made to building; 1803 William Parden designed new stables in Indian style behind the Pavilion - now The Dome concert hall; 1811 Became Prince Regent although little interested in affairs of state; 1812 James Wyatt, Crown Surveyor, commissioned to enlarge pavilion unfortunately killed in accident in 1813; 1815 John Nash engaged to transform and extend the Royal Pavilion in a style based on Indian architecture. Nash was aware that not only was the Prince Regent likely to change his mind at short notice but also that he was unlikely to have the funds to translate his requirement into reality; thus on taking over Wyatt's proposal he concentrated on satisfying his client's whim rather than on the building's longevity. The first hint the outside world had of what was to come was the emergence in 1817 of the tent-like roofs of the banqueting and music rooms in place of the angled wings; 1820 Became George IV (crowned 1821); 1822 Present exterior completed in stucco and Bath stone; 1823 Interior completed - a joint effort of George IV, Nash, Frederick Crace and Robert Jones. George did not visit Brighton again after 1823 although work continued until 1826. The building remained in the ownership of the Crown being both used and adapted to the wishes of William IV and the young Queen Victoria (who found it too public and not to her taste, and sold it to the town of Brighton in 1850 after virtually stripping the interior and threatening demolition). Although used as public meeting rooms, it seems to have received little maintenance and narrowly avoided a second serious proposal to demolish it in 1935. Only since 1946 has the interior been restored, and the exterior followed in 1982. RESTORATION Some of the large minarets had been replaced in glass fibre when their stone was found to be in an advanced state of decay. These were replaced between 1968 and 1972. In 1977 eight of the small minarets had to be dismantled because they, too, were in poor condition (there are ten large and 16 small minarets). CONTEXT 29
Rob Fraser discusses the on-going restoration of Brighton's Regency masterpiece Stonework The need to rebuild the eight collapsed minarets and the realisation that the glass fibre minarets had performed poorly (leaking, fading in colour, glistening when wet and causing faster rainwater runoff which eroded and stained adjoining renders) led to the acceptance that natural stone should be used for the restoration. A full stonework survey in 1980 by Corinne Bennett of Purcell, Miller Tritton and engineers Lawrence Hewitt & Pattners of Sevenoaks revealed the extent of the problem. Much of the structure of the building was linked to the stonework by concealed cast iron framing. This adventurous use of iron, including cramps to secure the stone blocks, led to a legacy of rusting and expanding metal which contributed to the obvious decay. The estimated cost of repair in 1980 was ,£2 million. The major work is to the minarets, although extensive works were necessary to the octagonal columns (with their intricate leaf patterns), to finials, balustrading and chimneys, and to the tracery lattice work (suggestive of Indian Jali work) which had some of the freest flowing patterns with which stonemasons had ever been confronted. The stone used by Nash was a Bath stone from either Combe Down or Box Ground quarries. A fortuitous report from the Building Research Establishment indicated that Combe Down was a potentially durable variety of Bath stone, and this pre-empted an earlier proposal to use a French limestone for repairs. The quarry used is the Upper Lawn Quarry of John CONTEXT 29 Hancock & Sons. Gregory Thain Ltd is responsible for initial carving of the stone at the quarry from drawings produced by conservators on the Pavilion staff (taken from original illustrations and photographs of the 1850s). Final carving in situ is by T E Tilley Ltd of Brighton. In the original design, the minarets were constructed from rings of stone, each stone stepped in size to fit over a tapered cast iron core. To transfer the weight of the stone to the core, the gap between was filled with a tile, brick and mortar mix. Water penetrating the joints caused the cast iron to corrode and expand, splitting the rings and making the stonework dangerous. Once the cores were exposed, by removing glass fibre minarets or stone rings, they were grit blasted and treated with a specification to meet severe conditions for exposed iron. Each replacement stone ring is now in two parts with a vertical joint. Each stone has to be worked to come as close to the core as possible, with the cavity packed with mortar, and grouted, since the weight must transfer to the core; the crushing weight would be too great at the base where the stonework has a narrow neck across the moulding. The greater bed depth of stone in Nash's day allowed him to make the minaret shafts in four courses, whereas now it needs seven. As the quarry progresses, however, and