Landmark News

The latest Landmark - page 8

The Landmark Trust newsletter Issued twice yearly Autumn 2008

New Handbook published - page 8 Heritage Lottery Fund pledges £1.467m towards Astley Castle - page 6

Appeal launched to save Warder’s Tower - page 7 Starting on site - page 6Landmark’s next Scottish project - page 8

Silverton Park Stables opens after a four year restoration - page 2

Staying in Landmarks

Booking Office 01628 825925 Monday to Friday 9am - 6pm and Saturday 10am - 4pm

Silverton Park Stablesthrows open its doors

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For his stables at Silverton Park, the Earl of Egremont chose to group coach house, stablesand staff accommodation around a cobbled quadrangle. Our scheme for the newly completedSilverton Park Stables was carefully designed to alter this layout as little as possible. Today’sLandmark, for parties of up to fourteen, is a place that is almost collegiate in feel. The coachhouses have become a light and spacioussouth-facing common room in which thewhole party can cook, eat, read, and relaxtogether around a large woodstove. Thebedrooms, most with their own bathroomsand on both ground and first floors, leadoff staircases around the quadrangle. Ona sunny day, this courtyard, also withbenches and a table, becomes a friendlyoutside living space in its own right, stillredolent of past equestrian endeavour.

Knowing that large groups usually plan their stays some way ahead, for the next few monthsSilverton Park Stables can be booked for parties of five or more at a reduced rate. For details,visit www.landmarktrust.org.uk/news/SilvertonParkStables.htm.

Larger Landmarks are popular for family celebrations and gatherings at any time of year.Other suggestions are Auchinleck House (for 13), Elton House (for 10), GargunnockHouse (for 16), Goddards (for 12) and Gurney Manor (for 9).

Double bedroom off the north-west staircase

Peter Pearce, Director

Letter fromthe DirectorLandmark’s Villa Saraceno is theonly villa by Andrea Palladio ofthe Italian Renaissance in whichyou can stay with friends andfamily as if it were your own.Of perfect proportions yet builtof simple materials, this is afarmstead on the scale of atemple. The influence of itsarchitect on the classical buildingsof Britain remains unsurpassed.

In their different ways each of ourfour buildings in Italy demonstratethat the distinctive experiencesLandmarks offer, and our meansof saving buildings, need not beconfined to these shores. Now weare forming a partnership whichwill take us to the coast of France.The Conservatoire du littoral,the excellent French organisationestablished to acquire and preservethe best of the French coastline,has invited us to restore (withfunds raised in France) some oftheir many fine coastal historicbuildings deteriorating throughlack of a viable future.

It is early days, but in time wehope to offer Landmarkers asimilarly distinctive view of thehistory of France, that is sointerwoven with our own.

The view along the old carriage drive towards Silverton Park Stables, Devon

3Availability List is updated daily at www.landmarktrust.org.uk Email bookings@landmarktrust.org.uk

Horses are not the only animals to haveinspired buildings that are among our mostdelightful and eccentric. Squire Barry ofFyling Hall at Robin Hood’s Bay chose tohouse his pigs in a miniature Doric Temple(The Pigsty). At Poultry Cottage, the modelaccommodation for the poultry in the FowlHouse next door is also considerably granderthan that for their keepers, while Fox Hall wasbuilt not for foxes but to put up, in some style,the aristocrats who found sport hunting them.Not to be outdone, we continue to welcomedogs in Landmarks wherever feasible. The Pigsty, North Yorkshire

AnimalLandmarks

With Christmas just over the horizon,Landmark gift vouchers make a creativegift to introduce your friends to stayingin Landmarks or to give a special treatto someone who otherwise seems toneed for nothing. We often find familymembers clubbing together to treatparents or grandparents to a break ina Landmark, while others choose toarrange a romantic weekend or asurprise visit to pursue a particularlocal interest. To order gift vouchers,contact the Booking Office. Danescombe Mine, Cornwall

Short noticebooking

South Street, Devon

Dinner is servedThe need for sustenance isof course something we sharewith our ancestors, althoughwhat we eat and how weconsume it has changed muchover the centuries. Landmark’sbuildings reflect thosechanges. In our medievalgreat halls, everyone in thehousehold, whatever theirstatus, sat down together toeat roast meats on trenchersof bread. In a humble factorycottage like North Street,Cromford, seated at thewindow, with a glimpse ofArkwright’s mill, our forebearsperhaps ate bacon from thepig they had reared in theirown back garden.

The Banqueting Houses atOld Campden Houserepresent a Jacobean fashionfor a course now entirely lost– not a banquet in today’ssense but more a varieddessert course of sweetmeatsand fine wines, away fromthe main table. You will finda seventeenth-century recipebook on the bookshelvesthere to try such thingsyourselves.

