Took it slightly easy today. Instead of walking, we drove over to Whitchurch Canonicorum to see the church of St Candida and Holy Cross and her shrine.
The shrine is noteworthy as the only one to have survived the desecration of the Reformation with its relics intact. The Saint in question is the somewhat obscure Saint Wite (Latinised as Saint Candida). Very little is known of her, but she is the Patron Saint of Dorset.
The churchyard is the burial place of Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov and Sir Robin Day, amongst many others.
Although there is a lot of new-build, the village has great charm and must be the greenest place I've ever seen.
On the recommendation of @clare_villeneuveharrisceramics we watched The Baker the other evening. I really cannot remembering laughing so much in recent years. A wonderful film with great casting, locations and a superb soundtrack.
A few more of the many projects that I have done over the last 40 years. Here is another beginning with ‘W’.
My projects vary widely. I have worked across much of the United Kingdom and also in Ireland and North America. There are a number that I am unable to mention in any detail.
Wilbury House was begun in 1710 by William Benson. The name appears to have been composed of the Wil of Wilton and the bury of Amesbury, both being neighbouring houses, and both then believed to have been works by Inigo Jones.
Benson had been the tenant at Amesbury, and he seems to have used this as his model for the new house. Not only did it cover the same ground area as Amesbury, but he copied the first floor of the south elevation and placed it on a low rusticated basement. This can be seen in the first volume of Vitruvius Britannicus, published by Colen Campbell of 1715, as can a plan of the ground floor.
I was asked to examine various areas of the house and was able to confirm that it underwent several phases of work during the 18th century. The South Hall and East Lobby retain a certain amount of the original fabric, although greatly altered. The South and North Halls, and East Lobby, as they are now, are believed to be largely creations of the mid-18th century. The Library, it appears, was built in the 1780s/1790s.
The work generally ranges from a technical analysis of existing paint in order to see how surfaces had been painted in the past - usually with the aim of reinstating a particular scheme. Other times I am asked to suggest appropriate colours for rooms, or for the exterior. I have also pioneered the measurement of decorative colour in historic buildings - using a spectrophotometer to record existing (or exposed) colour and then reproducing it in a paint.
#patrickbaty #papersandpaints
A favourite Devon walk, but one that needs working up to. About 13km, but quite demanding terrain with several steep climbs and streams to cross. Always something new around the corner. A friendly British Blue, progress on the restoration of a most desirable house and fields of buttercups. The promise of fish and chips at the half-way point kept morale up - much needed before the beast of a climb up to Woodhead.
We had parked beside Blackbury Camp, the (somewhat mysterious) Iron Age hillfort.
Sadly, our last walk with @clare_villeneuveharrisceramics
A few more of the many projects that I have done over the last 40 years. Here is another beginning with ‘W’.
My projects vary widely. I have worked across much of the United Kingdom and also in Ireland and North America. There are a number that I am unable to mention in any detail.
White Lodge was built as a hunting lodge for George II, by the architect Roger Morris. Completed in 1730 and originally called Stone Lodge, the house was renamed New Lodge shortly afterwards to distinguish itself from nearby Old Lodge, which was demolished in 1841.
Queen Caroline, consort of George II, stayed at New Lodge frequently and, on her death in 1737, it passed to her friend Sir Robert Walpole, the Prime Minister. After his death, it passed to Queen Caroline's daughter, Princess Amelia, in 1751. Princess Amelia is remembered for adding the two pavilions - the Windsor and Queen’s Pavilions - to the main lodge in 1761-64. They were designed by Stephen Wright. It was during the 1760s that the name White Lodge first appeared.
The house was largely occupied by members of the Royal Family throughout the 19th century. In 1955, the Sadler's Wells Ballet School was granted the use of White Lodge on a permanent basis. The school was later granted a Royal Charter and became the Royal Ballet School in 1956. It is now recognised as one of the leading ballet schools in the world.
I was asked to carry out an investigation of the paint on the external elevations. As well as technical issues to address, I was asked to ascertain if they had always been painted.
The work generally ranges from a technical analysis of existing paint in order to see how surfaces had been painted in the past - usually with the aim of reinstating a particular scheme. Other times I am asked to suggest appropriate colours for rooms, or for the exterior. I have also pioneered the measurement of decorative colour in historic buildings - using a spectrophotometer to record existing (or exposed) colour and then reproducing it in a paint.
#patrickbaty #papersandpaints
Some photos from yesterday's walk. Over to Upottery for a cracking lunch at The Sidmouth Arms. Highly recommended.
Very changeable weather - waterproofs on / waterproofs off - glorious sun in between.
Upottery is very attractive - winner of Best Kept Village on several occasions (I believe). Renowned for its 12th century church of St Mary.
Back over Hartridge (in drizzle) past the Buddhist Monastery and through the nature reserve.
A few more of the many projects that I have done over the last 40 years. Here is a favourite - I took the opportunity of taking my granddaughter along to show her this famous landmark.
My projects vary widely. I have worked across much of the United Kingdom and also in Ireland and North America. There are a number that I am unable to mention in any detail.
The Wellington Arch was designed by Decimus Burton in 1825-26 together with the Hyde Park Screen. They were envisaged as a pair of formal entrances into Hyde and Green parks, facing each other over Piccadilly. Burton was asked to redesign the Green Park arch to make it larger and grander, as it was also seen as an entrance to Buckingham Palace. It was constructed in 1826-28 but never received all of the ornament that Burton envisaged. Instead, in 1846 a huge equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington was erected on top of it, as a national tribute. This followed vehement debate, the proposal being opposed by Burton, amongst many others.