the face is pushed back, the bed height is increasing, and deep stones for carved sections which cannot be split are now available. The contract will use 450 tons of stone on the minarets with stones of up to two tons in BUILDINGS AND CRAFTSMANSHIP A section through the Pavilion, north-south, showing clearly the roof construction. weight once worked. The Bath stqne is coated with a lime-wash shelter coat to help it withstand the damp salt-laden air of Brighton. Originally all the rendered areas (domes etc) were intended to be the colour of Bath stone, with some very elaborate shading of the scored blockwork render to enhance the illusion. Although this shading will not be repeated, the render is now resplendent in a Bath stone colour paint. Roofing When the stonework survey was carried out in 1980,Corinne Bennett recommended that the entire building should be con - sidered as a whole, and that the degree of research applied to the interior should also be applied to the fabric and exterior. As a result of this, further surveys discovered that dry and wet rot were in evidence on a large scale. The first remedy was to make good the roofs and stop the damp penetration feeding the rot. One area of roof remodelled in the 1850swas rebuilt about 4 ft lower, between the central tower and south western tower. Elsewhere flat roofs which had leaked badly were re-modelled at English Heritage's insistence to include pitched slated elements for water drainage. Roof gulleys were enlarged and rainwater goods renewed and re-routed. One of the major causes of the rot had been the piecemeal development of the Pavilion, with early building enveloped within later structures, including rainwater pipes that now only fed into internal voids. Whilst most roofs are conventional Welsh slate (some with fishscale patterning) and lead sheet - albeit of gauges which had to be cast rather than milled - the domes and tented roofs had an interesting construction. The great tented roofs of the Banqueting and Music Rooms in particular use early examples of cast iron and laminated timber. Both rooms are 40 ft square and 20 ft high, floor to cornice. In the Music Room, an octagonal cornice is surmounted by a tier of elliptical windows. This in turn appears to support a convex cove which in fact conceals a complex 9
10 structure supporting the timber framework of the conical superstructure above, which weighs 80-100 tons. To change from a square walled room to a circular roof Nash placed diagonal beams of 12 x 12 in. Douglas fir reinforced by a V-shaped cast iron flitch plate; on these he placed a series of 12 x 12 in. secondary diagonals to form an octagon. To reduce the base to a circle,small blocking pieces were bolted in the corners. From this base the conical roof springs with the outward thrust restrained by a cast iron ring beam let into the top of the timber structure. The conical roof is formed by laminated timber ribs sitting in cast iron shoes on the ring beam. Timber boarding is then laid over the ribs. Nash originally covered this structure with a patent Dihl mastic, a form of stucco. This was watertight when new, and had the advantage of looking like Bath stone. This was due to the linseed oil in its mixture which tended to dry our leaving the material permeable. By 1827 the finish had failed, and water had caused considerable damage. The mastic was removed and replaced with steel plates treated on their outer face with mastic and covered with copper. Poor maintenance subsequently resulted in the laminated ribs suffering, especially at the feet, where 17 of the 20 ribs of the music room needed repair or strengthening, including replacement of timber in 10 cases. The structural engineers also designed steel plates to clasp the ribs and transfer the loads back to the shoes. However, 80 per cent of the timber structure supporting the ring beam also needed replacement. This was a major undertaking since the ceiling below could not be disturbed. Scaffolding had therefore to be erected, resting on the outer walls of the room to support a structural bridge, from which hangers were dropped ro grip the ends of the three laminated ribs, which each rest on a principal diagonal beam. By raising the ribs just 2 mm the main timbers could be removed and replaced one at a time. The base of the It will unfortunately not be possible for many delegates to the ACO Conference to take part in the conservation workshop tours, but the skills on display there are evident for all to see in existing work at the Pavilion. Subject to natural disasters, delegates will see the building for the first time in a decade unobstructed by scaffolding, which at one time incorporated the largest self-supporting span erected in this country. Don't miss the oppor tunity to see the Pavilion while it looks so good. Above: Nash's view of the East Front of the Pavilion 1826 Below: Holland's designs: the "Marine Pavilion", 178;. • conicalstructures