Spring 2014
2014 OPEN DAYS
Landmark News
The latest holiday and building restoration news from the Landmark Trust.
Noah and Bea scrutinise the floorplans at Goddards.
Essence of Landmark Photo Competition winner This year’s free Landmark Open Days include new dates and buildings coinciding with local events, and a number of special activities. Do make a note of the dates below, and check our website for updates on activities. Abbey Gatehouse, Warwickshire 12 and 13 July**** Astley Castle, Warwickshire 27 to 30 June*** 12 to 16 September Auchinleck House, Ayreshire Sunday 7 September The Banqueting House, Gibside 13 and 14 September Clavell Tower, Dorset 13 and 14 September Dolbelydr, Denbighshire 5 to 7 April 12 to 16 September Freston Tower, Suffolk 25 to 28 April 12 to 16 September Gothic Temple, Buckinghamshire 13 and 14 September The Grange, Kent 17 May to 20 May 12 to 16 September
Morpeth Castle, Morpeth 25 to 27th April* North Street, Derbyshire 1 November Peakes House, Essex 13 and 14 September Old Campden House Banqueting Houses & site, Gloucestshire 21 and 22 June** Queen Anne’s Summerhouse, Bedfordshire 17 May to 19 May 12 to 15 September The Ruin, North Yorkshire 13 and 14 September The White House, Shropshire 13 and 14 September Wilmington Priory, East Sussex 4 April to 7 April 21 to 25 November Sackville House, West Sussex 13 and 14 September Swarkestone Pavilion, Nr Derbyshire 13 and 14 September
Please check the website for opening times. *Battle re-enactments of the 1644 Siege of Morpeth by the Sealed Knot on Sat & Sun ** Daytime tours & evening talk from garden historian Caroline Holmes. National Open Gardens weekend – 20 private gardens open in Chipping Campden. *** Landscape tours and extract performances from Shakespeare. **** Coincides with Tewkesbury Medieval Festival
Shottesbrooke Maidenhead Berkshire SL6 3SW www.landmarktrust.org.uk Charity registered in England & Wales 243312 and Scotland SC039205
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“Both Noah and Bea are now seasoned Landmark fans with their own favourites. Noah’s are Alton Station, because of his love of Thomas the Tank engine and anything to do with steam trains, and Fox Hall. Bea’s favourites are Naulakha and The China Tower because she loved being so high up looking out over the trees. And our next trip… Langley Gatehouse, can’t wait!”. James Breslin
A gift that keeps on giving Since we highlighted that our work is supported by the Legacy Estate alongside the buildings we let, there has been a growing number of enquiries. We are honoured, and extremely grateful, to be considered as worthy recipients of buildings left to Landmark.
Landmark’s ‘50 for Free’: sharing the joy
W
e know, because you tell us, that staying in our wonderful buildings can be inspiring, restoring, enlightening and bring great joy. But we also know that there are many who would really benefit from these restorative qualities who might not be able to afford to stay – and we wanted to do something about it. Thanks to a generous personal donation from Neil Mendoza, Chairman of Landmark’s Trustees, and his wife Amelia, we’ve been able to do so. In November, we launched Landmark’s ‘50 for Free’,
inviting charities, educational institutions and non-profit organisations to apply for one of fifty free stays this March. We had nearly 200 applications, and it was a difficult and sometimes heartrending process allocating the stays with so many stories of courage and hardship. You can find out who benefited at www.landmarktrust.org.uk/50-for-free. We hope to make ‘50 for Free’ an annual scheme but for this we will again need to find external funding. Please get in touch if you can help.
If you would like to find out more, please contact Linda Millard on 01628 512122 or visit the Support Us page on our website.
Inside this issue
3 Belmont reaches fund raising target
4 On our Georgian ancestors
Meet Gavin Robinson Gavin has been our Buildings Maintenance Co-ordinator since 2000, working to make sure we use our ever-stretched maintenance resources to best effect. ‘I keep our focus on the important long term maintenance, against the temptation simply to slap on a quick coat of paint,’ says Gavin. He’s also passionate about keeping people warmer in our buildings, a tireless advocate for smaller changes like better draught proofing and insulation as well as more efficient heating systems. His favourite Landmark - Martello Tower “a simple, unique building, remote and exposed to the elements while only ten minutes’ walk from the shops!”
7 Developing plans for St Edward’s Presbytery
A group of those affected by kidney disease had the chance to enjoy Goddards, Surrey.
“Our group had the most wonderful time. They came back ecstatically happy, suntanned, relaxed. For two of them it was the first holiday they ever had.” – Cherry Tree Nursery, who provide sheltered work rehabilitation for people with severe and enduring mental illness.