West Banqueting House, GloucestershireSolving your present list

If you book within one week of startingyour break (or two weeks on Lundy), itis worth remembering that it may bepossible to vary your start date and thelength of your stay, providing your stayis for a minimum of three nights. Seepage 3 of the Landmark Price List fordetails. You can check which buildingsare available on the website or bycontacting the Booking Office.

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In the Middle Ages the repairand maintenance of the nave ofthe parish church was theresponsibility of the parish. Themoney to pay for this was raisedthrough ‘church ales’, villagefundraising feasts where thebread was baked and ale wasbrewed communally, andeveryone paid a penny or broughta contribution.

Originally these ales were heldin the church itself but by themid-fifteenth century, thechurch authorities began todisapprove of such riotousbehaviour in church. The parishwas encouraged instead to build

Church Houses,It can be unnerving to realise how a once very familiar part of daily life can

vanish almost completely. There is a late-medieval building type hardly

heard of today that was once found in almost every parish and lies at the

heart of our collective folk memory of ‘merrie England’ – the church

house. Landmark has two, perhaps three, church houses in its care,

apparently unremarkable buildings providing a direct link with the

communal lives of our ancestors.

Landmark’slibrariesSince Landmark’s beginningin 1965, our libraries havebeen selected and overseenby Clayre Percy, helped soonafter by Sonia Rolt. Afteryears of inspiring service,Clayre and Sonia decidedto stand down in June.We and tens of thousands ofLandmarkers are enormouslygrateful for their years ofhard work and erudition.

Thanks to Clayre and Sonia,books have always been animportant part of staying in aLandmark. They are carefullychosen to illuminate thebuilding’s history andgeography in an imaginative,entertaining and often quirkyway, and joined by the sortof reference books yousometimes need to get themost out of a wide-rangingconversation or good walk.

Landmark’s Historian,Caroline Stanford, is guidingour new Regional Librariansto ensure that these highstandards are maintainedin the future.

Clayre Percy and Sonia Rolt at EastBanqueting House

Above: Methwold Old Vicarage, NorfolkBelow: The Priest’s House, Devon

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dedicated buildings for suchpurposes, and this led to a verydistinctive building type. By1500, church houses were foundin most parishes. Typicallylocated on the edge of thechurchyard, they were builtaccording to local traditions butto a high standard, a source ofpride to the parish. Churchhouses had unusually largerooms and often had twostoreys, with an externalstaircase. They also had largechimneystacks at a periodwhen these were by no meanscommon, to help with thebrewing and baking.

Church ales were officially heldat Whitsun or on saints’ days butour ancestors, like us, loved agood gathering and held ales formany other charitable purposestoo. The churchwardens mighthire out the church houseequipment – trestles, cauldrons,trenchers and spits – or let thepremises for guestaccommodation or to hosttravelling players.

Cakes and Ale MS Oldenburgcelebrations6 August 2008 marked the50th anniversary of thelaunch of MS Oldenburg,our doughty passenger shipand supply vessel forLundy. MS Oldenburgwas built by shipbuildersRolandwerft GmbH ofBremen in Germany. Afterher launch in 1958, she hadearlier careers as a ferry andthen a butter cruiser, beforebeing bought by Landmarkin 1985. MS Oldenburg hasplayed an essential role insecuring Lundy’s futureever since, even if ahelicopter now assumesher duties during stormierwinter weather.

To celebrate the birthday,the ship set forth on ablack-tie cruise up the RiverTorridge. Guests includedReinhardt Hempen, son ofMS Oldenburg’s very firstcaptain, and Gert Huber,a former engineer.

MS Oldenburg has becomean essential and much-lovedpart of life on Lundy and welook forward to many moreyears of faithful service.

Then came the Reformation andin the 1530s England becameProtestant. ‘Dost thou thinkbecause thou art virtuous thereshall be no more cakes and ale?’,Sir Toby Belch taunts thepuritanical Malvolio inShakespeare’s Twelfth Night, ina direct reference to church ales.The church authorities nowdisapproved of such frivolity evenin a good cause. By 1600, churchales were outlawed, leavingchurch houses to find other usesas poorhouses, inns, schools ortenements. By our own time, theyhad largely passed from view.

That Landmark has two churchhouses in its care, aptly namedthe Parish House and The

MS Oldenburg

Parish House, Somerset

Priest’s House, gives a chance tostudy these fascinating buildingswhile living in them. Fivecenturies on, the ground floor ofthe Parish House still fulfils partof its original purpose as a parishmeeting room. The thirdLandmark that might have beena church house (documentaryevidence has yet to surface) isMethwold Old Vicarage, whichdates from 1500 and has manyof the same characteristics.

In any of these buildings, withtheir fine churchyard settings,it takes little imagination toconnect with the bustling villagelife of the past. So much haschanged, and yet in how muchwe remain the same.

