C O N T E X T 1 0 5 : J U LY 2 0 0 8 7 produce a local IRMP, setting out the authority’s strategy for, among other things, reducing the number and severity of fires for which it has responsibility. Other initiatives include three-dimensional risk plans for historic buildings with complex layouts where the lack of familiarity with the layout might confuse the emergency services; and password-protected emergency plans on the internet which the fire and rescue services could access immediately. Elsewhere Peter Napier considers the factors which make historic buildings particularly vulnerable to fire. With the widely recognised concern at the shortage of heritage craft skills coming more to the fore, there are interviews with two of the sector’s most distinguished practitioners: master plasterer Jeff Orton – ‘plasterers never retire’ – whose apprenticeship lasted from 1963 to 1968; and Dick Reid, master mason and former president of the Master Carvers Association, who is about to retire after 50 years in the business. He became an apprentice in the 1950s, and from the ages of 15 to 18 ‘just carved’. Both remain strong advocates of the traditional apprenticeship system. As past readers of this column will know, the annual Transactions of the Association for Studies in the Conservation of Historic Buildings (ASCHB) tend to appear a year behind all the others. Those for 2007 (Volume 30) have just appeared but they have been well worth waiting for because of the breadth of the subject matter. There are seven excellent articles, all fully illustrated in colour. Sam Price explains the work to arrest movement in the walls of Beverley Minster. Hawksmoor and George Gilbert Scott both attempted to stop movement in the nave but monitoring in the 1990s showed this was continuing. The article explains the construction and history of the movement, and the recent works to remedy it. Nick Hill very thoroughly describes and illustrates the comprehensive repair of the circa 1620 Jacobean panelling to the Long Gallery at Apethorpe Hall, Northamptonshire. One of the largest joinery conservation projects of recent years, this presented an unusual opportunity to investigate and analyse the detail. A highly unusual full-size design for the panelling was revealed on the wall behind it. Jeremy Musson, former architectural editor of Country Life, in a piece entitled ‘Learning to Love Again: the power of affection’ provides meditation on the need for the emotional and subjective responses to historic buildings to be championed. However good the statutory system, this could lead to an over-reliance on objective assessment, denying the force of emotional value that had shaped the conservation movement from its inception. The splendid four pages are well worth reading, not least by the politicians driving the current reforms. Context has for some years published reports by Stuart Page about the continuing repairs by the National Trust at Ightham Mote in Kent. The current ASCHB article draws together many of the threads about the conservation of the building, which was bequeathed to the trust in 1985 and has been under repair since 1991. Another long-running project has been Kew Palace. Unlike Ightham Mote, where the repair in progress could be seen, this building was off-limits to visitors for a decade from 1996. The external repairs were explained in Volume 27 of Transactions. This article deals with the interior, including the approach to the work and procurement. One fascinating aspect was ‘thinking day’, called when the tenders for the interpretation design failed to deliver what the Historic Royal Palaces were looking for in terms of a sensory and stimulating, yet subtle and immediate effect. This was particularly important on the second floor, where there were princesses’ bedrooms abandoned 200 years ago and never before open to visitors. A collection of television and theatre producers, writers and installation artists were invited to spend a morning wandering around the palace with a commentary of what had happened there. They discussed their impressions and possible presentations in the afternoon. ‘Unusually free thoughts emerged’ to develop ways of interpreting without being ‘didactic, boring or damaging the thing that everyone loves best – the untouched atmosphere’.We should all consider such thinking–outside-the-box more often. The other two articles both deal with churches. The conservation of a rediscovered mid-19th century decorative scheme by Burliston and Grylls in the remarkable Norman church of St Peter, Northampton, followed initial investigations into mould growth on the unheated interior walls. The analysis, removal of the mould, stripping of the walls and redecoration and conservation are explained in detail. St Mary de Haura, New Shoreham, is argued to be Sussex’s finest church, with the rarity of being stone-vaulted. Failure of the chalk webs to the choir vault had been observed in 1991. In the late 1990s analysis was undertaken which led to the vault webs being renewed between 2003 and 2005, assisted by the English Heritage and Heritage Lottery Fund joint grant scheme for churches in worship. The work described and illustrated in the article earned the architect Richard Andres of Carden and Godfrey the Ecclesiastical Architects and Surveyors Association King of Prussia’s Gold Medal in 2006. Your reviewer had occasion to remark recently about the quality of C20, the magazine of the Twentieth Century Society. In the latest issue (Spring 2008) the director’s editorial refers to a new venture for the society: study days looking at 20th century architecture. She speculates that heritage minister Margaret Hodge would be one beneficiary in the light of her antipathy to the current listing criteria for the buildings of this era. The society also noted that ‘we must make quite sure that Margaret Hodge’s personal views are not allowed to sabotage all the good work [on heritage reform].’ The magazine highlights the importance of campaigning for unprotected historic buildings when this crosses over from the specialist architectural press to the mainstream media, including the Daily Mail and the BBC. The case in question is Robin Hood Gardens, Poplar, East London by Alison and Peter Smithson,
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