C O N T E X T 1 0 9 : M A Y 2 0 0 9 1 Context Cover: Williamson’s Tunnels at Edge Hill, Liverpool (Photo: CA Iles, Trustee, Friends of Williamson’s Tunnels) see p25. If you seek their monuments, look down Editorial This issue of Context goes underground. Our authors focus on conservation challenges and monumental works ranging from the legacy of tin mining (p18), a power station hidden under a mountain (p23), the mysterious tunnels built by a retired tobacco merchant (p25) and, semi-underground, pillboxes of the second world war (p20). Most notable is the heritage of coal mining. As Miles Oglethorpe points out (p15), coal was once ‘responsible for providing almost all our energy, either directly through domestic fires in houses across the country, or indirectly via steam generated in coalfired boilers powering the machinery of industry, and the locomotives carrying goods and people within the densest railway network in the world.’ Oglethorpe reminds us: ‘Even town gas was generated from coal by gasworks situated in big cities and small towns, and the bricks from which a significant proportion of buildings were constructed also emanated from the coal industry.’ JohnYates (p31) points to some of the most important issues relating to the heritage of coal mining in his account of ChatterleyWhitfield Colliery – ‘still a dauntingly powerful and evocative place, carrying the imprint of all that human energy, of lives and deaths’. Should we conserve big industrial sites of outstanding national significance, bearing in mind that large-scale industry is this island’s most influential contribution so far to human history,Yates wonders? How does one approach the repair philosophy of buildings intended for short lives, such as workshops with half-brick wall panels in steel frames? Is the design and specification more important than the actual fabric? Should at least part of a site such as ChatterleyWhitfield be conserved in its present decayed and partially overgrown state? Should the landscape conserve the scars of industry? ‘Industrial heritage produces special challenges,’ John Rodger writes in his article on the task of managing the 33,000 hectares of dramatic mountain-top landscape that is the Blaenavon world heritage site (p29). ‘Unlike castles or cathedrals, industrial structures were utilitarian, and liable to change or demolition to accommodate industrial processes.’ Perhaps part of the fascination is that the distinction is not as clear as that. Defensive castles were utilitarian and liable to change with each advance in defensive technology; cathedrals were liable to change in response to liturgy or architectural fashion. Industrial heritage is sometimes utilitarian, sometimes splendidly architectural; sometimes flimsy and in other cases monumentally permanent. Just look around – and down. The Institute of historic building conservation www.ihbc.org.uk Registered as a Charity Number 1061593. Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in England Number 3333780. Registered Office: 3 Stafford Road,TunbridgeWells, Kent TN2 4QZ. IHBC Officers President Eddie Booth email [email protected] Chairman Dave Chetwyn email [email protected] Vice Chair Sheila Stones email [email protected] Secretary Richard Morrice email [email protected] Treasurer Michael Knights email [email protected] Membership Secretary Jo Evans email [email protected] Education Secretary John Preston email [email protected] Publicity Secretary Doug Black email [email protected] Law & Practice Coordinator vacant email [email protected] Director Seán O’Reilly email [email protected] Projects Officer Fiona Newton email [email protected] Consultant Consultations Coordinator James Caird email [email protected] Membership Services Officer Devon DeCelles email [email protected] Administration Officer Lydia Porter email [email protected] IHBC Committee Chairs Policy Mike Brown email [email protected] Membership & Ethics Jo Evans email [email protected] Finance & Resources Richard Morrice email [email protected] Education John Preston email [email protected] Communications & Outreach vacant email [email protected] Branch Officers North Geoff Underwood Tel 0191 433 3435 NorthWest Kate Borland Tel 0161 2344556 Yorkshire Keith Knight Tel 01904 658482 West Midlands Charles Shapcott Tel 0121 7044312 East Midlands Roy Lewis Tel 01636 653060 South Julia Foster Tel 01296 585888 SouthWest Ian Lund Tel 01225 477687 East Anglia StaceyWeiser-Jones Tel 01954 713178 South East David Kincaid Tel 01227 862185 London David McDonald Tel 020 8881 6724 Scotland Charles Strang Tel 01835 822560 Wales Nathan Blanchard Tel 01492 583443 Northern Ireland Sharon BrownTel 028 9754 3087 Republic of Ireland Cormac O’Sullivan Tel 00353 5677 62907 Business Office Jubilee House, High Street, Tisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6HA England Tel 01747 873133 Fax 01747 871718 email [email protected] Briefing 2 Remembering Anthony Blacklay 4 Periodically 5 Conference report: Victorian Studies Group Graham Tite 7 The writer’s voice 7 Conference report: ANABF, Bordeaux Dennis Rodwell 8 Changes to building regulations ChrisWood 10 Rediscovering Pont Ceunant generating station Graham Levins 13 Losing our mines Miles Oglethorpe 15 Geevor Tin Mine Ainsley Cocks 18 An island in the vale Simon Loaring with David Hunt 20 Ben Cruachan’s hidden giant David Fleetwood 23 The labyrinth of Edge Hill Claire Moorhead 25 Managing Blaenavon’s industrial landscape John Rodger 29 The imprint of human energy JohnYates 31 Heritage values in a conservation area Crispin Edwards 35 The doocot capital of Scotland Matthew Price 39 Notes from the chair 42 Director’s cut 43 Membership notes 44 Vox pop 45 Book reviews 46 Products and services 49 Advertisers index 52 Institute ofHistoricBuildingConservation No 109 May2009 Conservation goes underground
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