8 Essence of Landmark winner
Call 01628 825925 Visit www.landmarktrust.org.uk Email bookings@landmarktrust.org.uk
Belmont fundraising appeal reaches its target
Tales from the canals
Welcome As any of us who have tried to book Astley Castle or Clavell Tower know, many of Landmark’s buildings are booked most of the year. But there are still weeks when even Landmark’s buildings are standing empty, and we felt that this was an opportunity we should not waste. From this, and a desire to make sure as many people as possible enjoy what we all so treasure about the Landmark experience, came our ‘50 for Free’ scheme. Millions of people in Britain go for years on end without time away of any sort, and we all know just how positive time together with friends and family can be. The task of choosing who should benefit from the scores of deserving charities who applied, was incredibly difficult. The responses of those who were selected has been amazing. I will mention just one, a severely autistic boy and his family, whose only recent holidays had been in a borrowed caravan in Lancashire. When his Mother showed him the picture of the Landmark, where they were to stay, he was strangely unresponsive. Then she realised why: he had been looking for a caravan. I feel incredibly proud that Landmark is giving special experiences to those who need it most and hope we will be able to continue the scheme in the future.
Dr Anna Keay, Director
2
Canals hold a special place in Landmark’s history. ‘It was, in particular, the destruction of Thomas Telford’s Junction House at Hurlestone on the Shropshire Union canal which maddened us into starting the Landmark Trust,’ wrote our founder, Sir John Smith. Lock Cottage at Stoke Pound has been a Landmark since 1993, but there is another canal-side cottage with a still earlier Landmark association: Lengthsman’s Cottage on the South Stratford Canal, constructed between 1812 and 1816 to link the River Avon with the Birmingham canal network. Canals were then the transport of the future, but by the mid-20th century the South Stratford was choked with weeds and empty of narrow boats. In 1960, it became the first example of a volunteer-run canal restoration project after the National Trust took it on. A heroic campaign by local volunteers dredged and cleared the South Stratford, rebuilding its banks and lock basins through many a cold, wet weekend. This July, the South Stratford celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Queen Mother reopening it in Stratford-upon-Avon. As the lock basin filled, ‘She rose like Cleopatra in her barge’ in Christian Smith’s memorable description. Landmark, meanwhile, took on Lengthsman’s Cottage, one of six barrelroofed lock keeper’s cottages that are the canal’s signature buildings, built by engineers who knew more about bridge building than house construction. Lock keeper Ned Taylor
I
n October we started repair work at Belmont, in Lyme Regis. Though we were still fundraising, we felt we could not leave the house to decay for another winter – a justified decision, given the wild weather. Thanks to a hugely generous financial bequest to Landmark by the late Mrs Shelagh Preston, the appeal has now reached its target. We are so grateful to everyone who supported the appeal, which raised a total of £1.8m.
Lengthsman’s Cottage, Lowsonford, on the South Stratford canal in Warwickshire
lived out a life tenancy here, and in 2006, it took its place as a Landmark let. We have one more Landmark on an inland waterway, Stoker’s Cottage, built on a canalised loop of the Great Ouse between Cambridge and Ely. After this winter of floods, we can sympathise with the fen dwellers’ struggles to drain their land and then keep the water at bay. While former occupants of Lock and Lengthsman’s Cottages had to open lock gates and maintain banks, those at Stoker’s shovelled mountains of coal into the hungry mouths of the boilers powering the monumental Stretham Old Steam Engine that helped manage water levels when floods threatened. The lives lived at these three Landmarks represent Britain’s humbler past, just as resonant as those lived in finer buildings. Each is an ideal base to explore lovely countryside and historic towns nearby – and, indeed, to arrive at by boat.
This important Grade II* house was first the seaside villa of 18th-century business woman Mrs Eleanor Coade and later home to author John Fowles. The ground levels around the house have been corrected and the remnants of the late Victorian wings taken down. This briefly opened up fine views across the site and provided a thrilling impression of how this pretty villa will once more stand proud at the top of Cobb Road – before it was wrapped in scaffolding for the next phase. We found the entrance to an old cellar, long ago filled in, and discovered that ‘Bunter’s Castle’, the small house that predated Belmont on the site, seems to have had two chambers rather than one. The foundations for the ground floor bathroom have been laid, where 18thcentury service buildings are also known to have existed. Simple steam cleaning of the Coade stone embellishments delivered spectacular
Belmont’s roof is well protected under its canopy of scaffolding
results, revealing their breath-taking detail. These are now all safely boxed against accidental damage. Stuart Leavy, our site manager, and Carole Paton as project surveyor, are
masterminding the works. This is a windy spot, but the impressive roofed scaffolding ensured the site was well protected as this winter’s storms lashed the south coast, enabling work to continue apace.
