JOURNAL

SUMMER PARTY IN BRUTON On other pages

Chipping Campden Landmark Trust Tribute to Dr H.Lane ASHTAV Localmiscellany The Inspector Says.. Protect your ATM Summer Party Hydrology Revisited eritage Link thinks Monkey Bikes Anne's Solar Dream Visitto a Brickworks Can't compute ... ASHTAV Where have All .... Fordingbridge AGM 23 Lanes, Boutique Park 24 ASHTAV AGM

SATURDAY 22nd OCTOBER

I-OR ") NGBR L)GE

DO PLEASE TRY TO ATTEND ORE DETAILS ON TH BACK COVER

PARTY PROGRAMME

NETWORK LUNCHEON THE BULL

BRUTON: THE INSIDE STOIO JOHN BISHTON

CANTS MILL HYDROLOGY MILLING GARDEN PARTY

TEA ustus more coverage on thecentre page merchant in Chaucer's 'Canterbury CHIPPING Talcs': CAMPDEN i OVlt/rc/ii/tit n-a.it/ior m't/i fcrfiut! fjortf, Herbert Lane's ,'jn rnotiU'fcyv /tJtrf/tyi} cji fyeTSB Itv ■Mil-, resting place Coijcji itU iwL'ifa FfauiiiCru.i&li Eovvr {tut, 7Jis£oota cftiApoiTjidre luufjl'tris/y;

"1 thank God and ever shall *Jji.i rociis fia sjiufijai

What were Chipping Campden's qualities that enticed Herbert Lane to live there? His library and his meticulous notes reveal just how much he knew about small towns across Europe and bow passionately he cared for them. He had read G.M.Trevelyn's description of Campden : "the most beautiful village street now left in the island". An inveterate traveller by public transport, he possessed first-hand knowledge of so many places, so what extra dowry did Chipping Campden bring to their marriage?

Chipping Campden is remarkable for it has remained the same size tor seven hundred years. Physically, it has renewed itself, from wood to stone and applied new facades to old dwellings but in its beginning is its ending. Chipping Campden's High Street curves gently down a hill and is lined on both sides by human-sized houses and properties all of made from the warm, yellow Cotswold stone and ASHTAV members' eyes will sparkle r'Wiffiam when they hear that there isn't n single tpiece of plastic glazing in sight. C/vLerncriaf effijy in Originally, a market town servingthe (jamjufe | myriad or farmers on the hills around, ©hipping Campden was synonymous with the golden fleece to burghers in

Calais, Ypres and Ghent who prized .,.. Cotswoldwool for .its long staple. (Fortunately for us, one local 'entrepreneur wove wool from [■"Cqtswold Lions" into Minierbing more durable: theiextfavagaiUsjjjgrilh Church.* of St James, William CSivvi'l was this [local magnate and this "in.t-.irr

staplei » may havei iIxvn a modelit,'lor tie Chaucer also explainsthe trading vicar's ceremonial cope from 1400. Ashbee's Utopian project was method with restrictive practices that Queen Mary commanded that rhe doomed because quality came first has parallels withtoday where goods copies of these frontals he hung on and last and volume, price and are designed in England, fashioned in the high altar of Westminster Abbey delivery were considered bagatelles. China from wool that is imported when her husband was crowned The Guild collapsed in 1907. from elsewhere before being brought King George V in 1912. back through controlled portals into the European common market: Charles Robert Ashbee like the lytelle londe of Flauiulres is Herbert Lane came from London. But a staple to other londes, ivvys, But, when this visionary architect And alle that growetih in Flaundres, and social thinker relocated to greyn and scde, Campden from the East End of May not a moneth fynde hem mete London in 1902, he brought a and hrede. great social experiment: an "Arts What hath thenne Flaundres, be Flemmyngis leffe or lothe and Crafts" Guild of 150 men, But a lytdUe madere and Flemmyshe women, and children transferred to cloothe? this rural, medieval backwater. By drapynge of our wolle in Chipping Campden a century ago substaunce was very different from the Lyvene here comons, this is here gentrified, smart town of today. Silver cup made in Campden in 1903

governaunce; Campdenp was emerginggg from a long period of decline. Demand for at ease, property was low so rents were dirt The Guild's silversmith: Harts' Thus moste hem sterve, or wyth us cheap. The town exuded a survives to this day in die former silk most have peasse tumbledown distress that appealed mill in Sheep Street. The benches to romantic artists, but living brought to Campden from the Mile William was buried in front (if the conditions challenged those brought End Road a hundred years ago altar in 1401 under a splendid large up on running water in the garrets remain in use. The survival of this memorial brass of himself and his of the East End: washing was a family business is remarkable. In the wife Marionna, commemorating communal activity and food was early years the family ran a small 1 he rlower of the Wool Merchants j-Aiir- i ii ti- i ii cooked over open fires. Ashbee holding, early mornings and ofAll cngland . His lovely house founded his Campden School of evenings would be spent tending the with carved stonework nestles Arts and Crafts to provide trained pigs with the filigree working at amongst a terrace of later houses apprentices to support his self-taught silver sandwiched in between. built in a similar style in Campden Guild's efforts. Eight workshops High Street; how many woolstaplers lovingly created everything from from Calais have been entertained silverware to books. Interestingly, there on best English lamb looked one of the groups used the local mill after by Grevefsteam of six to weave silk - just like Gant's Mill servants? Incidentally, William's in Bruton that ASHTAV members house sports a sun-dial and visited this summer. Aesthetic Campden is a treasure house for excellence through comradeship and hunters of gnomons and nodi. social duty was their goal. Transporting and marketing did f Hart s silversmiths seen Campden Church houses two pieces neither appeared on theapprentices' during Heritage Open Days, of ancient embroidered cloth that curriculum nor on Ashbee's radar. 2005 showing benches brought are vital to our knowledge of Smart shops such as Lihertys came, from the East End of London mediaeval church vestments: The saw and copied in sweat shops. a century aeo. altar hangings date from 1 500, and a

ASHTAV NEWS 2005 issue 3 THE LANDMARK TRUST AND CHIPPING CAMPDEN

Open doors during Heritage Open Hays, 2005 in one of the two Banqueting Halls that survive from Old Campden House. The twin banqueting halls have been restored by THE LANDMARK TRUST, the 40 year old charity that cares for neglected historic buildings and secures rhem by renting them out as holiday homes. How Herbert Lanemust have been delighted to see these miniature jewels being rescued and brought to useful life just yards behind his home.

n

Almhouscs contemporaneous Campden Parisii Churcli viewed rrom rlil- site l>I with Old Campden House OKI Campden Hous

OM Campden I louse from ;i posthumous drawing of William Hughes (British Museum)

LCampden House was built for Sir Baptist Hicks below St James Parish Church around 161 3. Clever flattery and ^financial support of King James 1 had garnered a fortune for Hicks who was created Lord Campden. The result: as two magnificent houses, one in Kensington and this one in Campden. The Chipping Campden House wa Jburnt by Royalists in 1645 to deny it to Cromwellian forces. Many of the stone features were robbed andnow adornand give unity to modern Campden High Street.

