The OXON RECORDER The Newsletter of Oxfordshire Buildings Record Issue 48 Autumn 2011 Reminder of the contents of this issue, so you can come back later for more information. Recent Recording (lots to catch up on) Report of VAG Confererence on 18 th century buildings VCH Volume XVI (Henley on Thames & Environs) launch and special offer to OBR members (Flyer enclosed) Launch of OBR members only web pages (Note enclosed) OBR Members Presentations Day Sunday 27 November (Flyer enclosed) Heather Horner, newsletter editor Some recent recording Note by the secretary Northcourt barns Since the last newsletter, a group recording afternoon managed to record most of the remaining agricultural buildings of Northcourt farm, Abingdon, before work begins on their conversion to various uses associated with Christ Church. Members may recall that some years ago we held our presentation day in the church the great barn of the Abbey grange of Northcourt, altered in the 18 th century and converted into a church in 1961. There were four main structures, three along Northcourt Road, and the fourth at right angles forming two sides of the former farmstead. After they ceased to be used for purely agricultural purposes, some of the buildings were converted by the then owners, Argyle and Candy Dairies, as the base for their business. When that closed, these were used by the church as offices, while part of a threshing barn was used by youth groups. The other part and a smaller barn to the west remained unaltered. Both the barns had the characteristic cranked inner principal roof structure which we find generally in the 18 th century in the Vale, South Oxfordshire and surrounding areas. However, in the larger barn the inner principals had been reused, possibly from a cruck-framed building. While signs of reuse generally cause dismay to the building recorder, as dating and source for the materials cannot be determined, the amount and consistency of the reuse at Northcourt suggested that they must have come from somewhere reasonably close, and would have formed a complete roof in their earlier incarnation. Archaeological recording A recent trend has been for the OBR to be asked to study a building while works are being carried out. We have been very clear to emphasise that the OBR will not carry out surveys which are part of the planning approval process and must be carried out by professionals. However, most of the recent examples have involved work exposing previously invisible fabric and the conservation officer has in effect asked for a second opinion as to the significance of the discovery. Last year we did some recording at Grange Farm, Balscote (shortly to be published in South Midlands Archaeology). Recent examples have been 7-8 Brewer Street, Oxford, Abingdon County Hall and the Bird Cage, Thame. Figure 1 Two of the Northcourt barns [All photos this edition David Clark] 1 Oxfordshire Buildings Record 2011
7-8 Brewer Street, Oxford This pair of listed houses is being refurbished as part of St Peter s College s new development behind Campion Hall in Brewer Street. The development history is complex, but the earliest datable fabric is from the 17 th century. The eastern house, no.7, is three storey with two gabled dormers facing the street. Figure 2 North elevation (Berman Guedes Stretton) Inside these dormers, the visible structure showed them to be made with thin poles nailed on to the principal rafters of the main E-W roof, suggesting that they were a later addition. However, because the work had required removal of the entire roof covering, the rafters were exposed and shown to be only half the height of the roof slope and tenoned into the purlins but with no evidence of there ever having been a lower part. We concluded therefore that the dormers were intended from the start. have been closely dated to 1709 at the Friends Meeting House in Burford and 6 High Street, Woodstock, and derive from high status examples of the same period in Blenheim Palace and the Clarendon Building in Oxford. However, the render had also been removed from the façade, exposing the timber frame. This showed that the sash windows were later insertions, as rebates and mouldings from the earlier window openings could be seen where the sashes did not fit exactly into the former openings. Again, such evidence could never have been seen had not the render been removed. The lessons from this study are difficult to accept a non-destructive survey would have concluded that the building dated from the early 18 th century (based on the windows) and that the dormers were a later insertion. The exposed frame showed that the building was 17 th century in date with contemporary dormers, while the windows were later. Our report was copied to the architects, contractors and City Council conservation staff. But before you think that you must tear a building apart in order to understand it properly, I have a counterexample from Wallingford. The BBC asked me to comment on 22 High Street, which has been stripped down to the frame as part of a restoration project which may be televised. Here it was clear that removal of all the internal historic plaster had shown only that the walls were never meant to be seen, and that all the destruction had not only been in vain there was no medieval core and whole layers of the building s history had been lost in the process. Abingdon County Hall Figure 3 Roof slope showing half-rafters within dormer pegged into the purlin (at foot of shot). There were no peg holes or mortices for rafters on the lower face of the purlin. (The timbers coming towards the photographer support the dormer gable) One of the sash windows had characteristic square features at the glazing bar junctions. These Figure 4 Abingdon County Hall Visitors to Abingdon this year will have noted that the County Hall in the Market Place was covered in scaffolding and plastic sheeting. A 2 Oxfordshire Buildings Record 2011