Thank you, Shelagh Shelagh Preston had a keen interest in our work, reflected in over 100 stays, which she enjoyed with her husband George and their poodles. Her enormously generous legacy will help restore both Belmont and St Edward’s Presbytery and so ensure that successive visitors will be able to enjoy staying in these remarkable buildings.
Five Landmarks for Summer
Win £5,000 in Landmark holidays
Enter our Spring Raffle online at landmarktrust.org. uk/raffle or call 0845 601 6036 to order tickets. Just £1 gives you a chance to win, and helps support our work.
Prospect Tower Faversham, Kent Sleeps 2
Robin Hood’s Hut Goathurst, Somerset Sleeps 2
The Library Stevenstone, Devon Sleeps 4
Warden Abbey Old Warden, Bedfordshire Sleeps 5
Gurney Manor Cannington, Somerset Sleeps 9
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Call 01628 825925 Visit www.landmarktrust.org.uk Email bookings@landmarktrust.org.uk
Belmont fundraising appeal reaches its target
Tales from the canals
Welcome As any of us who have tried to book Astley Castle or Clavell Tower know, many of Landmark’s buildings are booked most of the year. But there are still weeks when even Landmark’s buildings are standing empty, and we felt that this was an opportunity we should not waste. From this, and a desire to make sure as many people as possible enjoy what we all so treasure about the Landmark experience, came our ‘50 for Free’ scheme. Millions of people in Britain go for years on end without time away of any sort, and we all know just how positive time together with friends and family can be. The task of choosing who should benefit from the scores of deserving charities who applied, was incredibly difficult. The responses of those who were selected has been amazing. I will mention just one, a severely autistic boy and his family, whose only recent holidays had been in a borrowed caravan in Lancashire. When his Mother showed him the picture of the Landmark, where they were to stay, he was strangely unresponsive. Then she realised why: he had been looking for a caravan. I feel incredibly proud that Landmark is giving special experiences to those who need it most and hope we will be able to continue the scheme in the future.
Dr Anna Keay, Director
2
Canals hold a special place in Landmark’s history. ‘It was, in particular, the destruction of Thomas Telford’s Junction House at Hurlestone on the Shropshire Union canal which maddened us into starting the Landmark Trust,’ wrote our founder, Sir John Smith. Lock Cottage at Stoke Pound has been a Landmark since 1993, but there is another canal-side cottage with a still earlier Landmark association: Lengthsman’s Cottage on the South Stratford Canal, constructed between 1812 and 1816 to link the River Avon with the Birmingham canal network. Canals were then the transport of the future, but by the mid-20th century the South Stratford was choked with weeds and empty of narrow boats. In 1960, it became the first example of a volunteer-run canal restoration project after the National Trust took it on. A heroic campaign by local volunteers dredged and cleared the South Stratford, rebuilding its banks and lock basins through many a cold, wet weekend. This July, the South Stratford celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Queen Mother reopening it in Stratford-upon-Avon. As the lock basin filled, ‘She rose like Cleopatra in her barge’ in Christian Smith’s memorable description. Landmark, meanwhile, took on Lengthsman’s Cottage, one of six barrelroofed lock keeper’s cottages that are the canal’s signature buildings, built by engineers who knew more about bridge building than house construction. Lock keeper Ned Taylor
I
n October we started repair work at Belmont, in Lyme Regis. Though we were still fundraising, we felt we could not leave the house to decay for another winter – a justified decision, given the wild weather. Thanks to a hugely generous financial bequest to Landmark by the late Mrs Shelagh Preston, the appeal has now reached its target. We are so grateful to everyone who supported the appeal, which raised a total of £1.8m.
Lengthsman’s Cottage, Lowsonford, on the South Stratford canal in Warwickshire
lived out a life tenancy here, and in 2006, it took its place as a Landmark let. We have one more Landmark on an inland waterway, Stoker’s Cottage, built on a canalised loop of the Great Ouse between Cambridge and Ely. After this winter of floods, we can sympathise with the fen dwellers’ struggles to drain their land and then keep the water at bay. While former occupants of Lock and Lengthsman’s Cottages had to open lock gates and maintain banks, those at Stoker’s shovelled mountains of coal into the hungry mouths of the boilers powering the monumental Stretham Old Steam Engine that helped manage water levels when floods threatened. The lives lived at these three Landmarks represent Britain’s humbler past, just as resonant as those lived in finer buildings. Each is an ideal base to explore lovely countryside and historic towns nearby – and, indeed, to arrive at by boat.