For more about THE LANDMARK TRUST visit www.lan.drnarktrust.org.uk or phone01628 825925 He then went on to a Language Dr Herbert Arthur Lane School in Heidelberg to learn Herbert cared deeply about Britain, German, needed to complete his and, in particular, England. He Born: WansteaJ on 4 June Doctorate in Economics at the lived long enough to see life in 1928 University of Cologne where his market towns and across the Died: Chipping Campden on thesis had to be presented in countryside changing. Heritage, 20 July 2005 German. The problems ofrecon character, and beauty were being structing the infrastructure and eroded and Herbert didn't like what VICE PRESIDENT : ASHTAV economy of war-ravaged Europe he saw. Suffering in silence was not fascinated Herbert and he spent Herbert's style. So, he became a Herbert Lane touched the lives of time travelling extensively across zealot and he channelled bis those whom he met or knew in Europe to gain an understanding of prodigious energies into the never to he forgotten ways. He was the subject. He was a talented formation of a campaign. That's a highly intelligent man who was linguist so by the time he had how the Association of Small widely travelled, linguistically gifted, finished his travels he'd mastered Historic Towns and Villages came and whose analytical prowess as an not only German but also French, into being in the late 1980's. In a economist was recognised during Danishand Spanish andhad nutshell, it was The Civic Trust for his working life. He was a perpetual encountered Finnish. Later, in a smaller townsand villages. Herbert scholar andhad an open and typically trenchant statement, was its co-founder and its chief pros- inquisitive approach to every new Herbert blamed hisinability to elytiscr. If you were not given to challenge that life offered. He was master the Finnish language on ... rudeness, there was only oneway to also a private manwho did not find "the 'conglomerate' natureof the save your evening if Herbert came it necessary to set out his stall to all language and the view of ihe Finns that on the phone and talked about his he met bur pursued with dogged no foreigner could possibly learn even its baby - ASHTAV (the Association of determination those things that he basic structures". Apparently, young Small Historic Towns and Villages). considered ofimportance. Herbert used his linguistic abilities "Yes, I'll join, irry cheque will he in the to make friends all over Europe. post'." What follows is a collection of facts and anecdotal stories about Dr. Herbert's working life was spent in ASHTAV continues and Herbert Herbert Lane that we have pulled the engineering industry. He worked Lane has been a regular attendee at together with a lot of help from his for the cle Haviltand Aircraft its meetings. In his last month, he closest friends in Chipping Company for a considerable time travelled to London to enjoy lunch Campden and elsewhere, and from and later enjoyed spellsas a trouble- and a glass of wine with his our own conversations with him shooter and economic analyst for ASHTAV friends and to plead with over the years we knew him. companies including Aston Martin them nor to change its aims and and Lever Brothers. At heart, objectives - his aims and objectives. Herbert Lanewas born into a Herbert remained a passionately And so Herbert Lane returned a generation too young to serve in the curious and combative academic. final time to Chipping Campden to Second World War but he was His house in Leysbourne, Chipping put the world to rights. Here he was privileged to spend the war in the Camden, is a living testament to a a Parish Councillor and an active most picturesque part of Hereford life asa bookworm. Some scholars beaver in planning matters. Perhaps, shire. He was a boarder at the find furniture confining, they limit a he added a few last words to his final ancient Felstcd School in Essex, room, but books are liberating; academic collaboration: a book on which in 1940 was evacuated to walls, floors and ceilings dissolve as England's Fords and Watercourses. Goodrich Court on the Wye, close the bookworm emerges in another to Goodrich Castle. Herbert Lane place, a different time and gains ASHTAV has lost a guide, and was very bright and he wentup to fresh friends. He was a born David mourns his brother, and Lincoln College, Oxford, to study explorer, for him the world was small historic places across England forhis first degree in Economics. endlessly fascinating. have lost a Champion.

To contact ASHTAV: ©01926 400717 OBJECTIVES ASHTAV COMMITTEE OFASHTAV Ed Grimsdale Acting Chairman, Uniting Amenity Societies and Groups, Parish and Town Magazine Editor and Councils in small historic towns and villages ina common Promotions effort for the preservation, protection and, where appropriate, Ray Green sensitive adaptation of their features of historic and public Jjohn Alexander Honorary Treasurer interest. Jjohn Bishton Encouraging high standards of architecture and planning. Appeal Decisions Stimulating thepublic interest and care for the beauty, Anne Lock Conferences and character and fabric of small historic towns and villages in the Seminars contextof an understanding of the social and economic Gill Smith changes which affect them. Helpdesk ASHTAV recognises the many social and economic changes David Peevers Reports, Website, affecting town and village life - the growth of industry and Pictures and Sound tourism, the migration from large towns and cities to the Daphne Wyatt countryside, the decline of traditional agriculture and Members' News and demographic change. These changes inevitably alter the Circulation pattern of life in ruralBritain. They cannot be resisted but Dan Wild they should be introduced with respect for existing patterns Website, Membership and IT support and values.

New developments can take place with sensitive consultation ;Advisors and respect for the existing scene and community life. Our aim is to ensure that wherever change is thought to be Professor Malcolm Airs I and necessary, those whom it most directly affects are equipped to Michael Coupe take a full and effective part in the decisions involved.

ASHTAV receives grants from English Heritage and other bodies, but is otherwise self supporting and relies on the commitment and voluntary effort of its members and friends. ASHTAV HELPDESK

Gill Smith has wide experi ARE YOU INTERESTED IN JOINING ASHTAV ? ence in planning matters, ASHTAV welcomes individuals, local amenity societies and professionals. both locally and nationally.

To receive the next issue o( ASHTAV NEWS FREE and to receive details ot Members are welcome to membership, please complete this slip and post it to: submit questions and seek DAN WILD, ASHTAV MEMBERSHIP OFFER, advice on planning, 2 WARWICK COURT, environmental or commu GREAT MALVERN, WR 14 3HU nity matters. NAME ADDRESS This service is available by Email e-mail and fax only. Tel e-mail: [email protected]

