The new issue of IHBC’s members’ journal, Context is now out– No. 182 – with special features looking at heritage from the past and for the future, on Listing and following the inimitable Alec!
Robert Huxford writes from ‘the footsteps of Alec Clifton-Taylor’:
A project to visit the buildings featured in Alec Clifton-Taylor’s classic The Pattern of English Building leads to reflections on geology, building materials and photography. Not another perforated pair of trousers, I thought, as the sheep dog sank its teeth into my left leg. I was on a public footpath that ran across someone’s back garden, hoping to take a colour photograph of one of the houses featured in Alec Clifton-Taylor’s The Pattern of English Building. The dog owner fortunately appeared on the scene, apologised profusely, and introduced me to his neighbour, the owner of the house in question. In return for blood-sacrifice I got the photograph and was able to take it from the exact position used for Clifton-Taylor’s original. The Pattern of English Building was first pub- lished in 1962, with the fourth and definitive edition appearing in 1987, two years after Clifton-Taylor’s death. The book is a wonderful and thorough introduction to the materials that are the foundation of the character of English buildings and towns. The one thing the book lacks is colour. So for the past three years I have been travelling the land, trying to create a full set of the book’s 185 black-and-white photographs. During that time, I have gone from knowing nothing about geology and materials to knowing next to nothing – but keen to learn. The task has been a delight….
We need to test the received wisdom and use science to fill in the gaps. Some of our understanding relies on the work of antiquarians who did not have the benefit of the scientific instrumentation available in the 20th and 21st centuries. Their views may have escaped the rigours of scientific and historical research. There may even be an oral tradition of knowledge. We are told that some buildings are built of Dutch brick, but does this really mean that the bricks are always from Holland? Perhaps some are actually bricks made in England by Dutch brickmakers. We are told that Dutch bricks were brought in as ballast: but is it really true that such a valuable commodity would have been treated as mere ballast? It is the same as suggesting that the Dutch would consider the wool products imported on the return voyage from England as ballast.
And there are many more questions to answer. How were black glazes seen on mathematical tiles produced? What is the cause of the orange in orange bricks? How is red rock formed underwater? Scientific instruments such as scanning electron microscopes, laser spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction and so on can provide answers.
This is not an endless task. There will be definitive answers to these questions. I hope that in future years a new edition of The Pattern of English Building can be produced which unites all of the disciplines involved, and makes the knowledge and wisdom of scientists, conservation professionals and craftsfolk available to all. And in glorious colour that celebrates the stunning beauty of brick, stone and the buildings of England!
Special features in Issue 182 also include:
Catching up on listing, by Catherine Croft, who reminds us that ‘With so much interest in how to build much-needed new homes, there has never been a better moment to celebrate past achievements in the conservation of post-war housing.’
Access the online archive and see the issue online
Reading Context helps IHBC members develop their skills across all of the IHBC’s Areas of Competence, and so is a critical baseline in addressing priorities in Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
See more IHBC background and guidance on IHBC CPD and on how you might use past, current and future issues of Context
See the formal guidance paper on IHBC CPD (scheduled for update)
See more on the IHBC Competences and Areas of Competence