This important Grade II* house was first the seaside villa of 18th-century business woman Mrs Eleanor Coade and later home to author John Fowles. The ground levels around the house have been corrected and the remnants of the late Victorian wings taken down. This briefly opened up fine views across the site and provided a thrilling impression of how this pretty villa will once more stand proud at the top of Cobb Road – before it was wrapped in scaffolding for the next phase. We found the entrance to an old cellar, long ago filled in, and discovered that ‘Bunter’s Castle’, the small house that predated Belmont on the site, seems to have had two chambers rather than one. The foundations for the ground floor bathroom have been laid, where 18thcentury service buildings are also known to have existed. Simple steam cleaning of the Coade stone embellishments delivered spectacular
Belmont’s roof is well protected under its canopy of scaffolding
results, revealing their breath-taking detail. These are now all safely boxed against accidental damage. Stuart Leavy, our site manager, and Carole Paton as project surveyor, are
masterminding the works. This is a windy spot, but the impressive roofed scaffolding ensured the site was well protected as this winter’s storms lashed the south coast, enabling work to continue apace.
Thank you, Shelagh Shelagh Preston had a keen interest in our work, reflected in over 100 stays, which she enjoyed with her husband George and their poodles. Her enormously generous legacy will help restore both Belmont and St Edward’s Presbytery and so ensure that successive visitors will be able to enjoy staying in these remarkable buildings.
Five Landmarks for Summer
Win £5,000 in Landmark holidays
Enter our Spring Raffle online at landmarktrust.org. uk/raffle or call 0845 601 6036 to order tickets. Just £1 gives you a chance to win, and helps support our work.
Prospect Tower Faversham, Kent Sleeps 2
Robin Hood’s Hut Goathurst, Somerset Sleeps 2
The Library Stevenstone, Devon Sleeps 4
Warden Abbey Old Warden, Bedfordshire Sleeps 5
Gurney Manor Cannington, Somerset Sleeps 9
3
On our Georgian ancestors On August 1st 1714, a shy, middle-aged prince from Hanover was proclaimed King. Few would have predicted this as the foundation of a great dynasty, whose 300th anniversary we celebrate this year.
G
eorge I was an unlikely founder of an age. He hardly spoke any English, and his claim to the throne was challenged by many. Yet the Hanoverians ruled from 1714 to 1837 in what we now call the Georgian age, and their reigns laid the foundations for our modern life. These foundations – social, political, scientific, industrial - can be traced through Landmark’s buildings. When we think of 18thcentury architecture, we think perhaps first of the great Palladian country houses, or the regular terraces of Bath. The influence of Andrea Palladio’s great work, The Four Books of Architecture, its first volume published in English by Colen Campbell in 1728, pervades the whole century.
We see Palladio’s work reflected most clearly in buildings like Landmark’s Auchinleck House, a grand villa built for biographer James Boswell’s father in 1760. It’s an example of the ideal of cultured life outside the city transplanted from the alluvial plains of the Veneto to the Ayrshire countryside, but the same elegant spaciousness prevails in both. There was playfulness too in the aristocratic Georgian mind, a peculiarly British trait. Georgian gentlemen used the clean clarity of classical Palladian principles in the follies and retreats they built to adorn their landscapes – fine miniature essays
like Whiteford Temple, Fox Hall or The Chateau. Another, The Bath House (1748) perfectly reflects the complexity of the Georgian mind. The rough-hewn rusticated exterior of the ground floor hides a grotto (full of latent possibilities) and cold plunge pool. While above, a smooth hexagonal turret conceals a shimmering room festooned with shells and artificial stalactites. The whole human psyche is here. Later in the century, some Georgians turned away from this cool Classicism (associated by now with the politics of Court supporters) to express their nostalgia for old freedoms through what they interpreted as the architecture of ancient British liberties – Gothic. The Gothic Temple at Stowe (1741) is a trailblazer for this. The Ruin at Hackfall (c.1760) follows a design by Robert Adam that explored another evolving theme in the late-Georgian period – the Picturesque. The Georgian Age thus contains much beyond Palladianism. And what of the homes of Georgians of the middling sort? Here the architectural themes of the age are expressed more in symmetry and simplicity than pediment and portico. Such facility for repetition allowed Georgian architecture to evolve during the huge explosion in building in London and other cities. Towards the top end of such new town houses we find Marshall
The Bath House sums up the playfulness of much Georgian architecture: a delightful shell festooned chamber (above) sits atop a rough hewn grotto with plunge pool (above right).
Wade’s House in Bath (c.1720): bespoke and stone built, elegantly festooned in swags. Much else was built as speculative construction, by artisan builders working from manuals full of helpful techniques like the most economical brick bonds. One such house is at Princelet Street (c.1718), built for the mostly French Protestant immigrants who arrived to ply their luxury crafts, like silk weaving and clockmaking. Others were built as identical brick streets, elegant and desirable to our eyes today, though some contemporaries complained of their severity. This was a market opportunity Mrs Eleanor Coade (Belmont) was able to exploit with her artificial stone dressings, as architect Robert Adam popularised a more decorative Classicism.