fax: 0870 1307970 BEMINSTER BEAMINSTER

IS SOMERFORD KEYNES Pronounce it Beminster and you'll not be pounced upon by the locals; PECULIAR? Beaminster is a beautiful small town Muriel Watkins,Parish Clerk to in a sublime setting. Tourists are few Somerford Keynes Parish Council in this welter of valleys and green writes: hillsides that lie between the Dorchester to Crewkerne road and "Lower Mill Estate on the southern the border with Somerset. Possibly, edgeof the village, often seen in the NEWENT this is due to a folk memory ot pre- Press tor its innovative house WWII local road sign on an This picture of its market Hall is design, has the potential to be able approach to the town that snorted: taken from www.ewgreen.org.Lik, a to outvote regular residents in Local sire devoted to the lite and works of Elections. The village has 100+ 'Drive slowly or break your neck1. WILLIAM ALBERT GREEN houses and Lower Mill will have To overcome such splendid rural 1907- 1983 575 eventually. isolation the Beaminster Society It was good to see members of the publishes a lively Town Trail ,and We have lobbied our MP to no Newent Society at the Ashtav Sum avail and would appreciate any every July the town buzzes with mer Parry. Newent is a lively place help/suggestions. exhibitions, street entertainment, that is planning its future through shows and concerts by musicians of Are any other ASHTAV members the Newent Initiative, an umbrella both local and national renown similarly affected? group of representatives of local during rhe Beaminster Arts Festival organisations, which has formu Perhaps, Kent offers analogues : when teas good enough for lated a Newent Community Plan, there is government pressure to connoisseurs such as ASHTAV's and sent a copy to every household increase housing in the south east Dan Wild can part oi a wonderful in the town. With the the help of and the improvements being made day out in the area. The Craft and the Community School, Newent to rail and transport links with Design Centre at Broadvvindsor, Arts Festival 05 has taken and will Europe mean that the area is threemiles west of Beaminster is the become anannual event. New signs gaining inward business investment place to go. Redundant farm proclaiming 'Welcome to Newent' with new firms accentuating the buildings have been sensitively will be erected at several points pressure on housing stock. redeveloped to provide a Craft around the town. Aylesham Village is a typical case. Centre plus a floor full of artists and Essentially the kernel of a new town craftsmen producing original work. The second hook of walks in and that Patrick Abercrombie planned If you're not stopping for an award- around the town has just been pub to hold 15,000 residents with a winning lunch, it's the place to lished. ASHTAV hears that impor range of commercial, community' enjoy a Dorset Cream Tea. tant talks are taking place for a and civic buildings., its progress to Beaminster cares for its heritage. It £20,000 project to improve the that target was stunted by adverse has spawned a Friends oiSt Mary';s historic town centre which was so economic conditions in the 1930 s. group to care for its parish church. popular with Welsh traders in the Today, Aylesham holds about In 2003 this Beaminster jewel won 1 3rh century that they lodged there 4,200 souks butambitious plans will the Society for the Protection of twice a week: on Fridays on the out add a further 1000 to that total, Ancient Building's "John Betjeman ward run and Tuesdays on their around a 25% increase. Not as Award "for exemplary church way back home to Wales! Their devastating as the overwhelming of repair. The work was undertaken natural route from Ross-on-Wye to Somerford Keynes but certain to under the auspices of Strachey and Gloucester would have been make a big difference to the social Strachey Conservation based in through Huntley - hut its road was mix ot this Kent village. Wells, Somerset. coo steep tor cattle and, anyway, Ncwent was and is so nice!

Do send ASHTAV an article:[email protected] Best optiontaken THE INSPECTOR Tbere are a number of factorsto the Rest Practical Environmental matter A company building a golf course SAYS for planners. had taken to appeal the issue of A column of extracts from eO941/2005 materials used for building the course. The judge upheld the the planning press Procedure must be followed inspector's view that the waste prepared and annotated by The High Court has rule that the proposed to be used at the course ODPM's office cannot reinstate an would be better directed to existing appeal once it is withdrawn. This landfill sites in need of restoration, related to failure of a council to in accordance with the County determine reserved matters in the Council's strategy. prescribed time. The appeal was later withdrawn on the assumption that There are a number of options to be theapplication would revert to the assessed in deciding on theBest council's jurisdiction. A local Practical Environment Option. resident challenged it when the Materials arc a matter for planners appellants wanted it reinstated CO041/2005 because the council could not John Bishton. proceed. The judge agreed with the Building society no help to challenge: it would be tantamount to vitality of town centre allowing a second appeal or an Local listing not a protection extension of time tinder which The change of use from a discount The High Court has supported a reserved matter could be approved. clothes shop to a building society developer and an inspector A lot of planning officers will be office,in a town centre has been regarding demolition of a "locally grateful for this judgment. A ruled out, because it would lead to a listed" Edwardian house in Surrey. watchful resident has come to the predominance of non-retail uses and The judgeagreed that being neither aid of council1 who couldbe caught undermine the centre's vitality. ina conservation area nor on the up in interminable negotiations. statutory list, it could be demolished C05679/2004 The P.A. is faced with the to make way for a block of flats. In alternatives of a dead frontage of the judge's view the main issue was Gypsies? the increaseof a non-retail cluster. not the loss of the building but the The Court upheld a County Many country towns are faced with impact of the new one on the sur Council's eviction order. Settled the dilemma that former shops are roundings. He said theapplicantdid accommodation had been offered worth much more as domestic nor need to demonstrate exceptional and refused. The families asserted premises. This is where politics and circumstances. thatthe proposed new legislation planning share territory'. would make it a requirement to DeS No: 100037964 So it appears local listing has no assess need and make provision teeth. It did not acquire the accordingly. However, the families There are conditions necessary legislative backing, and the had become travellers a few years and CONDITIONS time and effort pur in by a fast- ago,so the offer was reasonable. A development had been begun in moving L.A. has been wasted thus They were not ethnic gypsies. 1989 (!) and the appellant sought far. How many more significant The two factors the judge had confirmation of the lawfulness of buildings will be lost before effective arguments, in mind are new to the continuing building. But it had been legislation is in place in the new arguments. ODPM's advice cities to begun without approval of matters scheme of things.' It has not found a not yet amount to law. Would it controlled by conditions, e.g. slot in the new Act. apply to those who are not ethnic landscaping and materials. So the CO/6042/2004 gypsies, and to others who have lived council had enforced. The inspector settled lives including abroad? decided that there are some CO/1842/2005

8 ASHTAV encourages good design conditions which go to the heart of Would not the numeration of an And without being a precedent for permission and have to be old land-use map have clarified sprawl. Pleasesee our continental complied with, before agreement is this: When does a stream become a neighbours for other examples. reached onmore detailed matters. river? DCS No: 40557930 He quoted two legal precedents. DCS No: 100037490

It would defy common sense if this CRICKET BELONGS were not the case. IN THE VILLAGE Des No: 100037938 Listed Building