The Priest’s House, Devon

Projects & Restoration

Astley Castle is a ruinous moated site in North Warwickshire, fortified in 1266 butoccupied for far longer. Owned by three queens of England and added to in mostcenturies since, it had become a hotel when devastated by a fire in 1978, leaving it aderelict and crumbling pile, all internal features gone. In 2005, we sought a projectto celebrate our fortieth anniversary. We resolved to find a solution for Astley Castle,cited as one of English Heritage’s most at risk sites but still an immensely importantand resonant one, set in an ancient and picturesque landscape.

The winners of our consequent architectural competition, Witherford Watson &Mann, have created an imaginative scheme for a two-storey Landmark for eightpeople in the oldest part of the castle, using modern materials in well-designed spaces.It will stitch together and protect the wallheads of the surviving main walls of thecastle, leaving the castle’s external profile largely unchanged. The result will be oneof our most innovative solutions to date and a remarkable place to stay.

Detailed local consultation has been carried out and all necessary planning permissionshave been granted. We are delighted to announce that English Heritage has awarded£300,000 towards emergency repairs, to start this autumn, and that the HeritageLottery Fund has pledged £1.467 million. We hope to convert that pledge to a grant,and with other funding already secured we have £236,585 to raise to meet the totalproject cost of £2.175 million. Until these funds are raised, Astley Castle’s survival hangsin the balance. We launched an emergency appeal in September and every donationcounts. After 30 years, a solution is finally within reach. Please help us make it a reality.

To find out more and make a donation to Astley Castle, visit www.landmarktrust.org.uk.

6 To make a donation to support our work and ensure historic buildings have a secure future call 01628 825920

Astley Castle, Warwickshire

Astley Castle:A Landmark for the future

Queen Anne’sSummerhousefunding boost

Queen Anne’s Summerhouse,Bedfordshire

Our Guardians of Cowsidescheme has proved very successfuland has already raised £83,000.We are now extending theGuardians’ concept to otherfundraising projects. Becoming aGuardian enables donors to beclosely involved with the buildingin return for a gift of £6,000.Guardians will enjoy a number ofbenefits including exclusive visitswith members of the Landmarkteam and regular updatesthroughout the life of the project.To find out more please contactthe Development Office or visitour website.

Project Guardians

We were delighted to learn in Junethat we had been awarded£350,000 by the Heritage LotteryFund towards restoring QueenAnne’s Summerhouse, aneighteenth-century folly on theShuttleworth Estate at OldWarden in Bedfordshire. Havingnow raised all the funds needed weare preparing to start restorationwork. We are enormously gratefulto everyone who has contributedto our appeal.

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Woodsford Castle, which datesfrom the 14th century, has thelargest thatched roof in Dorset,more than 3,000 sq ft. We havea rolling repair programme andDave Symonds from Chideock,a thatcher of 42 years’ experience,has just re-thatched both mainroof slopes with his team. Theyused water reed, the traditionalthatching material for Dorset,laid to a depth of 350mm. Inearlier times the Woodsfordthatchers probably harvestedtheir material from the banks ofthe River Frome nearby, but such

supplies are no longer available in any quantity. Supplies of Norfolk waterreed, our biggest homegrown source, tend to be snapped up locally, so wehave used Austrian water reed, 2,400 bundles of it, fixed with hazel sparswhich Dave harvests from the nearby Kingston Lacy estate and splitsduring the winter. The castle, which inspired Thomas Hardy, has alsobeen redecorated.

You can now make donations online securely and quickly at www.landmarktrust.org.uk

‘A capital retreat’ (1871 Sales Particulars)In June we launched an appeal for the restoration of Warder’s Tower in Staffordshire.This rugged yet romantic tower stands in a picturesque landscape, now the GreenwayBank Country Park near Biddulph. In earlier times, this was the Knypersley Estate,owned by the Bateman family. James Bateman, who grew up here, created the famousgardens at nearby Biddulph Grange, today restored by the National Trust.

James’s father John had moulded a different kind of landscape at Knypersley,benefiting from the natural contours of the North Staffordshire moorland. In the1820s John Bateman extended existing pools to feed the canal network, creating theextensive lakes that remain today. On a promontory, he built this tower in 1828 as ahome for his gamekeeper (or warder). It was in the best Picturesque tradition, aminiature bastion that pleased the eye from wherever it was glimpsed.