Lastly, and possibly most influential of all in the long term, was the pressing need to house the workers of the Industrial Revolution. At North Street, Cromford (1771) we encounter the first example of a building type to become familiar in every industrial city in Britain – the terraces built to house the workers in the new factories. So all the richness and variety of Georgian life can be enjoyed and relived through Landmark’s buildings. There is much planned in the wider cultural arena on the Georgians this anniversary year. A more detailed browse through the Georgian Landmarks to complement this – and perhaps even a stay or two – is strongly recommended.
Captions
The Chateau, designed by John Platt in 1747, is a perfect, pocket-sized example of mid-Georgian architecture.
4
North Street, Cromford was built by mill owner Richard Arkwright and is the earliest known example of industrial housing.
5
On our Georgian ancestors On August 1st 1714, a shy, middle-aged prince from Hanover was proclaimed King. Few would have predicted this as the foundation of a great dynasty, whose 300th anniversary we celebrate this year.
G
eorge I was an unlikely founder of an age. He hardly spoke any English, and his claim to the throne was challenged by many. Yet the Hanoverians ruled from 1714 to 1837 in what we now call the Georgian age, and their reigns laid the foundations for our modern life. These foundations – social, political, scientific, industrial - can be traced through Landmark’s buildings. When we think of 18thcentury architecture, we think perhaps first of the great Palladian country houses, or the regular terraces of Bath. The influence of Andrea Palladio’s great work, The Four Books of Architecture, its first volume published in English by Colen Campbell in 1728, pervades the whole century.
We see Palladio’s work reflected most clearly in buildings like Landmark’s Auchinleck House, a grand villa built for biographer James Boswell’s father in 1760. It’s an example of the ideal of cultured life outside the city transplanted from the alluvial plains of the Veneto to the Ayrshire countryside, but the same elegant spaciousness prevails in both. There was playfulness too in the aristocratic Georgian mind, a peculiarly British trait. Georgian gentlemen used the clean clarity of classical Palladian principles in the follies and retreats they built to adorn their landscapes – fine miniature essays
like Whiteford Temple, Fox Hall or The Chateau. Another, The Bath House (1748) perfectly reflects the complexity of the Georgian mind. The rough-hewn rusticated exterior of the ground floor hides a grotto (full of latent possibilities) and cold plunge pool. While above, a smooth hexagonal turret conceals a shimmering room festooned with shells and artificial stalactites. The whole human psyche is here. Later in the century, some Georgians turned away from this cool Classicism (associated by now with the politics of Court supporters) to express their nostalgia for old freedoms through what they interpreted as the architecture of ancient British liberties – Gothic. The Gothic Temple at Stowe (1741) is a trailblazer for this. The Ruin at Hackfall (c.1760) follows a design by Robert Adam that explored another evolving theme in the late-Georgian period – the Picturesque. The Georgian Age thus contains much beyond Palladianism. And what of the homes of Georgians of the middling sort? Here the architectural themes of the age are expressed more in symmetry and simplicity than pediment and portico. Such facility for repetition allowed Georgian architecture to evolve during the huge explosion in building in London and other cities. Towards the top end of such new town houses we find Marshall
The Bath House sums up the playfulness of much Georgian architecture: a delightful shell festooned chamber (above) sits atop a rough hewn grotto with plunge pool (above right).
Wade’s House in Bath (c.1720): bespoke and stone built, elegantly festooned in swags. Much else was built as speculative construction, by artisan builders working from manuals full of helpful techniques like the most economical brick bonds. One such house is at Princelet Street (c.1718), built for the mostly French Protestant immigrants who arrived to ply their luxury crafts, like silk weaving and clockmaking. Others were built as identical brick streets, elegant and desirable to our eyes today, though some contemporaries complained of their severity. This was a market opportunity Mrs Eleanor Coade (Belmont) was able to exploit with her artificial stone dressings, as architect Robert Adam popularised a more decorative Classicism.
Lastly, and possibly most influential of all in the long term, was the pressing need to house the workers of the Industrial Revolution. At North Street, Cromford (1771) we encounter the first example of a building type to become familiar in every industrial city in Britain – the terraces built to house the workers in the new factories. So all the richness and variety of Georgian life can be enjoyed and relived through Landmark’s buildings. There is much planned in the wider cultural arena on the Georgians this anniversary year. A more detailed browse through the Georgian Landmarks to complement this – and perhaps even a stay or two – is strongly recommended.