Conversion Supported A proposal to relocate a village Viability and vitality governed the cricket ground to a site outside the Planning Gain inspector's thinking, when he village, and to develop the ground supported theapplicant in this with 34 dwellings (Including some The applicant appealed against case. A grade 2 complex of hotel, conditions the local bars and commercial units, lacking authority wished to car-parking space, a short walk impose, on development from the town centre, its lay-out of six homes in a limited the sen-ices it could offer. Berkshire town. The applicant He decided that the long-term agreed to make contribution to interests of the building were best affordable ones), did nor find highway improvement in the protected by allowing conversion to favour with the inspector. Grounds immediate area, and towards commercial usage on the frontage, for refusal are twofold:the provision of public open space. The and four flats and two shops. percentage increase in the number inspector agreed that it was not Lots of towns havesuch problem of houses in the village, at 10%, reasonable to require a buildings at their heart, and they was too high; and the substantial contribution to improved cycleway are often much loved. There is a change to the landscape and highway alterations that were problem when rhey areof sufficient represented an unacceptable neither directly related to the quality to be listed. So a dispassion intrusion into the countryside. The proposeddevelopment, nor to ate Solomon may be needed. The density and depth of the proposal library facilities. problem also arises in reverse, with would be evident and not Edwardian buildings that have not consistent with the village. The Atwhat stage or level does the been listed, but are familiarly loved, replacement ground would lie in a creationof new or improved but unprotected unless in a C..A. sylvan landscapeof fields and facilities tora whole community DCS No: 38130676 hedges and trees, not associated become a reasonable demand? The with the village visually or socially. question continues to arise when it relates to school places and other Live and work on the edge Now just supposing they come back aspects of public provision. An inspector has supported a with a proposal for a few high DCS No: 100037391 scheme for three live-work units on quality houses with large gardens, re-used ground outside the and a lot of evidence about the Planning unit when is it - boundary of a village in Dorset. history of cricket and the siting of when isn't it? The area would be harmed, he grounds. An owner of a caravan had moved argued, if PPG 3 were followed, Des No: 100038194 it from one side of the river, of entailing 26 homes. The three new which he owned both banks. It had homes would be built from low- been in position since 1983. In the impact, energy efficient, renewable inspector's view, without materials, and near enough to the abandonment or an intervening boundary to be acceptable. use, it hadbeen lawful since 1993.

ASHTAV offers advice on planning issues 9 by building at higher densities. Green Belt and AONB owners deserve some sympathy. We would need to consider this in the However, the panel had considered take precedence context oi the viability of the whole the size of the settlement should be An application from a major settlement. And the longer term: reviewed through the framework scientific research company has not Des: 100037868 because the location is not very been supported by the inspector, in sustainable. an area of scenic importance. The Housing needs When land supply is tight in the company had already expanded, in eastern region and permission has 1984, having been on site since the survey essential been granted, there is an obvious 1940's. The company wished to ODPM has supported an temptation to try for more, bur expand further, to include an inspector's decision that a housing with facilities, infrastructure and auditorium, restaurant and 30 scheme on AONB land between conditions organised, it is not the room lodge, with parking. It was two villages is not to bo preferred to time ro cram an unsustainable argued that the local hotels were a golf driving range, although it was location. Though this particular inadequate. The inspector claimed that if offered much- appeal is relatedto the specific recognised the importance of the needed affordable housing. Special context, and the subject of an scheme but found that the lodge circumstances had not been proven Inquiry, the principle couldbe would cause unacceptable harm, so in the absence of a housing needs important. the whole application failed. survey. Another factor is the price DCS No: 100038109 A pity that level of the affordable housing in compromise such a context. Who would be the Increased density' refused seems not to provider? This might make a useful In another instance, too, DPM has have been study of the principle of strategic agreed with his inspector that the possible. But gaps openness and quality of the area surely there is DCS No: 100037882 would be undermined, and a well no need to keep landscaped, visually acceptable all the profits on site! This appears The Environment Agency result would not arise, it a low- to he an opportunity for someone has been granted the right to density permission was superseded. to develop appropriate visitor challenge a permission on Following policy guidance about facilities somewhere in the vicinity, land known to flood. The density, there are sure to be many if they are needed. judge noted that the case has wider such applications. Will it be DCS: 100031965 importance for those involved in possible to log the professional development of sites in flood-risk time spent on them? Village shop areas. This one involved excavation DCS No: 100038710 conversion permitted. which might put residents at risk in A conversion to two fiats ot a time of flood. But theprinciple of Court agrees that condition village shop was supported by the the Agency's rightto challenge is offered is not adequate inspector. It was said that it had very important. Watch for the A developer seeking to build on a been impossible to sell it when it growth of teeth as climate change small town's football ground had was a going concern and temporary proceeds. failed to enlist the Inspector's closure followed the calling in ot a Co/182212005 loan. Two other shops in the village support for use of a condition, as a could absorb the trade. The council means ofsecuring thecreation of a LDF must precede had suggested reducing the trading new pitch. The deputy judge agreed ad hoc expansion area, which he judged would with the inspector that the The Structure Plan's spatial strategy mechanism would create too much reduce viability. had already allowed for the uncertainty. building of 3,300 dwellings in Small towns and villages can he Conditions need to be enforceable. Cambridgeshire, and the faced with continual loss of shops, CO/1742/2OO5 developers sought to increase this but after many years work the

ASHTAV is campaigning for fairer planning PROTECT YOUR * ATM AND central and remote), crooks know building. Surveillance cameras help SURVIVE that it there is half an hour o\: and so does laminated glass in getaway time before the cop car windows. Good street-lighting levels by Ed Grimsdale can be glimpsed in their rear are an investment. Rural communities depend for mirror. Villages are sleepy places: Ask the building society or bank vitality on easy access to free not so many eyes for early whether the ATM is anchored with banking services. Increasingly, these detection of wrong-doing as there a heavy chain' Will it exude smoke are being placed at risk. are in towns. Furthermore, many farms have ideal ram-raiding and dye the banknotes, if disturbed? equipment like mechanical Banking groups are getting larger diggers and massive tractors just At a lower level look out for street and more remotefrom their users. waiting to be "borrowed". furniture that may encourage ne'er do wells to loiter. Fear of crime can Clydesdale, an Australian-owned easily inhibit nervous and older Listen to local news across Britain; hank will leave just 16 Clydesdale people, and, it the ATM is not used it is full of reports of successful offices in the whole of frequently, your bank may organise rural, ram-raiding heists. Aberdeenshire - and 157 across its own ram raid. It is time for people in small "The cash point is now closed..." the Scotland. 60 Clydesdale banks places to ask questions of and Chris Tarrant will be lost. Clydesdale state that supply ideas to their local hanks. A local ATM is a vital amenity, an they will retain ATM portals in almost necessary part of life. the villages affected, but who Perhaps communities nei.\\ to Communities band together to knows for how long? It is easy to invest in bollards to inhibit easy provide support for recreation recognise thebank's economic access to ATM windows. Bollards grounds, toilets, and car-parking. driving force - efficiency - these need not be expensive or require They need to do the same for brancheshave been serving an heavy-duty plant for their banking facilities. The alternative is average of 1200 customers, installation. One modelcomes on a drift of people taking their whereas the sector's norm is site as concentric steel tubes and banking, and consequently their nearer to 5 figures. gains massively in strength when spending to other, bigger places. filled withconcrete The poor, and the car-tree will But, what if an ATM becomes suffer through not being able to The public area in front of ATMs, unprofitable? One costthat is access their cash freely, They will be vulnerable shop windows or rising for banks with rural ATMs "fined" by using ATMs in shops doorway must be designed to resist is that of replacing machines lost that charge for each transaction, a ram raid attack by heavy plant in ram raids. With rural policing Don't wait - machinery. Careful planning will stretchecl( even before proposed inhibit a mechanical arm from amalgamations make the centres stretching our and grabbing thethe check out your village of administration even more ATM or destroying the surrounding ATM TODAY!