major lottery-funded refurbishment is in hand, and is due to be completed later this year, with the museum opening in Spring 2012. The building dates from 1678-83, the contractor being Christopher Kempster of Upton near Burford with master carpenter Avery Hobbs of Abingdon. Debates continue as to who was responsible for the design, but Wren s hand is clearly evident, although the builder had to make his own decision about the stair tower, which looks very much like an afterthought. When the roof covering was removed, the structure was available for inspection and I was asked to take a look not as part of the planning process but simply to record what was visible. The survey showed clear evidence for at least three phases of reconstruction of the roof. Much of the original structure remained, but considerable work was carried out in the 1850s, some of which had to be re-done in the 1950s. It is likely that the driver for much of this was improved water removal. In 1681 the upper storey of the County Hall had a structure based on dragon-beams, possibly similar to that above the market hall at ground floor level. These beams supported hip rafters, while between these on each side further tie-beams resting on top of the main walls of the building supported principal rafters, between which were butt-purlins, since removed. Further beams or joists supported a fascia board, also lost, but which probably formed one side of a rain-water gully. The base of the gully was formed by planking supported by modillions set into the stonework some 4 below the top of the wall. This was essentially a separate structure which also supported the other side of the gully and a cyma-moulded cornice. Figure 5 Hip rafter and dragon beam at SE corner, with later timber all around The next phase the insertion of a lattice of joists, new purlins set vertically with wall studs and a new rainwater gully could have been done at any of the known later refurbishment periods. The numbering of the studs points to 1853, and the sagging of the attic floor at that time could well have necessitated the insertion of new joists. The replacement of the 19 th century roof timbers noted in 1956 could explain the relative crispness and brighter colour of some of the timbers. The weathering on the hip rafter and rotting of structural timbers noted in earlier renovations suggests that water ingress has been a constant issue for the building and that these alterations were designed to improve matters. The Bird Cage, Thame A comprehensive report was made on this building in 1988 and reported in South Midlands Archaeology vol.20 (1990). This identified a number of distinct phases, but the dates and some key issues remained unresolved. Figure 6 The iconic Bird Cage, Thame During routine work earlier this year, removal of broken render had shown there to be serious timber rot and so the whole of one elevation had been exposed in order to assess what needed to be done. Our member David Birkett was the architect for the scheme and he invited me along to take a look. In the event the main damage was confined to a later extension to the medieval three-storey structure. Clearly visible, however, were the seating of a former window probably matching one at the level below and visible now only internally and the roof structure of the medieval building. The latter was of the crown strut type, which we have recorded at the Long Gallery in Abingdon and, by Ruth Gibson and the Henley Archaeology and History Group, at a number of buildings in Henley. None of these has yet been tree-ring dated, but the struts also appear in the great barn 3 Oxfordshire Buildings Record 2011