Captions
The Chateau, designed by John Platt in 1747, is a perfect, pocket-sized example of mid-Georgian architecture.
4
North Street, Cromford was built by mill owner Richard Arkwright and is the earliest known example of industrial housing.
5
You can donate online at www.landmarktrust.org.uk, or call us on 01628 825920.
Developing plans for St Edward’s Presbytery
Landmark Craft Apprenticeships The survival of traditional craft skills is essential to the work of Landmark. In a new collaboration with The Prince’s Foundation for Building Community, we have decided to establish an annual Prince’s Foundation Landmark Craft Apprenticeship. The apprentices will benefit from structured training within their established and highly respected programme, combined with the practical experience gained from working with our own craftspeople on Landmark projects. We are seeking donations to support the first apprentice, who would be with us from November 2014, after completing an initial period of training with The Prince’s Foundation over the summer.
I
n 2010, we acquired the Grade 1 listed St Edward’s Presbytery, designed by A. W. N. Pugin as part of his overarching conception for the site beside his own home, The Grange in Ramsgate. Pugin built the Presbytery in 1851 for a priest to serve the church he was building over the garden wall. In the 1860s, his son Edward Pugin used it as his office. Owned from 1928 to 2010 by St Augustine’s monastery next door, the Presbytery had become increasing dilapidated in recent decades. Having analysed the house and considered all
St Edward’s Presbytery stands between St. Augustine’s Church and the gates of The Grange, in Ramsgate.
options, we now plan to remove the ugly extensions added in the 20th century, returning to A. W. N. Pugin’s design and keeping his son Edward’s alterations. We have concluded that the Presbytery will then make a wonderful Landmark for four people in this exceptional
Gothic Revival landscape. The project will benefit from the bequest of the late Mrs Shelagh Preston, as her generous financial legacy will provide a substantial proportion of the funding needed. The balance we hope to raise with your support of a fundraising appeal, to follow soon.
Working with the local community at Llwyn Celyn
T
he restoration of this highstatus, late-medieval house that developed into a farmstead is the most costly rescue project Landmark has ever undertaken. It involves not just the house (which will become the Landmark), but also two barns and several outbuildings, all ancient, for which we must also find a self-sustaining use. In February, we submitted a Round 1 application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for Llwyn Celyn, seeking a grant of £2.5m against a total project cost of just over £4m.
6
“One of the finest medieval houses in Wales” Excitingly, an application to the HLF allows us not just to seek funds for physical restoration, but actively encourages wider community involvement. Over the last six months, we have been consulting in depth with local residents on what uses they would like for the barns, and building contacts with other local
organisations. The HLF bid therefore includes Landmark’s most ambitious community involvement programme to date. Guardians of Llwyn Celyn and other generous donors have given £132,000 to help develop the project, and we have also received a magnificent pledge of £250,000 from an anonymous individual to support the project. If the HLF’s decision in late May is positive, we will mount a full public appeal later in the year, and develop the bid for the final Round 2 in 2015.
In a trial earlier this year, we provided three short placements for their Building Craft Apprentices to gain practical training in traditional building skills. Stonemason Alex Willis joined the team at Belmont; Matt McKeown, a painter and decorator, worked alongside Landmark’s John Brown at West Blockhouse and Old Campden House, and experienced joiner Owen McClatchey joined the Furnishings team at Wormington. All three are working towards completing their NVQ 3 in Heritage Skills.
Alex Willis, a Prince’s Foundation Building Craft Apprentice, working at Belmont.
For further details, and to make a donation, please visit ’Support Us’ on our website.
Exciting discoveries at Old Hall, Croscombe Old Hall Croscombe is a quiet gem in our portfolio. It is all that survives of a 15th-century manor house, adapted c.1720 as a Baptist chapel. Its great hall (where Landmarkers live and eat today) is magnificent, but very difficult to heat. Any who have stayed there will remember with either affection or frustration the mighty Gurney’s Patent woodstove. More recently, our 1970s underfloor heating failed, and a modern boiler proved inadequate. In December, as part of the rolling programme to improve our heating systems, we installed new gas-fired underfloor heating at Old Hall. On carefully lifting the clay pammets and removing the 1970s screed, we were excited to discover a baptismal pool basin, largely intact beneath the floor. We also found the entrance to a burial vault alongside, thought to belong to Joseph George, a wealthy Croscombe stocking maker who left the chapel to the Baptists in 1770. All was carefully recorded and re-covered under a breathable membrane. The hall is now cosily warm – and the Gurney stove still there for any aficionados to enjoy. The stone-lined, baptismal pool for total immersion, created at Old Hall in 1824 to replace a cold plunge in the River Sheppey. The entrance to Joseph George’s burial vault is alongside (above). The magnificent arch-braced hall, now with new underfloor heating (below).
