52 C O N T E X T 1 0 5 : J U LY 2 0 0 8 absorbing. Beautifully filmed at the coal face on the top of scaffolding, the footage captures the essence of what it is to be a conservator.The discussion of the problems and consideration of options are translated into solutions requiring the exacting manual dexterity and the constant vigilance of a surgeon. The footage demonstrates that Fiona Allardyce and Ailsa Murray, the senior conservators, not only completed the project but successfully trained intern students, who confidently demonstrate their technical competency and a clear understanding of what they were doing, and why. The DVD provides stunning details of the paintings and evidence of Phoebe Anna Traquairs’ artistic skill, versatility and energy. She worked on the scheme for eight years.The conservators’ privileged access to her work and their understanding of the murals as threedimensional objects, rather than images viewed from the ground, provided valuable insights into Traquair’s working methods and thought process. She often re-worked areas, painting over already varnished parts.This knowledge enabled the conservators to make informed decisions when determining the degree of cleaning or in-painting required to recapture the artist’s original intentions. The book itself provides a useful reference source, with general information on the project and detailed images of the murals. It also outlines the meticulous documentation of the project. As a training aid and focus for seminar discussions, the publication and DVDs should be on the reading list of all building conservation courses. At a time when multi-disciplinary team collaboration is vaunted, this invaluable 1 Case Study Conservation ofPhoebeAnnaTraquairMurals at MansfieldTraquairCentre,Edinburgh 1 Case Study CONSERVATION OFPHOEBE ANNATRAQUAIR MURALSAT MANSFIELD TRAQUAIR CENTRE EDINBURGH Conservation ofPhoebeAnnaTraquairMurals at MansfieldTraquairCentre,Edinburgh BN: TECHNICAL CONSERVATION, RESEARCHAND EDUCATION GROUP Case Study 1 package provides easy access for the non-conservator to gain insights into fine art conservation methodology and practice, and to be thoroughly entertained and entranced. Helen Hughes, an accredited conservator (Icon) at Historic Interiors Research and Conservation, English Heritage, is editor of Layers of Understanding. Workaday charm Stourport-on-Severn: pioneer town of the canal age Colum Giles with contributions by Keith Falconer, Barry Jones and Michael Taylor, English Heritage, 2007, 80 pp, 21 maps, drawings and engravings, 71 colour and six b&w photographs, ISBN 978 1 905624 36 2, £7.99 Few places have as distinctive a history as Stourport.This admirable book traces the development, decline and regeneration of the town, which owes its existence to the inland waterways of England. Stourport began as a sprinkling of buildings at ‘a little ale-house called Stourmouth’ at the confluence of the Stour and the Severn. Here the pioneering Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Company bought land in the late 1760s and ‘made a port and dock yards,… established markets, and made it the wonder… of the nation at large’ according to a contemporary historian. Stourport’s most outstanding early building was the Tontine, probably England’s first purpose-built canal company hotel. Contemporary illustrations, which this book has in plenty, depict the Tontine amid a typically Georgian juxtaposition of industry and domesticity. Its gardens, which appear in several prints in the book, are being restored as part of recent regeneration work. The heyday of the canals did not last: the challenge of the railways was too great. New industries came to Stourport in the 20th century and for a time it became a riverside resort with a quasiseaside atmosphere. By then its canal basins were increasingly underused. By the late 20th century a more general decline had set in and Stourport slumbered. This small book, which is nicely bound in signatures, reflects the efforts of a partnership of national and local agencies (including BritishWaterways, English Heritage, AdvantageWest Midlands, the local councils and a civic society) to regenerate the historic environment of Stourport for the benefit of the wider community.The book is lavishly illustrated with good quality photographs, plans, prints and engravings, and includes a useful map of the central part of Stourport with important historic buildings highlighted for visitors. The book gives equal weight to the history of the canal basins and the town in their hinterland, and excellent colour photographs detail the architectural features of both. These include brick details, windows, and pattern-bookderived doorcases, features that are common to many Georgian towns. Where Stourport differs is that on closer inspection it becomes apparent from the straight and ragged joint details of various buildings that the town evolved from the 1770s onwards in a piecemeal fashion, rather than being built in a series of neat single phases. This gives the place a vigorous workaday character that is part of its undoubted charm. Stourport’s charm survived its period of decline. The rediscovery of canals around the turn of the millennium, allied to the attractions of waterside development, has seen a revival of interest in the town’s historic identity. In the 21st century, Stourport’s heritage is a catalyst for regeneration and leisure activity. Much of this development is centred on Stourport’s canal zone. It includes the clearing and reopening of the former Lichfield Basin area, which will allow new housing as well as waterfilled spaces and additional moorings for boats. This enjoyable book is a celebration of both what Stourport has been and what it may yet become as, with heritage lottery and market towns programme funding, it regenerates its unique historic environment. Nigel Crowe is head of heritage for British Waterways and author of The English Heritage Book of Canals.
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