has tried to spread, causing the bolts holding the segments of the cast iron ring beam together to shear - these have now been replaced. The whole operation is both large and delicate to avoid disturbance of the ceiling which is described below. When the 12 x 12 in. pine beams were replaced it was the first time that anyone had tried to sterilise timbers of this scantling and 40 ft length. It was impossible ro predict whether the beams would warp or split. Careful, monitoring, however, indicates that the process was successful. Dry rot It was Nash's use of composite materials which contributed to the problems of dry rot in the building. Apart from water penetration, moisture given off by visitors (especially on damp days) condenses on the cast iron which then feeds rot in adjoining timbers. Treatment of the dry rot has therefore been of two kinds. In some casesorthodox methods of preventing external damp penetration, drying out timber and masonry, and cutting out rotted wood, and using chemical fungicides were used. In other cases the interior decoration has been too valuable to remove to get at affected areas. A telemetric system of monitoring the damp content in many areas of the Pavilion has therefore been devised by Brian Ridout of Hutton & Rostron. If damp is eliminated and the fabric is kept dry the rot goes into remission. The telemetry alerts staff to high damp levels and the visitor flow can be controlled or localised area of dampness investigated. The boreholes used to investigate the extent of rot in voids have been left plugged rather than filled so that visual inspections with borescopes are still possible. The monitoring apparatus and CONTEXT 29
Facing page bottom left: South shaft of Drawing Room bays being carved. Facing page bottom right: Porte Cochere resroration. This page: Fixing new guilloche moulding ro the soffit. areas where the fabric is still being dried out are still visible around the Pavilion. A great advantage of environmental control of dry rot over cutting out areas of dry rot is that when the latter method is used spores can be spread in what is termed a stress reaction. This in turn leads tO outbreaks of rot elsewhere. Since it was impossible to guarantee eradication of all outbreaks of current dry rot, the control and containment of the rot has been the obvious answer in this case. Internal restoration This has been a virtually non-stop process since the 1940s when a series of loan exhibitions of furniture renewed the public interest in the Pavilion as a showpiece of considerable historical value. The interior decorations designed by the firm of Crace are some of the most lavish and outstanding anywhere in the world. Much CONTEXT 29 of the original scheme was removed, with fixtures and fittings, to various Royal residences when the Pavilion was sold to the corporation in 1850, so much of the restoration has been to replicate these pieces. Other resroration is required to make good wear and tear on the fabric. On the staff of the Pavilion are carvers and guilders, grainers and marblers, wallpaper painters and picture restorers. In many cases the restorers are restoring restorations. For instance, no wood on view in the Pavilion (other than furniture) is natural; all the doors are 'grained', and this wears as visitors' clothing brushes on the paint finishes. A showpiece for these skills is the Music Room, an apparently fated room which suffered fire damage by arson in 1975, scorching silver and gilt carvings, and fabric and glass - all repaired in-house. Even the 26,000 heavily undercut oil gilt scollop shells had to be scraped, re-sized, and gilded by hand - a process taking six months. The dragon and serpent drapery hangers had to be recovered and silver gilded and painted. Soon after the arrival of the carpet on completion of works, the hurricane of 1987 dropped a minaret finial through the ceiling! The Prince Regent was never an easily pleased client, and in several cases the restorers have had to reconstruct the likely 'final' scheme from several remnants. The entrance hall appears to have had several schemes all carried out within a short period of time (marbling, colour washing etc) which suggests that the Prince may have 'tried out' schemes and then discarded them. Authenticity Many of the problems of restoration of the Pavilion are unusual, and one would not expect to find them all in one building. Constant insistence on historical authenticity has been the guiding principle and this search for authenticity has often brought to light Nash's unusual methods of construction including some of his failures! The work has been continuous for ten years. Residents of Brighton have become used to the massive blue plastics tenting in place of their familiar domes and minarets. The cost of the external restoration is around £10 million with about £1 million being a contribution from English Heritage. A restoration of the grounds to a planting scheme prepared, but never carried out, by Nash may also be underway at the time of your visit. ROYAL PAVILION, BRIGHTON Consultant archirect: Mrs Corinne Bennett, Purcell Miller Tritton and Partners. Consultant structural engineers: The Lawrence Hewitt Partnership. Consultant guantity surveyors: The Wilson Colbeck Partnership. Consultant m & e engineers: John Bradley Associates. Dry rot specialists: Ridout Associates. REFERENCES l Farman,]: The Very Bloody Hisrory of Britain, - Piccadilly Press, 1990. 