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You can donate online at www.landmarktrust.org.uk, or call us on 01628 825920.
Developing plans for St Edward’s Presbytery
Landmark Craft Apprenticeships The survival of traditional craft skills is essential to the work of Landmark. In a new collaboration with The Prince’s Foundation for Building Community, we have decided to establish an annual Prince’s Foundation Landmark Craft Apprenticeship. The apprentices will benefit from structured training within their established and highly respected programme, combined with the practical experience gained from working with our own craftspeople on Landmark projects. We are seeking donations to support the first apprentice, who would be with us from November 2014, after completing an initial period of training with The Prince’s Foundation over the summer.
I
n 2010, we acquired the Grade 1 listed St Edward’s Presbytery, designed by A. W. N. Pugin as part of his overarching conception for the site beside his own home, The Grange in Ramsgate. Pugin built the Presbytery in 1851 for a priest to serve the church he was building over the garden wall. In the 1860s, his son Edward Pugin used it as his office. Owned from 1928 to 2010 by St Augustine’s monastery next door, the Presbytery had become increasing dilapidated in recent decades. Having analysed the house and considered all
St Edward’s Presbytery stands between St. Augustine’s Church and the gates of The Grange, in Ramsgate.
options, we now plan to remove the ugly extensions added in the 20th century, returning to A. W. N. Pugin’s design and keeping his son Edward’s alterations. We have concluded that the Presbytery will then make a wonderful Landmark for four people in this exceptional
Gothic Revival landscape. The project will benefit from the bequest of the late Mrs Shelagh Preston, as her generous financial legacy will provide a substantial proportion of the funding needed. The balance we hope to raise with your support of a fundraising appeal, to follow soon.
Working with the local community at Llwyn Celyn
T
he restoration of this highstatus, late-medieval house that developed into a farmstead is the most costly rescue project Landmark has ever undertaken. It involves not just the house (which will become the Landmark), but also two barns and several outbuildings, all ancient, for which we must also find a self-sustaining use. In February, we submitted a Round 1 application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for Llwyn Celyn, seeking a grant of £2.5m against a total project cost of just over £4m.
6
“One of the finest medieval houses in Wales” Excitingly, an application to the HLF allows us not just to seek funds for physical restoration, but actively encourages wider community involvement. Over the last six months, we have been consulting in depth with local residents on what uses they would like for the barns, and building contacts with other local
organisations. The HLF bid therefore includes Landmark’s most ambitious community involvement programme to date. Guardians of Llwyn Celyn and other generous donors have given £132,000 to help develop the project, and we have also received a magnificent pledge of £250,000 from an anonymous individual to support the project. If the HLF’s decision in late May is positive, we will mount a full public appeal later in the year, and develop the bid for the final Round 2 in 2015.
In a trial earlier this year, we provided three short placements for their Building Craft Apprentices to gain practical training in traditional building skills. Stonemason Alex Willis joined the team at Belmont; Matt McKeown, a painter and decorator, worked alongside Landmark’s John Brown at West Blockhouse and Old Campden House, and experienced joiner Owen McClatchey joined the Furnishings team at Wormington. All three are working towards completing their NVQ 3 in Heritage Skills.
Alex Willis, a Prince’s Foundation Building Craft Apprentice, working at Belmont.
For further details, and to make a donation, please visit ’Support Us’ on our website.
Exciting discoveries at Old Hall, Croscombe Old Hall Croscombe is a quiet gem in our portfolio. It is all that survives of a 15th-century manor house, adapted c.1720 as a Baptist chapel. Its great hall (where Landmarkers live and eat today) is magnificent, but very difficult to heat. Any who have stayed there will remember with either affection or frustration the mighty Gurney’s Patent woodstove. More recently, our 1970s underfloor heating failed, and a modern boiler proved inadequate. In December, as part of the rolling programme to improve our heating systems, we installed new gas-fired underfloor heating at Old Hall. On carefully lifting the clay pammets and removing the 1970s screed, we were excited to discover a baptismal pool basin, largely intact beneath the floor. We also found the entrance to a burial vault alongside, thought to belong to Joseph George, a wealthy Croscombe stocking maker who left the chapel to the Baptists in 1770. All was carefully recorded and re-covered under a breathable membrane. The hall is now cosily warm – and the Gurney stove still there for any aficionados to enjoy. The stone-lined, baptismal pool for total immersion, created at Old Hall in 1824 to replace a cold plunge in the River Sheppey. The entrance to Joseph George’s burial vault is alongside (above). The magnificent arch-braced hall, now with new underfloor heating (below).
