The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings

In this edition of Cornerstone

Secretary’s Notes The Government has published its long-awaited plans
for aradical overhaul of the heritage protection system in England in the form of the Heritage Protection Bill. Should we rejoice? Well...

In and Around Matthew Slocombe appraises the Heritage Protection Bill, and what it means for the SPAB - but wonders how it can work without proper funding.

News Briefing Government is mulling over a plan to wave goodbye to a large slice of Norfolk, and its many historic buildings; act now against Stansted expansion, urges the SPAB; folk and pop stars embrace heritage conservation; Bill Bryson, AGM guest; latest from the battle to save Britain's earliest artist's studio; Dance Scholarship Trust's 20th Anniversary Appeal. Plus, p9, Letters - Szerelmey: astrange story, Conservation Officer crisis, Bristol's Blitz survival; and, p11, as the 60th anniversary of the film classic The Third Man nears, Cornerstone cartoonist James Innerdale introduces anew ally in the fight for traditional materials: Harry Lime.

 

Casework Barns abounding; to re-use, consolidate or leave well alone? - a Northumbrian
stronghold under philosophical siege; remodelling of space in front of York Minster; Berwick's Govemor's House faces development in the back yard; medieval wallpaintings uncovered in the Vale of Glamorgan. Including, on page 29, Back to the Battle - how old King's Lynn was very nearly lost.

 

COVER STORY Nature and old buildings For centuries, animals and plants have subtly shaped architecture and how we see it. Now, as pressure grows on the natural world, Robin Stummer and Lee Morgan offer an outline of historic buildings and their close, ancient relationship to the landscape and life of which they were, and remain, an essential part. And on p40, nature writer David Randall gives a personal view of what our ancestors built, and its closely entwined bonds with the living world.

 

Medieval iron artistry Every day, thousands of us walk right past some of the nation's finest
ancient artworks. Look again, says Jane Geddes. For many church doors boast much to marvel at - as Cornerstone photographers John Lawrence, Kippa Matthews and Laurence Weedy found out.

 

Site Seen Recent and ongoing work, including Clementine Cecil's close study of a centuries-old kitchen garden in Norfolk; Shawn Kholucy on an excellent, honest stained glass repair in Suffolk; the rebirth of Wren and Hooke's Monument to the Great Fire, by Judy Allen; SPAB Scholars help out at The Kennels, Somerset, and Vienna's "lost" palace poses problems.

 

War  Concluding our series on conflict and architecture, Frances Moreton explains the work
of the War Memorials Trust, while Patrick Sawer reports on the huge project to record them - all.

 

SPAB Members Emma Simpson, one of Britain's leading historic brick conservators, tells Kate Griffin how the Society helped her change course following a Cambridge degree.

 

Technical Q&A Old floorboads, as exposed by SPAB Technical Officer Douglas Kent.

 

New Books  Insightful studies by Ptolemy Dean; gauged brickwork; and awelcome
return for a 1970s book on the dreamscapes of earlier centuries. Plus, on p78, Key Reads Gillian Darley on the village behind The Natural History of Selborne.

 

Architecture in Art Orientalism and its buildings abounding at Tate Britain. 

 

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