CORNERSTONE MAGAZINE - VOLUME 32 NUMBER 3 2011

Cornerstone (formerly SPAB News) has been the Society's magazine since 1980. It is issued four times a year to the SPAB's 9000 plus members, journalists and others in the building conservation sector. The magazine, edited by experienced journalist Robin Stummer since 2000, is highly regarded within the field of building conservation. It is also a popular choice for the advertisement of conservation services and materials, publications, events and jobs.

The magazine regularly features news about old buildings, details of the Society's casework, technical questions and answers, book reviews and the opinions of well known figures on old building issues. Features range from domestic building repair projects undertaken by  homeowners, to international stories about conservation issues, and articles about techniques of conservative repair.

In this edition of Cornerstone

Merchants and pirates in Southampton, Site Seen section. Photograph LAURENCE WEEDY2 SECRETARY’S NOTES Green Deal? No deal. And SPAB was indeed Morris’s pride. 

3 IN AND AROUND 1 The Society is inviting applications for the new post of  Director; AGM at the Mansion House, with speaker Sir Donald Insall; riots, demolition  threats, theft – James Innerdale’s Conservation Rituals bids farewell to summer. 

6 NEWS 1 Death by insulation? – Green Deal’s potential heritage harm scrutinsed  by Philip Venning; Robin Stummer and John Lawrence pay a visit to yet more  historic buildings threatened by the Government’s High Speed Rail scheme. 

12 IN AND AROUND 2 This May, a team of volunteers rowed all 132 miles of the  Thames between William Morris’s homes in London and Oxfordshire to raise money  for the SPAB’s Scholarships. Hugh Conway Morris reports on seven days afloat. 

Cold case: what may be the oldest iron furnace in trouble, page 50. Photograph JOHN LAWRENCE 14 NEWS 2 Planning problems – Matthew Slocombe fears that heritage might  lose out in the Government’s radical policy shake-up to boost construction;  SPAB signs up to the Right Lines Charter Group to voice concern over HS2, says  Philip Venning; SPAB’s thermal research project shows that old buildings are not  necessarily cold buildings, write Dr Caroline Rye and Jonathan Garlick

18 CASEWORK Brentwood’s Old House isn’t getting any younger; there’s a temple  to Theseus in Hagley (yes, really); last battle for the Robin Hood hotel?; replace and  repair under discussion at York Minster; protecting the best of Middle Parc. 

32 BACK TO THE BATTLE Cherry Hinton’s ancient church, one of the earliest  SPAB cases, revisited by Philip Venning

36 SITE SEEN Recent repairs in the spotlight – a gem of a church in rural  Bedfordshire given new life for the Churches Conservation Trust by Ptolemy Dean;  a 17th-century Shropshire dovecote, by Sarah Butler; and Izaak Hudson and  Dr Andy Russel report on the final stages of work at Southampton’s Tudor House. 

More heat, less light? Eric de Maré’s Ferrybridge shot, page 108. Photograph RIBA COLLECTION 50 METALS FOCUS “Cornerstone” looks at three aspects of historic metal – the  grim state of what could be Britain’s oldest surviving iron furnace, 17th-century  Gunns Mill in the Forest of Dean, revealed by Robin Stummer; Sophie Goodchild  on the spate of thefts of architectural metalwork; and the part that investment in  copper mining played in the growth of theWilliam Morris family fortune. 

60 ABROAD Lifta is the last, intact historic village in Palestine. Now on the  outskirts of Jerusalem and empty since 1948, it is at the heart of a struggle over  luxury development plans; Kashgar, Silk Road treasure, is being systematically  bulldozed by the Chinese government; and Ayaka Takaki reports on how Japan has  been protecting its heritage in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami. 

68 BRISTOL FASHION The Priory Church of St James is one of  the city’s medieval glories. Newly conserved, it revealed much history that had  remained hidden for centuries. Andrew Ziminski tells the story of his work there. 

72 BEING THERE Mark Watson, a mason and now mature student of heritage  conservation management, spent his work placement with North Dorset District  Council, recording historic assets known and unknown. He sums up his experiences  and his concern over dwindling training and career opportunities for professionals. 

76 TECHNICAL Q&A The SPAB’s Technical Secretary, Douglas Kent, warms to  the subject of installing insulation at the rafter level of historic pitched roofs. 

82 NEW ARTISTS For the first in a series of interviews with fresh creative talents  whose work is inspired by historic buildings, artist, illustrator and designer Ed Kluz  tells Naomi Marks about his fascination with architecture and landscape. 

88 BURNE-JONES, ABSENT FRIEND The great Pre-Raphaelite painter was one  of Morris’s closest allies and a kindred spirit, so why didn’t he turn up at the SPAB’s  inauguralmeeting in 1877? Answering that question sheds light on the artist,  his outlook, attitude to old buildings and relationship with the Society’s founder.  Writer and biographer Fiona MacCarthy weighs up the evidence. 

97 KEY READ William Golding’s 1964 novel “The Spire” has always been  understood to be based on Salisbury Cathedral. David Heath admires this great  work of fact-based historico-architectural fiction – whatever its orgins. 

104 NEW BOOKS LucyWorsley’s inside stories, plus surveying and maintenance. 

108 ARCHITECTURE IN ART Eric de Maré’s 1960s photograph of a church  dwarfed by the vast cooling towers of the Ferrybridge power station has taken on  iconic status. But what’s the picture actually saying, wonders Robin Stummer

Cornerstone_cover_volume_32_number_3_Bounty_and_her_cornucopia_a_17th-century_statue_from_St_James's_Church_Bristolfollowing_conservation-See_page68_Photograph_JOHN_LAWRENCE
Burne-Jones and Morris, p88 Photograph BRIDGEMAN
New talents, old sites, p82 Photograph JOHN LAWRENCE
All in it together for SPAB, p12
HS2: new crop of concern, p8 Photograph JOHN LAWRENCE













 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

   
 
 

Members of the SPAB receive Cornerstone four times a year.
Editor, Robin Stummer: letters@spab.org.uk


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