ASHTAV encourages village vitality ii ASHTAV SUMMER PARTY IN BRUTON A goodly number of ASHTAV other small members,some travelling from as far towns: their glo away as Garstang in Lancashire, ries and their gathered at the award winning pub issues. It was The Bull ar Hardway tor a fine illuminating to lunch accompanied by happy chat hear that stone teras members networked. John properties in the Bishton, ASHTAV's one-man centre o( Bruton bridge between the town and gown sit on their own in Bruton gave members a guided quarries. As tour showing 'behind the scenes1 land was flat Bruton. tened for the |ohn Bishton , our guide , has our rapt attention in Bruton's Street. foundations of a house, the stone was removed and Bruton is a lovely mediaeval small piled up. One site's excavation market town clustered tightly in the might produce enough building valley of the river Brue. It is a town stone toerectseveral homes. fraught with structural problems. Back alleys that double as yards are Ownership of land is in few hands called bartons in these parts. Walk so that, for instance, the High Street ing around Bruton with John is throttled by school buildings that Bruton has brought lite eo its river helped members to understand all but eliminate frontage for shops. Briie with ;i stepping their Hardy: stone route in front of Packhorso Bridge. Encroachment, as fashionable fa cadehave been glued onto tired "Come and see the oxen kneel

predecessors and walls of jettied In thelonely bartonby yonder properties have been pushed for coomb1' ward to support and encompass, has The Oxen narrowed the route around town so that it has become aninconvenient Another highlight of the gloriously one-way street. Park outside a shop sunny day was a visit to nearby in Bruton and you will close the Gants Mill where Alison and Brian Good food, ;i Iriendlv welcome j'lus ample parkin- ar The Bull. Good for ASHTAV roadsystem and an alert is likely to Shingler have restored the water members hut bad tor Bruton's economy, be broadcast on Radio 51 Limited mill and now

off-street parking coupled with pub even generate lic houses that may disappoint put sufficient elec off casual visitors. Yet, Bruton with tricity to supply its fine Parish Church notable for the National its perpendicular tower and rococo Grid ! chancel, Sexey's almhouscs, King's Their tale for School, delightful narrow alleys farming folk is: from Lower Backway to the High street and much, much more could Diversify and should thrive on tourism. or John was such a sympathetic and understanding guide to Bruton. His divest. was no superficial tour but a disser tation on why Bruton has developed in the way it has. His insights caused 1 low many towns sport a new stepping stone ford like Bruton's,' ASHTAV members to muse on

12 ASHTAV campaigns to preserve distinctiveness HYDROPOWER REVISITED 1920; even its sawmill is run on A disadvantageof hydropowers it electricity generated from mountain may present an obstacle to the Keith Wheaton-Green, Environmen passage of tish- soluble byadding streams. Now the Queen plans to tal awareness Officer with SoLith fish-ladders upgrade her Balmoral Castle power Somerset District Council stimulated plane She will become a net supplier Micro hydropower units can restore ASHTAV's enthusiasm for our heritage of ok! mills to the National Grid. ASHTAV hydropower hack in 2003. His members will be able to warm their Working watermills provide a fun efficient networking created a local focus for tourism bathwater using royal electrons. hydopower group that energised Our Royal Family hasestablished a Scientific twelve local watermill owners to global reputation for green projects. • Micro watermill hydropower install micro hydro-electric plants to Everybody knows about Prince produces energy best in winter generate electrical energynot only for when demand is high (c.f. solar Charles' green projects and organic themselves but to feedthe National energy) produce but we forgetthat the Duke Grid. With the government of Edinburgh's run-about is a By allowing a head to build behind dedicated to achieving a target of a turbine you can effectively "store" London taxi modified to run on 10% of all energy to be derived from electricity - a mean feat liquid petroleum fuel and rhat alternative sources by 2010, Keith • We have the technology Buckingham Palace has a borehole found that as fastas he knocked on thatcontrols not only rhe water levels • Britain may have 20 000 dormant doors they opened and he and his mills awaiting the clarion call back in the palace's lakes but air-condi co-workers were given warm to work tions the Queen's Gallery at he same welcomes. The trouble is the job's Economics of Miero-Hydropower ( based time. not done 'til the paperwork is done on Gant's Mill near Bruton) and micro-power stations have to Useful websites: • Grants of £5000 arc available to complete the same forms as major Awards for sustainable energy, buy power equipment power stations. If Keith's vision and www.ashdenawanis.org • English Heritage will advise over British Hydropowet .Association, 0/202 ability to form partnerships were to mill reconstruction be repeated countrywide there would 886622, www.britisk-hydro,co.uk Clear Skies, 08702 430 930, www. clear- • With an output averaging be hundred more hydropower groups skics.oT"; I 2kW, an owner can .sell his beavering away mending dams and Energy Saving Tnisi, 02072220101, xvwiv.csi. surplus electricity tor around installing made-to-measure water org.uk; £3000 a year turbine generators. If readers need English Heritage, iww.ervglwMieritage.ojg.uk; • Srart-up costs should recouped proof of South Somerset's amazing Gunts Mid, 0/7-19 812 393, iuwiv.ganlsmiU.ao.uk; within 5-6 years achievement they should visit the Centre.* jor Sustainable Energy, iyuw.cse.org. uk. Ashden Awards for sustainable • Turbine equipment typically has energy where they can read about a 25 year life this year's finalists. ;FACT • The Mill can make money on the side through: THE QUEEN'S ELECTRONS t STREAMS WILL KEEP YOU WARM o Educational visits and practical workshops Was it when news spreading from Environmental! o Tourists South Somerset to Buck House rhat caused the Queen's electric reaction? • Hydropower is clean. o Associated on-site We do not know, but she saw rhe • Hydropower is sustainable marketing ( flower garden, tea-room, light and that light was her light and • Hydropower docsnot produce parking etc) its colour was green. Our Queen has greenhouse gases or other air gained planning permission for a pollution Hot Tip from ASHTAV Thame-side hydropower plant • Hydropower docsnot depend on Do you realise that rhe traditional light bulb containing four turbines that will power politics, water is a local produces 100 times more heat than light? resource, so there's no need to fight supply about 33% of the electricity Switch to low energy bulbs and reduce your foreign wars to control its lighting costs (at least 10% ofyour electricity n^,h of Windsor Castle. ASHTAV production consumption) by a magnitude of 5! readers may not realise that Balmoral Hydropower leaves behind no Ed Grimsdale Castle went over to hydropower in waste