at Harmondsworth of 1426 and in 26A East St Helen Street, Abingdon (1430). Ruth thinks they may be an intermediate form between the timberhungry crown post and the ubiquitous queen posts and clasped purlins, so they may not have had a long period of use. I was able to suggest, therefore, that the Bird Cage roof may have been built around 1430. The windows would also fit with this date, but the façade and an internal wall of the building have cross-bracing, which we have treering dates for in Steventon (39 Causeway, 1356) and Burford (Wisdom House, 1387-90). Moreover there is an early-looking doorway in the cellar with roll-mouldings on both jambs and arch. The Bird Cage is part of the market infill in Thame, and it is known that such buildings were being built in the 14 th century, but clearly more work needs to be done to fully get to grips with this important building. of the Council for British Archaeology when the case involves demolition or partial demolition of a listed building. Most cases are readily understandable from the documents supplied, but occasionally there are cases where only a site visit can ensure that we understand the proposals properly. These visits can also generate valuable OBR information. One recent example was a case involving a fragmentary building in Horley, near Banbury (Cherwell). Bramshill Manor, Horley The listed building consists of a largely 17 th century E-W range of 2 storeys with attics, an early 18 th century wing to the south, and a passage with stair turret to the north. The north wall of this shows signs of blocked openings to another structure, now missing. The applicants wished to recreate this lost building by adding a large hall and cross-wing structure on to the north gable. Some other work involved unblocking some 17 th century casements in the stair turret and elsewhere. We felt that the material supplied in the application did not set out clearly the significance of the listed building and the potentially deleterious effects of the proposals, so Paul Clark and I arranged a visit through the architects for the scheme. Figure 7 (above) Exposed gable Figure 8 (right) Exposed frame In this case, as a Grade II* listed building, English Heritage were involved and asked the local conservation officer to ensure the exposed timbers were recorded before the wall was repaired and re-rendered. While our report may contribute to this, the measured drawing will be done professionally. Listed Building casework A different way in which building recording can help in the planning process is in informing the comments which we can all make on planning applications. Many OBR members belong to local amenity societies which send in such comments on applications in their area. The Listed Buildings sub-committee of the Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society does this on a county-wide scale, acting on behalf Figure 9 Bramshill Manor, north gable The earliest visible fabric was a Romanesque doorway between the passage and the E-W range. If this is in situ, it suggested a 12 th century date for the original structure, and the doorway was likely to have led to a cross-passage between a hall and service rooms in the standard pattern of a medieval house. This is perfectly possible as there is documentary evidence in Domesday for an 11 th century manor. However, apart from a stone corbel in the passage there was 4 Oxfordshire Buildings Record 2011
nothing else in the range remotely of that date and the roof timbers, although smoke blackened, were not those of an early roof. Perhaps next in date were moulded beams in the passage area. As these beams could be 15 th century the wall of the E-W range that supports them could be earlier. The passage may thus represent a phase in which an in-line range is converted into a cross-wing by the introduction of a passage with a missing hall to the north. Although there is an 18 th century plan showing a large building to the north, there was no scarring in the stonework relating to the lost building and the visible evidence was also consistent with an interpretation that the missing building was intended, but never in fact built. Although the proposals had minimal effect on the interior of the listed building, OAHS had considerable reservations about the scheme as submitted. Their main recommendation was that the north wall of the listed building should be left unplastered and that the new building be separated from the old by means of a glazed link to ensure the historic north wall could be seen in its entirety so that the history of the building could be seen and understood by future generations. At the time of writing the council s decision was awaited. Such a visit report cannot constitute a full building report, and indeed there is an ethical dilemma in making such a report widely available, since the information was gathered for a specific purpose and not for publication. Nevertheless, doing listed building casework for OAHS is yet another way of learning about the historic buildings in the county, so if you would like to find out more, please contact the Secretary. David Clark The 18 th century town house Weekend School 23-25 September 2011 at OUDCE, Rewley House, Oxford, in association with VAG. We all have an image of the eighteenthcentury town house classically inspired, in uniform terraces, designed for polite society such as in Bath, London and Edinburgh. Indeed they are for some the antithesis of the vernacular stone brought from afar by canal, some named architects, builders with pattern-books working for speculators within an increasingly more restrictive legal framework. In some respects the papers for this weekend school reinforced this Figure 1 Queen Square, Bath (John Wood the Elder 1728-1736) view, but they also demonstrated that behind the façade as it were, is a rich diversity of interior spaces and ways of living. The London socialite was catered for, yes, but also the