28 Neil Sumner & Fiona Bushell were sponsored by ACO to attend last Autumn's annual course. TWO VIEWS OF THE SPAB REPAIR COURSE Neil Swnner One wet Monday morning last October upwards of 50 delegates, mostly strangers to each other, gathered on the steps of the Bishopsgate Institute in Spitalfields awaiting the start of SPAB's course, The Repair of Old Buildings. Three days later the same band of enthusiasts could be found striding along a remote Gloucestershire lane in brilliant sunshine, buzzing with conversation but scanning the horizon for the next old building under repair to inspire (or dismay?) them. It was a week of contrasts, both stimulating and entertaining. Architects, engmeers, conservation officers, surveyors, contractors and English Heritage and National Trust staff had been attracted to an intensive course which, as SPAB Secretary Philip Venning emphasised, was led by practitioners rather than academics. What's more, those practitioners comprised not only expert historic building architects, engineers and scientists, but stone masons and conservators too. The context for the week's amazing range of lectures was established by Martin Ashley, who earnestly expounded upon SPAB's philosophy of conservative repair. However, it was Michael Wingate's subsequent talk on the use of lime, quietly stated and very enlightening, which proved to be a more significant keynote for the course: lime and its extra-ordinary versatility in historic building repair seemed to ctop up everywhere. The theme was taken up, for example, by conservator Nicholas Durnan who, in describing repair techniques developed at Wells Cathedral, extolled lime's virtues as poultice, mortar, paint and glue. Several memorable lectures included Nicola Ashurst's double tour de force, first reviewing various techniques of stone and brick cleaning, in which she stressed the necessity of proper investigation and analysis followed by careful on-site trials. She followed with a discussion of wrought and cast iron offering, amongst many others, the insight that our black paintwork may be misguided, having only come into fashion following the death of Prince Albert: the 18th century favoured slate grey while for much of the 19th century green was common. Christopher George delivered a passionate talk on timber decay and its treatment, providing numerous samples of affected timber to be passed hand to hand in the darkened lecture room, and alarming the contractors amongst us with details of COSHH assessments. His course notes were perhaps the best of an extensive selection provided by the speakers. I should also like to compliment Peter Lawson-Smith for holding this delegate's attention when lecturing upon the potentially dull topic of services in historic buildings: reading the five pages of notes I took has stimulated me to review old assumptions and pursue new references. Other talks examined structural behaviour, failure and repair, fire precautions, plasters and renders, the repair of stone, brick and terracotta, earth buildings, surfaces and finishes and a range of timber case studies in Essex; only one, Colin Jeffries' commendable summary of planning and grants allowed me smugly to keep my notebook firmly closed. Its extensive connections enabled SPAB to arrange an itinerary of site visits to examine interesting repair work currently in progress. Our two day excursion was to the West Country, but as a foretaste the previous afternoon incorporated a visit to a listed brick house under repair in Highgate, the contractor being one of our delegates. Personally, I was staggered by the extra-ordinary lengths taken to restore such a building in London whereas the same building in South Wales would doubtless be allowed to collapse. Gurney Street Manor at Cannington in Somerset, under restoration by the Landmark Trust, was the first of several substantial houses visited in Somerset, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. I particularly enjoyed the visit to Wick Court at Arlingham, Gloucestershire, where major work to the mid 15th/17th century building illustrated techniques of structural support and repairs to roof carpentry, masonry and windows. It is inevitable that some learned more than others from such visits, but I think we were all aware of a growing feeling that quite a lot of what we saw did not accord with SPAB's principles of conservative repair. The tour also took in visits to Glastonbury Abbey, to Wells Cathedral where we found ourselves perilously high on scaffolding making a close inspection of the lime shelter coat applied to the Chapter House, and to Bath, where, in the middle of The Circus in torrential rain, we were entertained by readings from Tobias Smollet. I am sorry I took in so little of Lawrence Tindale's excellent account of stone conservation work in Bath. The fascinating stabilisation of the medieval timber-framed granary at Tusmore Park, Oxfordshire, concluded a tour in which we were well cared for by the SPAB team, if a little exhausted by many coach miles. Some delegates missed possibly the most exciting site visit of all, which concluded the course on Saturday afternoon. The 1776 tide mill, House Mill, at Bromley by Bow in Newham, is currently being restored under Julian Harrap' s supervision and he and his job architect fought against an impending hurricane to explain the extensive repairs to the brick walls, Norwegian pine timbers and clay tile roofing. Lime even made another appearance as a protective wash for steelwork. The prevailing conditions were perhaps an extreme demonstration of the need for buildings to breathe, but the visit was an apt finale to a deeply instructive week. SPAB runs a similar course every Spring and Autumn and with such a varied programme it would be beneficial to any ACO member, however well or illCONTEXT 29
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