ASHTAV applauds alternative energy initiatives 13 HERITAGE LINK Has responded to the government paper."Better Places to Live" The full text may be seen at www.heritagelink.org.uk Here are the first two sectionsthat set out its stall:

Better Places To Live and heritage over the last five years that the new respects the old and - in policy statements such as creates placesof quality which will Heritage Link Response DCMS own document A Force for in turn become valued. Our Future as well as Power of Place. As part of our response to the essay, The historic and built environment we would like to explore some of includes 'architecture' but the ma issues where the sector has concerns jority is made up of the more ver Heritage Link about underlying assumptions: nacular elements that characterise the historic landscape and town- Scope? scape, that form the basis of many The sector believes passionately that conservation areas and underpin all the built and historic environment local identity. Modest local envi National Heritage Day is art important part of the lives ot ronments are valued as never be 2005 all our citizens, providing significant fore and this localisation is a resources for economic and social tremendous asset in keeping herit development on people'svery door age activities democratic. This year's steps and that its potential has yet to be fully tapped. The essay's title - Heritage Day "Better Places to Live"- suggested that the Government shared our Conflict^ is planned for Wednesday view. Without exception therefore The second assumption we ques 7th December 2005. our members expressed surprise at tion is that there is conflict be the narrow interpretation of the his tween preserving old and building Members meet for the AGM in the toric and built environment implicit new. The analysis alleges a tension morning, followed by a national in the substance of the essay. Al between change and heritage pro networkinglunch and afternoon though there are references to local tection that has never been thecase debate which are both open to all, environment and local significance, otherthan at the level of specific members and non members alike. they objected to the strong focus on cases. Furthermore we seethe as Heritage Link delighted that David visitor 'attractions' and the great sumption leads to the historic envi Lammy, Minister for Culture has iconic sites and buildings, and to ronment being portrayed not as an accepted its invitation to speak. some extent on the urban bias. Not opportunity but as an obstacle. In surprisingly, some of Heritage reality, historic buildings and places Further details will be posted in Link's more specialist members and have been a catalyst for change in Heritage Link Update. in particular those representing repopulating inner cities and de transport (and transport structures) clining industrial areas. They are and archaeology interests felt these playing have played a key role in and their contribution to society rural regeneration and they are es English Historic Towns Forum are were underrepresented. sential in accommodating new busi holding an event that will interest nesses, creative industries and many ASHTAV members: The focus of the essay was all the innovation. The emphasis should Retailled Regeneration - more disappointing given the shift therefore be on retention and inte towards greater awareness of the gration with the requirements of Thursday 1st December 2005 significance of local environment the modern world in such a wav

14 Only in want do we count what the glory is worth (Arthur Guiterman) MONKEY BIKES last in which a four year old hoy ing their eyes out so they may Ed Grimsdale lost his life after being hit by a mini drive like morons along pavements ature bike. ASHTAV understands Many ASHTAV members will be weaving in and out of push chairs that there has been another fatality delighted to hear that miniature and zimmer frames? However, a in England. monkey bike is to the Chav what a motor bikes: mini motos or mon quad bike is to the young country key bikes as they are often termed ASHTAV members have com are being reined in. Police have man. The problem is that the urban plained about the rising impactof dweller does not have his own fields been told that where these ma these tiny machines on their quality to ride. Collisions between his toy chines are being ridden ina danger of life. They are noisy and their use and the public domain occur too cms fashion or in an inappropriate on narrow streets, sniekets, alley frequently and cause annoyance place, the machines may be confis ways and suburban pavements has and injury to many. It is virtually cated. And, this is just what has caused panic in people who have impossible for thesebikes to be rid been happening. ASHTAV has been terrorised by the machines den legally. To do *o, a rider must heardof bikes being impounded in disproportionately loud noise and have access to private land, carry Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. sudden appearance from around a written permission from the land's

corner. owner and remain visible. The Legal Advice from The Home Office is clear: Such anti-social behaviour was But, what of parents who allow "They are NOT suitable - and their teenagers to ride mini-motos, NOT le»al - for road or pave sans helmets, sans gloves, sans in ment use, although many us surance, sans training, sans every ers have taken to riding them thing that might protect them or the person that they hit duringan on the roads and pavements. accident.7 AsGeorge Washington These toys can only be used said, "Worry is the interest paidby legally on private land, includ those who borrow trouble." ing parks and forests, with the direct permission of the land ASHTAV has learned from the owner, which in many cases policethat the specifications of threatening to get out of control in will be the local authority-. some ofthese miniature bikes are towns from Gainborough in Suf poor; the metal of their petrol folkto Seaford in Sussex and it is Powered vehicles being tanks are thin and rupture under good news thatpolice forces have impactadding the hazard of fire driven illegally, ina careless recognised that. to accident situations. These or anti-social manner, may be miniature motor bikes are Most policeforces issue a first warn seized by thePolice under availablefor purchase not only in ing and then follow up with confis Police Reform Act 2002 pow well-regulated motorcycle facilities cation for a second offence. The ers. The adult offender is po but also in some markets where message is being passed from tentially subject to buyers are given little advice on mouth to mouth across our safe and appropriate use, prosecution, a large fine and nation's bling encrusated Chavs: " ASHTAV hopes that effective in the case of habitual offend Watch out,ride on pavements and policing will drive these machines your £400 moto may finish be ers, possible imprisonment. " from the streets,pavements and hind bars." fields of Britain. ASHTAV hopes These toys can anddo maim or that local authorities harried by Isn't it surprising that grown men even kill those who are involved in frustrated monkey bike drivers will are willing to lose all sense of dig accidents involving their use. not allocate any of their land for nity and to crouch on bikes that are There was a txa«'ic incident in Bel- these pestilential machines. two foot high, with their legs pok

ASHTAV encourages community pride 15 ANNE LOCK'S DREAM MAY BECOME THE SOLAR VILLAGE OF TOMORROW

Jonathan Dimblcby : stalling them at the early stage when you're building the house is not that great. There was a small John "And the larger point you wanted to make ...?" Laing development, the homes [so-equipped] were Anne Lock ( of ASHTAV): amongst the first to be sold. So, although they cost "Always, we hear about nuclear versus wind, and slightly more, say £6000 to £7000 which on the cost there arc so many other technologies. The particular of an entire house is very little ... it all goes into the one that's in my mind ... new buildings couldhave mortgage, but the owners have lower living costs and are likely to get money hack." photo-voltaic roots WHICH DON'T NEED SUN. So often people talk of solar energy and the general Jonathan Dimbleby: "Thank you." reaction is - Oh, well, our sun is ... so unpredictable - (transcribe! from BBC Radio4 "Any Answers" 2005} but photo-voltaic piles need light and the cost of in