Berwick merchant using part of the house for business storage. The 18 th century also saw a breakdown in the stereotypical England = vertical living; Scotland = horizontal, with town houses of the London type in Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, and some London houses divided horizontally into flats. It cannot be denied that in many towns, so successful was the Georgian remodelling whether by refronting or by demolition and total rebuilding that even today such houses have an inspirational (and aspirational) cachet that encourages the removal of Victorian and later layers although usually ignoring the anachronism of the inside toilet and bathroom. Roger Bowdler of English Heritage began with the vernacular origins of the terrace going back to Lady Row in York (1316) and other ecclesiastical ventures such as at Tewkesbury and Wells. It was also the case that behind the uniform façades was often a variety of plan forms (the Survey of London has examples), sculptural enrichment (Worcester) in door surrounds and fanlights. He also reminded us that the popularity of 18 th century houses was relatively recent, and that the success of conservation campaigns such as in Spitalfields was to a large extent due to the connections made between the houses and the flows of immigrants that had lived in them. 5 Oxfordshire Buildings Record 2011
Figure 2 Variety in doorways - St John Street, Oxford Figure 4 Bedford Square, London 1775 Elizabeth McKellar (Open University) invited us to look in detail at the suburban villas of Highgate the country retreats of the London middle classes escaping the social round for a rural idyll, often building in the grounds of former grand houses. One, Lauderdale House, looking very Georgian now, has been the subject of a recent study showing a number of phases of improvement since it was built in 1582. Patrick Baty, an expert on historic paintwork, showed how detailed paint analysis can contribute, not only to determining what was right for a particular period, but also to the development history of the building. In one house a sample had shown 71 different external paint layers over a 300-year period from 1705. This chronology had been used to show that certain windows were not original, and the date when other had been blocked. For the interior, the status of rooms could be assessed based on the cost of the colours used the most expensive pigment was deep green at 2/6 per pound. James Ayres deep understanding of the building of Bath gave us such gems as Palladianism was the Venetians answer to rising damp and Bath was built by a joiner who didn t understand stone ; the former pointing to the almost universal use of the first floor as the piano nobile for living and entertaining, the latter resulting in the soft Bath stone worked using carpentry tools to produce a variety of decorative and novel forms such as hidden sash boxes featuring bolection mouldings part stone part timber. Figure 3 Lauderdale House, Highgate Rachel Stewart (Reading University) took us behind the uniform London façade lacking helpful external signals and seen as a disguise preventing the passer-by from judging who might be inside. As the place where the landed gentry entertained their social equals during the season, the London town house in contrast to the country seat was ephemeral bought and sold, and continually remodelled in the latest fashion such alterations often being described in the newspapers. Figure 5 Carpenter's saw with stone on Circus frieze, Bath There followed a talk on town gardens, mainly using London examples, emphasising that when built these houses had gardens which were modelled as fashion statements. 6 Oxfordshire Buildings Record 2011
Adam Menuge (English Heritage and Cambridge University) brought the vernacular to the fore by looking at some north of England towns in the long 18 th century. Although there were some notable palace fronts on the London model (in Newcastle), peri-urban villas (in Chester), he also showed us such gems as an 18 th century version of a bastle (in Alston), cluster houses (4 back-to-backs) and a house/warehouse pair in Whitehaven. Three places worthy of study were Whitby, Buxton and Berwick. In Whitby (visited by VAG in 2004) novel plan forms, blindbacks and court developments underlined the essentially local responses to housing needs in restricted spaces. The grand spa crescent in Buxton now at risk combined hotels, shops and apartments within a unified structure. The merchant houses in Berwick-on-Tweed, however, offered a rich seam for the student of 18 th century town buildings. Here were additions to earlier buildings, and behind relatively plain facades some high quality fixtures and fittings, with in one house five surviving chimney-boards for closing off the fireplace in the summer. by the 18 th century there was a growing market for houses after the London manner and in 1752 a group in Edinburgh led by Adam Smith put forward plans for the New Town, which would embody new ideas for social organisation, in particular that hierarchy would derive from location rather than height above the ground. This can be seen in Oxford where Beaumont Street was intended for the genteel classes, St John s Street for the middle classes, Walton Street for superior artisans and Beaumont Buildings for servants and labourers. 