2 Royal Pavilion Official Guide 1987. Royal Pavilion Art Gallery and Museum. 3 'Restoring the Royal Pavilion' - Srone Indusrries pp 23-27, April 1984. 4 RJBA Journal, April 1984, pp 60-62; May 1984, pp 183-4; July 1984, article 'Ceilings'. 5 'Slash and burn in the dry ror jungle', New Scientist, April 1984, pp 12-15. 6 Advisory notes, Royal Pavilion Art Gallery and Museum, Brighton. Rob Fraser is Conservation Officer with Brighton Borough Council. 11
12 SOUTH CAMBRIDGSHIRE'S THATCHING CONTROVERSY Beth Davies on the threat to traditional Cambridgeshire longstraw thatch. Longstraw thatch has long been the traditional roof covering of farmhouses, cottages and farm buildings in Cambridgeshire with the exception of villages along the fen edge where water reed and sedge were more commonly used. There are 16th century records of churches with thatched roofs and two churches still have thatched roofs to this day. In the Great Chishill post mill is a delightful graffito of a thatched windmill. Daniel Defoe described Cambridgeshire as almost wholly a corn country, of all sorts especially barley for malting. Wheat is the common thatching straw today, though there is evidence of the use of rye on some old thatched roofs. Many cottages and barns still have a reed matting which was woven diagonally and laid over the rafters and under the thatch. This is exposed with smoke blackening on its underside in a small 13th century cottage at Shudy Camps. Thatched roofs must have been the most common roof type in Cambridgeshire until the introduction of slate and clay pantile. Clay plain tiles, in production from before the 14th century, were a costly item and like brick were slowly introduced at the vernacular level from the 17th century. Our earliest illustrated records show most thatched roofs as untidy and much repaired. Thatching was possibly then a seasonal occupation where, after the harvest, the roofs were thatched and patched ready for winter storms. The presenc thatching methods muse owe some of their technique to these days. There is evidence of how the roofs of previous centuries were thatched in the under coatings of some longstraw roofs. At Foxton, for example, a small cottage with a huge weight of thatch was recoated this year by Mr Stamford whose father and grandfather had thatched the roof before him. It had only been repaired in the fifty years since then. By removing some of the weathered thatch Mr Stamford found thick twisted ropes of straw twine laid along the ridge to build it up from the sloping roof levels. It is common to see tarred hemp or straw twine used for stitching the straw to the rafters and thatch malting. Traditional Cambridgeshire longsrraw thatch at Heydon. It was also common in attic rooms to 'torch' plaster between the rafters against the thatch to seal the roof from draughts and birds. Longstraw thatch is laid on top of the old coating of thatch after the weathered thatch has been removed. The longstraw is prepared on site by the thatcher wetting the straw and pulling the straw towards him with the ears of the corn to one side (the strongest part of the seem) forming yealms. The yealms are then carried in a jack to the roof and laid in 'lanes' from the eaves to the ridge on the right hand side of the thatcher's ladder and in widths of about 30 in. The straw is tightly packed to a depth of about 12 in. and secured by spars made from split hazel or willow spars. When the roof is complete it is dressed with spars and ligers just above the eaves and beside the verges and openings. The original Cambridgeshire longstraw roofs had flush ridges decorated in a similar manner to the eaves and verges but today this has been superseded by the patterned straw ridge which is used on water reed thatches. Clearly thatching is a developing craft. Gone are the shaggy days of longstraw patched with different materials and unguarded by wire mesh. The eaves and verges are sharply cut and most cottages have deep, decorated ridges, often the signature of the thatcher. The coating of thatch is renewed or repaired every 15-25 years or for the life of the wire mesh and the bedding down of the thatch beside the chimney stack. The soft combed longstraw, tightly pinned by the eaves boarder and swept to the verge of the gables, is still a distinctive feature. Many longstraw thatchers in the district work single-handedly though some have a trainee. Thatching is still essentially a THATCHED ROOFS IN SOUTH CAMBRJDGESHIRE 1983 July July 1988 1988 Survey 1984 Estimate Sample Survey* Total thatch 837 835 825 244 Total reed + combed wheat 295(35) 300(36) 305(3 7) 112(46) Total longstraw 542(65) 535(64) 520(63) 132(54) Condition of longstraw: Good 128(24) 137(26) 151(29) 33(25) Fair 220(41) 222( 42) 208(40) 66(50) Poor 159(29) 147(27) 116(22) 20(15) Very poor 35(6) 29(5) 45(9) 13(10) Figures in parenthesis give percentages * Sample of 20 parishes and 244 roofs. CONTEXT 29