Modern technologies are making toxic leadthat is more easily concentrate light and hear onto the solar village a practical ingested than expelled by humans metal tuhes containing oil. The oil proposition, nor only in sub- and animals and acid residues. heats up and transmits excess energy Saharan placesthat can guarantee Greater simplicity, and easy at up to 2201-1 C. Meanwhile, the 12 hours of bright sun for 300+ adaptation to third world greenhouse may still be used for its days a year, but alsofor temperate conditions is making the next sun- traditional purpose of accelerating zones like Britain where the sun is trap an increasingly attractive plant growth and there's an added fugitive. proposition. advantage over glass-glazing, because 2. Greenhouse the special plastic film has a high So... what's in the pipeline; "Yeh - that's old hat." Not any old transmission quotient for UV light SUN-TRAPS greenhouse but one equipped with - that invisible part of thesun's light 1. Photo-voltaic Systems two vital elements: a light that is so good at sterilisation - i.e. These consist of lightweight panel concentrator (Fresnel lens) and a the gardener needs fewer nasty arrays that may be fixed on a heat remover {tube filled with oil). chemicals and ir is easier for him to suitable roof surface. They can At first sight the Fresnel lens may go organic". The heat tappOed generate 12, 24 or 48 v direct seem high-tech, but we've all seen from the greenhouse needs current and are connected tolead- oneand they're every teacher's pet. conversion into a more usable form. acid sealed accumulators very like A Fresnel lens lies below the glass The best ENERGY TRANSFORMER is car "batteries". These are energy plate of every Overhead Projector a STIRLING ENGINE stores thatfeed an invertor - a (OHP). To project images of large "Yeh - that's old h;it, Robert Stirling was a Scottish Presbyterian Minister who device to generate alternating slides requires a large lens. invented his EXTERNAL combustion current - the traditional electrical Traditional lens technology' would engine in 1816 before the INTERNAL power source in the home. The have produced products that were combustion engine that we all use in arrays are low maintenance,but the horrendously expensive. M. Fresnel cars." accumulators have many of the invented his "ridged" lenses and The idea is simple: a source of heat maintenance issues associated with solved the issue. You can't create (external) heats some air, the car batteries, although there life sharp ridges in glass that's why expansion raises a piston followed should be much longer if they are Fresncl lenses are always made of by the reverse motion as the air not brutalised through heavy plastic. cools. Thanks to reciprocation up loading similar to the ignition cycle So, you make the roof panels of the and down becomes round and for cars on cold, wintry days. greenhouse linear Fresnel lenses, round or rotary motion. You can Replacement accumulators are not using a plastic containing fluorine demonstrate the principles at home cheap and the disposal of tor high UV transmission and you visit redundant one poses hazards from have a built-in focus that can www.stirlingengine.com

16 ASHTAV encourages new thinking FARINGDON'S fu tided by ECOVAST, FAP, Festival Committee, presented the (EUROPEAN) SEEDA (South East England Arts Festival to the delegates as part Development Agency), Action for of a discussion on tourism. FUTURE ... MarketTowns,European Rural According to ECOVAST, a similar ASHTAV was represented at an University and Faringdon Town festival hosted in a small Swedish ECOVAST SEMINAR on SMALL Council. town has ledto a number of small TOWNS and their HINTERLAND by enterprises that have sprung up in David Peevers and Ed Grimsdale. Michael Dower, Chairman of the town as a result of their festival. 1 liey both reported that the Seminar in ECOVAST UK, commented: Faringdon, chaired by the charismatic "We were very impressed by the Following the seminar, ECOVAST Michael Dower, was extremely useful enthusiasm and energy of so many (UK) said ir will be taking two and that there were many aspects of people in and around Faringdon. delegates from Faringdon to its initiatives that had been tried in Fareitlgdon that could be transplanted to The sense of enterprise, whether annual European conference to be similar towns. How many market towns municipal, social or private, is held in Retz, Austria in November recognise, as Farin^don does, that to remarkable - as exemplified by the this year. Faringdon will be the rep function better means that they must Pump Rooms, the Faringdon Arts resentative for small market towns grow! Farin^don spoke to Britain now Festival, the Cyberbus, the in the UK and assistin discussions Ecovast is transmitting its message to the continent. Here is a press release on the Community Bus,the Enterprise on extending European funding topic: Gateway, to mention only a few. So programmes, such as LEADER +. Farinydon is on the many personal and professional European map skills seem to be available, so much voluntary effort is applied. Perhaps most remarkable is that this small Faringdon is to represent the UK's town actually wishes to grow, and small markettowns at a major will welcome more housing and European conference later this year. more employment land - so unlike ECOVAST (UK) (European the 'Not-in-my-back-yard' reaction oi Council for the Village and Small so many other communities. Good Town) will be taking two delegates luck to Faringdon in its efforts to Faringdon from under its Town I fall. Grow or lose from Faringdon to the Council's vitality is the thinking i}fi//(//// /xfi'le //ic fin/ t/m/ (fi and extracting good clay, mixing it with water until the mixture is with sand, water and combustible ( ///air// - attda&d //m/ //u- homogeneous. Pug-mills powered by horses was theold choice, hut material, moulding it into shape, m//i (>?■ mat/e. drying, and finally burning it. mechanically driven engines do the and c/u///: /{/m// emmmw /// Whilst each part of the work seems job today, although the rollers get //w (/warn/. . . inmem . . ■ simple, the quality oi' the final damaged if rogue stones are product requires great skill and wmm/- am/ mi/fit>m //te said present. experience. To remain competitive, After the clay was mixed, the clay a brickmaker had to work fast and (Norman Davey 1961 A divide the work into pans. The was formed into individual bricks. History oj Building Materials.) team might consist of an Clay was "thrown" into wooden apprentice to mix the clay, another moulds that had been sanded So, thelour man teams dug for (the "Carter") to run the clay to the lightly co facilitate an easier victory all winter and made bricks master craftsmen who shaped the removal of the formed clay or through the summer. Note the brick in a wooden mould, and an "green" brick, in very much the statute's care over separating marie "Off bearer" who ran it out to the same way that cooks grease their and chalk from the clay. Often, drying field. Nineteenth century baking tins. The clay had to be only the top layers containing the sources suggest that a four-man malleable enough to take shape finest clay were mined since team working a 15 hour day within the mould butnot too wet: separating stone or soil from produced around 2,000 bricks. that would cause excess shrinkage adhesive clay was a back-breaking when thebrick was dried and tired. and time-consuming job. Including Extraction of clay was separated Inthe bottom of- the mould there chalk in the mix causes gas pockets from brick-making, not so much by was a raised "frog"that caused an during firing and makes the bricks distance since dense, sticky clay was indentation in the top of the too friable for use. Dunton's the very devil to transport, but by finished brick. Frog holes are not brickworks use clay excavated by time. Brickmaking was as seasonal created to improve adhesion during mechanical diggers from up to fifty as vegetable growing. Freshly hewn construction when mortar fills the feet below the pit's surface. clay contains too many soluble frog, thus inhibiting horizontal Modern powered screening makes minerals that spoil the eventual shear after it has set. Frogs ensure theuse of poorer clay an product. Just as gardeners bring that bricks dry from the inside out. economical proposition . clayto the surface by digging in the If a brick is baked with a wer autumn and then allow rain 6k middle, steam would have no Jack Frost to "weather it", so