As so often with such isolated buildings, by the 1950s Warder’s Tower was leftderelict, without water or electricity. We have taken a long lease and Warder’s Towerwill now make a capital Landmark, its roof terrace placing you at treetop level amongthe many birds that thrive in the heavily wooded park, with fine views across the lakes.Our thanks to all those who have helped us so far to raise £213,000 which includes avery generous donation of £75,000 from the Country Houses Foundation. We stillhave a long way to go to meet overall restoration costs of £700,000. To make adonation, please contact the Development Office or visit our website. Warder’s Tower, Staffordshire

Woodsford Castle, Dorset

Tall buildings need protection from lightningbut scaffolding the whole can be expensive.When Laughton Place needed a lightningconductor, it was fitted by abseilers workingtheir way down the Tudor brickwork on ropesand carefully concealing the conductor behindthe drainpipes. Care is also taken to merge inthe down-tape to the brickwork behind.

Abseilers working at Laughton Place, East Sussex

Safe from lightningRe-thatching Woodsford Castle

After two years of work, ClavellTower’s restoration is complete.This 1830 folly has been recorded,dismantled piece by piece andreassembled some twenty five metresback from the crumbling cliff ’s edge.As much of the original material wasincorporated in the rebuilt tower aspossible, but the interior finishes hadbeen entirely lost to weather anddecay. Before fitting out the interiorand armed with small fragments of

surviving joinery, we consulted Charles Brooking, curator of an exhaustive collectionof architectural details, for dated examples of windows, shutters, stair newels andbalusters, to be consistent with what Reverend Clavell would have used in 1830.

The successful rescue of this small building sums up Landmark’s dauntlessdetermination to save worthy historic survivals, however precarious their position.We could not have achieved this without the help of the Heritage Lottery Fund, theCountry Houses Foundation and our many other supporters. Thousands of walkersalong the South West Coast Path have watched our contractor, Carrek of Wells,progress through the months and many more will now be able to learn about thetower’s history as they pass. All craftsmen departed, the tower has quietly taken itsplace again on this dramatic stretch of Dorset coastline, a reassuring landmark formiles around and an incomparable place to stay.

The Landmark TrustShottesbrooke Maidenhead Berkshire SL6 3SWBookings 01628 825925 Office 01628 825920 Website www.landmarktrust.org.uk Charity registered in England & Wales 243312 and Scotland SC039205

The new edition of the Landmark Trust Handbookand the 2009 Price List are now available. In fullcolour, the Handbook includes entries for six newLandmarks and an expanded introductory section offeatures on Landmark’s work, restoration andarchitectural history. The 190 building entries makeabsorbing reading for everyone interested in history orarchitecture as well as providing up-to-date floor plansto help you plan your stay.

The Handbook can be bought by post, telephone orvia the website and costs £10 plus postage and packing;when you next book a Landmark, the Handbook costcan be refunded against it. The Handbook also makesan original and inspirational Christmas present.

Clavell Tower, Dorset

The ShoreCottages

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Theo Williams OBE

We heard with deep sadnessin March of the death ofTheo Williams OBE. Theofirst worked for Landmarkas a Chartered Surveyor onLundy in 1969 and thenserved with great dedicationand humour as Trustee from1989 until 2002. We aregrateful for all Theo didfor Landmark.

Printed on an FSC certified mixed sources paper containing50% recovered waste and 50% virgin fibre.

Clavell Tower – back from the edge

The Shore Cottages, Caithness (centre)

These nineteenth-centuryfishermen’s cottages atBerriedale will be Landmark’snext Scottish project and, oncefunded and restored, our mostnortherly buildings. Found inan idyllic cove on the Caithnesscoastline just south ofDunbeath, the cottages werebuilt when the fishing industryprovided an alternativelivelihood for crofters forced offthe land during the Clearances.The cottages have been emptyand derelict for half a century,but retain much of theiroriginal joinery.

New Handbook

Order yourNew HandbookTo order a Handbook or make a donation to help usrescue buildings at risk, please complete the formbelow, telephone the Booking Office or go online.

The Handbook costs £10 plus postage and packing:• £3 UK second class post• £5 UK first class post• £10 to Europe and rest of the world

(USA and Canada see overleaf)

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New Handbook

The new Handbook, the 23rd edition, features190 historic buildings available to stay in –follies, castles, towers, banqueting houses,cottages and other unusual buildings. Throughthe building entries and a collection of articles,the Handbook traces our architectural heritagefrom the 12th to the 20th century.

The 232-page Handbook costs just £10 pluspostage and packing. The Handbook cost isrefundable against your first booking or youmay wish to use the refund voucher to makea donation to support Landmark’s work inrescuing historic buildings.

Residents of USA and Canada can order a copyfor US $28 from Landmark USA, 707 KiplingRoad, Dummerston, Vermont 05301, USA.Tel: 802-254-6868.

Order your Handbook

• Online at www.landmarktrust.org.uk

• Booking Office on 01628 825925

• Or complete the form overleaf andreturn it to The Landmark Trust,Shottesbrooke, Maidenhead,Berkshire SL6 3SW