family craft. Combed wheat reed, or Devon reed, was introduced into the county perhaps in the 1960s. It is a thatching method by which the longstraw is prepared through a combing machine (a machine used for producing straw for the straw hat industry). The straw is 'cleaned' of flag and ears and is tightly bundled ready to be laid on a roof in a reed-like manner working along the eaves in rows from right to left, though I have seen the roof laid in 'lanes'. The angle of the thatch is achieved by butting the reed bundles with a legget. The result of the change to combed wheat reed has been the loss of the traditional and simple longstraw characteristics to those of the mounded reed-like Devon thatch. The combed wheat reed thatchers have more recently disguised the looks of these thatches by leaving the flag on the combed wheat reed to give it a shaggy appearance and have finished the thatch with a decorated boarder to the eaves and verges over the butt ends of the wheat - with great difficulty! In 1983-84, a survey of thatched roofs in South Cambridgeshire was carried out to enable the Conservation Committee to agree an historic building grant policy for the repair and rethatching of long straw thatched roofs. Of the total number of thatched roofs (837), 542 or 65% were of longstraw. Many villages such as Barrington, south of Cambridge, have only longstraw thatched roofs on the cottages, farmhouses and farm buildings. At that time, it was estimated that, with CONTEXT 29 Top left: Combed wheat reed before dressing, Oakington. Top right: Yealming of long straw. Bottom left: Cambridgeshire longstraw thatch with raised ridge, Barrington. ,__-----~-------' Bottom right: Longstraw thatching in progress, Me/dreth. the loss by fire or conversion to water reed thatch on the then unlisted buildings, the number of longstraw thatches could be reduced to about 520 or 63% by 1988. However, in the sample survey of twenty parishes in 1988 the percentage of longstraw roofs had dropped to 54%, clearly caused by the number of combed wheat reed thatches that had been introduced. More control over the change of thatching method and material was needed to maintain the number of longstraw thatches, control that should be possible through the additional number of listed buildings after the resurvey in 1986. The local authority issued guidance notes in connection with its grant aid policy in August 1984: For historic reasons the roofing material of thatched buildings should not be altered. For example, if the building is thatched in longstraw any work should be carried out in the same material, rather than, say, combed wheat reed. A parallel could be drawn in changing pantiles to pegtiles or slate. It is the Council's policy to encourage the use of longstraw thatch where it is appropriate. It is also clear that there are regional differences in thatching details, ie treatment of the ridge, eaves and dormers, and we are therefore keen to see local East Anglian patterns retained wherever possible. Following the 1988 survey the Conservation Committee agreed that grant aid should not be given for a change of thatch. At a meeting with the Conservation Officers of the region and the East Midlands Master Thatchers Association the policy was discussed in great detail. Some thatchers went away from the meeting with the view that combed wheat reed was longstraw and could be dressed to look like the traditional longstraw. In 1989 we sought advice from English Heritage whose reply was: Traditional local materials and methods of thatching should be used and the thatch dressed in a locally traditional way but there would be some cases where a more flexible approach was appropriate. In seeking comment from other thatchers working in the area, and particularly the East Anglian Master Thatchers Association, we found we had considerable support. In 1990we notified all thatchers working in South Cambridgeshire that the District Council now required listed building consent for any proposed change of thatching method and material. One thatcher, who works nationally and is said to thatch more than seventy roofs a year, gives his estimates for 'longstraw' and hotly disputes our view that his combed wheat reed is not longstraw. However, his method of laying his longstraw is not traditional to Cambridgeshire. Bcrh Davies is Hiswric Buildings Officer wirh South Cambridgeshire Discricc Council. 13
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