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Spring 2014
2014 OPEN DAYS
Landmark News
The latest holiday and building restoration news from the Landmark Trust.
Noah and Bea scrutinise the floorplans at Goddards.
Essence of Landmark Photo Competition winner This year’s free Landmark Open Days include new dates and buildings coinciding with local events, and a number of special activities. Do make a note of the dates below, and check our website for updates on activities. Abbey Gatehouse, Warwickshire 12 and 13 July**** Astley Castle, Warwickshire 27 to 30 June*** 12 to 16 September Auchinleck House, Ayreshire Sunday 7 September The Banqueting House, Gibside 13 and 14 September Clavell Tower, Dorset 13 and 14 September Dolbelydr, Denbighshire 5 to 7 April 12 to 16 September Freston Tower, Suffolk 25 to 28 April 12 to 16 September Gothic Temple, Buckinghamshire 13 and 14 September The Grange, Kent 17 May to 20 May 12 to 16 September
Morpeth Castle, Morpeth 25 to 27th April* North Street, Derbyshire 1 November Peakes House, Essex 13 and 14 September Old Campden House Banqueting Houses & site, Gloucestshire 21 and 22 June** Queen Anne’s Summerhouse, Bedfordshire 17 May to 19 May 12 to 15 September The Ruin, North Yorkshire 13 and 14 September The White House, Shropshire 13 and 14 September Wilmington Priory, East Sussex 4 April to 7 April 21 to 25 November Sackville House, West Sussex 13 and 14 September Swarkestone Pavilion, Nr Derbyshire 13 and 14 September
Please check the website for opening times. *Battle re-enactments of the 1644 Siege of Morpeth by the Sealed Knot on Sat & Sun ** Daytime tours & evening talk from garden historian Caroline Holmes. National Open Gardens weekend – 20 private gardens open in Chipping Campden. *** Landscape tours and extract performances from Shakespeare. **** Coincides with Tewkesbury Medieval Festival
Shottesbrooke Maidenhead Berkshire SL6 3SW www.landmarktrust.org.uk Charity registered in England & Wales 243312 and Scotland SC039205
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“Both Noah and Bea are now seasoned Landmark fans with their own favourites. Noah’s are Alton Station, because of his love of Thomas the Tank engine and anything to do with steam trains, and Fox Hall. Bea’s favourites are Naulakha and The China Tower because she loved being so high up looking out over the trees. And our next trip… Langley Gatehouse, can’t wait!”. James Breslin
A gift that keeps on giving Since we highlighted that our work is supported by the Legacy Estate alongside the buildings we let, there has been a growing number of enquiries. We are honoured, and extremely grateful, to be considered as worthy recipients of buildings left to Landmark.
Landmark’s ‘50 for Free’: sharing the joy
W
e know, because you tell us, that staying in our wonderful buildings can be inspiring, restoring, enlightening and bring great joy. But we also know that there are many who would really benefit from these restorative qualities who might not be able to afford to stay – and we wanted to do something about it. Thanks to a generous personal donation from Neil Mendoza, Chairman of Landmark’s Trustees, and his wife Amelia, we’ve been able to do so. In November, we launched Landmark’s ‘50 for Free’,
inviting charities, educational institutions and non-profit organisations to apply for one of fifty free stays this March. We had nearly 200 applications, and it was a difficult and sometimes heartrending process allocating the stays with so many stories of courage and hardship. You can find out who benefited at www.landmarktrust.org.uk/50-for-free. We hope to make ‘50 for Free’ an annual scheme but for this we will again need to find external funding. Please get in touch if you can help.
If you would like to find out more, please contact Linda Millard on 01628 512122 or visit the Support Us page on our website.
Inside this issue
3 Belmont reaches fund raising target
4 On our Georgian ancestors
Meet Gavin Robinson Gavin has been our Buildings Maintenance Co-ordinator since 2000, working to make sure we use our ever-stretched maintenance resources to best effect. ‘I keep our focus on the important long term maintenance, against the temptation simply to slap on a quick coat of paint,’ says Gavin. He’s also passionate about keeping people warmer in our buildings, a tireless advocate for smaller changes like better draught proofing and insulation as well as more efficient heating systems. His favourite Landmark - Martello Tower “a simple, unique building, remote and exposed to the elements while only ten minutes’ walk from the shops!”
7 Developing plans for St Edward’s Presbytery
A group of those affected by kidney disease had the chance to enjoy Goddards, Surrey.
“Our group had the most wonderful time. They came back ecstatically happy, suntanned, relaxed. For two of them it was the first holiday they ever had.” – Cherry Tree Nursery, who provide sheltered work rehabilitation for people with severe and enduring mental illness.
8 Essence of Landmark winner