National Treasure

Communications officer Felicity enjoys the illusions of a historically-informed 21st century theatre.

For Valentine’s Day we thought we’d explore buildings we love, or which inspire romance. SPAB development officer, Laura Calder, writes about the Thomas Morton Hall in Leith, where she got married.

SPAB Fenland & Wash regional group volunteer Clive Baker champions an imaginative example of re-use. Once a redundant Georgian church, St. Paul’s, Portland Square in Bristol is now a circus school.

SPAB member Janice Gooch is fascinated by a former hunting lodge, and makes a case for the identity of its unknown architect.

To the lovers of ancient buildings it is the ‘feel’ of a building that makes them ‘great’. For SPAB member Allan Ockenden nowhere fits this bill better than the tiny medieval chapel at Yatton, tucked away in a corner of the Herefordshire countryside.

Ken Hill, a retired journalist and King’s Lynn resident since 1975 writes about a ‘Lynn’ landmark. He was a South Gate volunteer for a many years.

The South Gate at Bishop’s Lynn, Norfolk, had been welcoming travellers into the town for many years before the Mayor and Burgesses decided it needing repairing yet again in 1437. In that year, the town was prosperous from its sea-borne trade around England and with Europe – particularly through the Hanseatic League.  So the Mayor had a mind to impress visitors arriving by road with a grand entrance gate.