In 1882, the arch was dismantled and re-erected on its present site, in order to facilitate a widening of Piccadilly. This sundered its original relationship to the Screen but placed it in a new axial relationship to Constitution Hill. The opportunity was taken to remove the statue of the Duke, though it has continued to be known as the Wellington Arch ever since. To replace the equestrian statue, the then Prince of Wales suggested that a Quadriga sculpture might be erected on the Arch as Burton had originally envisaged, proposing the artist Adrian Jones. Eventually, a donor was found to pay for the work, and Jones created the giant bronze group, ‘Peace descending into the Quadriga of War’ in 1907-10, which was erected on the arch in 1912.
I was asked to examine the gates and discovered that they had been stripped – probably in ca.1900 and then again in the ca.1930s. Bronze green was the earliest surviving colour.
#patrickbaty #papersandpaints
The parish church of St Mary's has been referred to as ‘a miniature Exeter Cathedral’. Like the cathedral, it is cruciform in plan, with transepts formed by towers.
Nikolaus Pevsner describes the building as ‘lying large and low like a tired beast’. It is 50m long, and the towers are 22m high. It was consecrated in 1260, at which time the manor and patronage of the church belonged to Rouen Cathedral, as it had from before the Norman invasion. Pevsner assumes that the tower-transepts and the outer walls of the chancel date back to 1260, and that the towers were built in imitation of those at Exeter.
Alterations were carried out by Bishop Grandisson ca 1330. In 1520 the so-called ‘Dorset Aisle’, with its fan-vaulted ceiling, was added to the north side. The interior of the church was restored drastically in the 1840s by William Butterfield and others.
Above the nave is a high, vaulted ceiling, painted white, supported by red and blue ribs, intersecting at gold bosses, decorated with shields and coats-of-arms.
The church did not escape the depredations of the Reformation. The niches of the altar screen were emptied of their statues and were filled with plaster so as to leave a blank face. Inevitably, all the gilding and paintwork was also obliterated. In 1829 the niches were re-opened and the heraldic shields were re-painted. Only in 1934-5 were the sculptures replaced by Herbert Read of Exeter and all of the paintwork restored to its former glory. The magnificent memorial to John Coke of Thorne and that to Lady Coleridge are well worth attention.
The south transept houses the Ottery St Mary Astronomical Clock, one of the oldest surviving mechanical clocks in the country. The transept also has splendid mosaic tiling, the work of William Butterfield. The marble font elsewhere in the church is also by him.
The town was the birthplace of the Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the poet who penned The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan. There is a small plaque to him in the church and a statue outside.
A few more of the many projects that I have done over the last 40 years. Here are a few beginning with ‘W’.
My projects vary widely. I have worked across much of the United Kingdom and also in Ireland and North America. There are a number that I am unable to mention in any detail.
These particular ones are very mixed in type and period and include analysis, colour-matching and advice on appropriate colour.
The work generally ranges from a technical analysis of existing paint in order to see how surfaces had been painted in the past - usually with the aim of reinstating a particular scheme. Other times I am asked to suggest appropriate colours for rooms, or for the exterior. I have also pioneered the measurement of decorative colour in historic buildings - using a spectrophotometer to record existing (or exposed) colour and then reproducing it in a paint.
#patrickbaty #papersandpaints
A circular walk from Ottery St Mary down to Tipton St John with huge variety and lots of colour. Approx 16km and quite a lot of floors. All kinds of weather from drizzle and wind to blazing sunshine. We perfected the art of changing clothing on the move.
Glorious combination of Chilean Firebush and bluebells in a carefully tended landscape through which runs a footpath.
Fortunately, The Golden Lion, in Tipton was open this time. Very friendly, with a great menu. Guinness always makes a difference.
A blocked path caused a bit of hasty alternative route-planning, and added a few extra kilometres, but we still had sufficient energy to explore the church at Ottery - of which more later.
Joined by the wonderful @clare_villeneuveharrisceramics for a few days of jollities, japes and jaunts in east Devon.
Over to Symondsbury for lunch and to see the Holloways - those ancient sunken paths bordered by soft sandstone 'walls' and overgrown hedges. Although some of the (inevitable) graffiti and carvings look very old, most date back no further than the 1950s. Some of these carvings are exquisite, including beautiful Celtic patterns and geometric designs (+ Homer Simpson).
Once we had emerged in open country we ploughed on gently along grassy, nettly lanes and across steep fields in a large 10km circuit. Fabulous views of Colmer's Hill, the sea and towards Broadwindsor.
Tea and banana cake followed by a soak and wine. Another perfect day.
A few more of the many projects that I have done over the last 40 years.
My projects range widely. I have worked across much of the United Kingdom and also in Ireland and North America. There are a number that I am unable to mention in any detail.
Valence House Museum is the only surviving of the five manor houses of Dagenham. The timber-framed museum building, partially surrounded by a moat built to keep livestock in place, is situated in Valence Park off Becontree Avenue, in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, London. The building has been used as a manor house, a family home, a town hall, the headquarters of the library service and now houses a museum.
In many ways it represents one of a number of projects where I have been employed by a small house museum, of some age, where advice has been required on colour and paint. I like these jobs as one has to balance knowledge of historical precedent with practicalities – usually a certain amount of compromise is involved and there are frequently technical issues to address. Money is always tight, so one doesn’t get rich doing this sort of work, but one can see change and the reinvigoration of a tired community asset.
The work ranges from a technical analysis of existing paint in order to see how surfaces had been painted in the past - usually with the aim of reinstating a particular scheme. Other times I am asked to suggest appropriate colours for rooms, or for the exterior. I have also pioneered the measurement of decorative colour in historic buildings - using a spectrophotometer to record existing (or exposed) colour and then reproducing it in a paint.
#patrickbaty #papersandpaints