500 new towns on this model were planned in Scotland, with 80 being built. Initially, shops were excluded, but Pombal s rebuilding of Lisbon after the 1755 earthquake was influential in introducing the ground floor shop with apartments above, examples of which can be seen in Edinburgh (South Bridge), Glasgow (Glassford Street) and Aberdeen (Castlegate). Figure 7 Pombal's Lisbon Figure 6 Henrietta St, Whitby (1760s). Each house is in fact two separate dwellings - the central doorway opens to a passage off which there are doors to either side. On Sunday morning we visited Scotland (metaphorically). Charles McKean (Dundee University) opened by discussing changing urban cultures in Enlightenment Scotland based on work being done under an AHRC project. The traditional Scottish town operated on the European model with tall houses ordered vertically by social status (lowest at the top), but Ian Gow took us inside the Edinburgh New Town house including the Georgian House belonging to the National Trust for Scotland, of which he is chief curator. Although the Adam brothers masterminded the exterior, the client and his builder, decorator and furniture supplier did the rest. Innovations were piloted double doors where one leaf is pushed and the other opens sympathetically and the decoration reflected Edinburgh s self-definition as the new Athens. Interestingly wedge-shaped houses (such as would be found on a crescent) were valued for their flexibility in allowing room interconnections to accommodate up to 200 guests at a time. 7 Oxfordshire Buildings Record 2011
Figure 8 First floor plan of 3 Moray Place, Edinburgh (RCAHMS) The final paper was another product of the AHRC project, given by its leader, Bob Harris (Worcester College, Oxford). This looked at the documentary evidence for houses and possessions, focussing on inventories for Dundee and Montrose. This showed a movement from multi-use rooms to specialist spaces, and a growth in the ownership of luxuries, including pianos. Records of auction sales and insurance policies had also proved valuable sources o information, painting a picture of a fluid market in material goods, and a transformation in the Scottish urban home over the century. David Clark, 26 September 2011 FORTHCOMING EVENTS OBR events [A planned OBR day of workshops on approaches to understanding early buildings has had to be postponed until we can coordinate places, people and dates.] Saturday 15 October 2011 Recording Day at Enstone Mill Training available, suit beginners Flyer with Issue 47 Saturday 27 November 2011 OBR Presentations Day. Steventon Village Hall. A village walk, lunch, and presentations on OBR members work over past year. Offers of presentations welcome, via Secretary (below) OAHS winter lecture dates 5.30pm Rewley House Lecture Theatre. Visitors welcome, no charge Tuesday 4 October Domestic Spaces; concept or practice. Tony Buxton, authority on furniture. This is the OBR lecture. Tuesday 18 October An accidental masterpiece : Building the New Building at Magdalen College. Dr. Christine Ferdinand Tuesday 1 November Chapel and Community: Methodism and Oxfordshire. Dr. Kate Tiller Monday 2l November Abingdon Abbey revisited - some recent recording work at the surviving buildings. David Clark Tuesday l3 December Gilbert Scott in Oxford. Dr. Geoffrey Tyack, followed at 7.00 pm by the Xmas Party OUDCE weekend and weekly courses. All open to the public. Oxford University Department of Continuing Education, Rewley House, Wellington Street, Oxford. Information and booking 01865 280892 or ppdayweek@conted.ox.ac.uk. Thursdays 7 9pm 10wks from 19 January 2012 The House Detective s Tool Kit. Tutor: David Clark, at Rewley House Mondays 7 9pm 10wks from 16 January 2012 The City of Oxford, 1850 1914 Tutor: Liz Woolley, at Rewley House, Thursday mornings 10wks from 19 April 2012 How Old is That House? An Introduction to Vernacular Architecture. Tutor: Paul Clark, at Ewart House. Other public events Saturday 29 October The Kitchen: the Heart of the Home. Medieval to Victorian - the development of kitchens and service rooms through the ages. Day School organised by Wiltshire Buildings Record. OBR members welcome. Distinguished speakers. Venue nr. Devizes. Contact 01249 705508 Dorothy Treasure for details. Copy date and contacts Copy date for Issue 49 is 1 December 2011. Please send articles, information, letters, reviews, etc. to the editor, Heather Horner, at Windrush Cottage, Station Road, South Leigh, Oxon. OX29 6XN, telephone 01993 773819, e-mail hahwindrush@aol.com The Secretary is David Clark, 21 Walton Street, Oxford OX1 2HQ, telephone 01865 516414, e-mail drc@davidrclark.plus.com or david.clark3@which.net Our website is at www.obr.org.uk, where all the illustrations are in full colour! The OBR are extremely grateful to The Oxford Preservation Trust for their generosity in supporting the production of The Oxon Recorder and to Awards for All in supporting our work to record the built heritage of Oxfordshire. 8 Oxfordshire Buildings Record 2011