18 ASHTAV encourages the use of traditional materials escape and die putative brick orange; as the temperature rises so would explode. twice as high as needed followed by the bricks darken through red toa horizontal slicing in two. We take dark blue-purple colour at the high-speed disc cutters for granted, kiln's centre. Overlaying the basic hut yesterday's Tradesmen would Dunton's bricks are fired in Scorch colour are "kiss marks" that are Kilns, .structures that havecaused have given their eye teeth foratool causedby thestacking pattern - that cuts through brick almost like DEFRA ro change its emission where bricks touch they heat each guidelines, for it is impossible to ;i knife through butter. But, it is other, and the result is a darker only in the last thirty years that monitor "flue" gases in the absence "stripe". Machine-made modern of chimneys. A Scotch kiln is advanced technologies have been bricks fired in continuous kilns invented to transform soft graphite essentially an lattice clamp of lack these subtleties. That's why so "green" bricks, open to the sky, ( ie pencil leads) into amazingly many new brick buildings have a hard diamond and then to bond rontained with refractory walls, dull, unarticukted appearance. the resulting artificial diamond vitli heating initiated by jets near Uniformity has drained life from powder xo the steel of the blade. A [round level that fire a gas/oil the medium. Traditional craftsmen cunning blendof old and new nixture under and through the knew their bricks: colour and makes the task of bricklayers )ile. Stacking the clamp is an art texture would dictate a brick's end- restoring Cambridge College easier. or it is vital that each green brick use. The best bricks were used for There's no need to juggle courses: s exposed to heat and well external surfaces with"seconds" belly-up and belly-down have lost ■entilated. Firing was once a two- used where exposure to great any significance. tage process - the first was a slow, variations in heat and humidity 3W temperature ignition to remove were less. Buckingham had a A hand-cm rted set of Dunton's loisture from the hricks, but when tradition of rounded corners where Bucks multi-coloured bricks ic smoke gained colour the buildings stood at the junctions of probably costs about twice as much rickmaker knew it was time to paths. You'll notice how crimson as using mass-produced factory love to the second-stage - a high the bricksare at such places: the bricks whose regularity and ;mperature firing that might last builders chose lightly-fired consistency are dictated by- ne or more days, to be followed by specimens that they called "rubber" computer control. The results are :veral days of cooling off. Firing bricks because the bricks were easy worth it. New build benefits from uises much emission of sulphur to round using a metal file. subtle gradations of tone, the ioxide and noxious particulat.es, scurrying counterpoint from the D living in the vicinity of a Better tools mean that today's dance of the kiss marks, and the rickworks was nor pleasant. Such brickmakers can eliminate intriguing shadows cast by the reas would be barren of lichen, problems that beset traditional march of the sun across edges that Ut there would be no "black spot" workers. Take the issueof brick are not ranvrod straight. n cottage roses. Dunton's uses a size. Some Cambridge Colleges Meanwhile, using hand-crafted, rying tunnel equipped with derm- were built with anomalously long, bespoke bricks during restoration lidifiers to avoid stage oneand to thin bricks. Close examination makes aesthetes chortle with nprove quality control. Drying shows that each brick is bowed. To delight. Reclaims are oldbefore nd firing causes bricks to shrink avoid building walls shaped like their time and their dimensions y around 10%. over-baked or under-baked cakes and lack of provenance make them (humped orhollowed), bricklayers second best. Property owners and . Scotch Kiln contains a marked would alternate courses: belly-up architects need to investigate the ■mperature gradient throughout and belly-down. Because of range of products that our le firing with the coolest areas, differential evaporation between craftsmen are prepared to make aturally, on the outside of the top andbottom surfaces it is almost and use them before Britain loses amp and hotspots in the middle. impossible to fire a long, thin brick another traditional, cottage hat results in a range of finished without it humping. Dunton's industry. ricks that have to be sorted before create their flat "Cambridge se. Outside bricks are soft and College" bricks by making them

ASHTAV encourages good design 19 Internet refuseniks, about 30% Can't compute, ofthe population. won't compute The analogy between learning to read and computing is not- unreasonable. You don't have Dan Wild to be able to write elegant text, or poetry; four or five hundrec There have words will enable you togetb\ several letters in the press It is the same with the Ashtav is registered with CBD recently complaining that Internet; you don't have to Research who list voluntary information from government, [earn to compute. You can be organisations. national and local, is only equally picky, available on the internet. They ^^ ^ appointment at your The organisation has deplore that those not "on ^ ^^ ^^ ^^ complimented the last Newsletter and has added a line" are marginalised A ^ ^ mmxluction tousin, typical comment was 1 m too ^ ^^ and ^ ^^ ^ comment on the charity that busy to learn how to learn a looks after cattle troughs: within half an hour you woul computer, besides why shoul< Metropolitan drinking accjuire sufficient skill to fountain & Cattle Trough search for information on the Association 1859 There an enormous amount of Internet. It is no more difficu information available, which t]iat using a fiche. aka would be impossible to publish It is possible to remain a The Drinking Fountain and distribute conventionally refusenik and remain aloof Association. on cost, environmental and from computing, yet use it logistic grounds. To add to NR Oaklands, 5 selectively for your which paper is out ofdate the Queenborough Gardens, community's benefit. day it is printed, whereas the CHISLEHURST, Kent, Internet can be, butnot always BR76NP. Tel. 02084671261 is, updated instantly. email [email protected] (hsp) ASHTAV members need Secretary: Ralph P Baber access to this information to Their aims are: participate in, contribute to and influence local "To promote the provision of government. The government's drinking water for people 6k policy is that information animals in the UK & overseas; published on line is deemed to to keep on archive of be accessible to all. Whereas materials, artifacts, drinking on line information is made fountains, cattle troughs & accessible to the visually other installations." impaired and disabled, no concession is made to the

20 ASHTAV moves with the times 3PINION; Later, most of the retained water is ^n occasional series: recycled as plants or water-vapour WHERE HAVE ALL THE that escapes into the atmosphere. GARDENS GONE, Little remains to fill up drains. LONG TIME PASSING? Ed says to ASHTAV's members: fwo personal opinions from Before you pave your front-garden, •d Grimsdale September 2005 sing a verse of "Where Have All the Flowers Goner' and think about the wider consequences of your V here have all the gardens gone? actions. ong time passing /here have all the gardens gone? ong time ago /here have all the gardens gone? len have paved them every one hen will they ever learn? hen will they ever learn?

(with apologies to Pete Seeger) oes it matter thatfront gardens cry where are changing to car irking ? ie London Assembly has joined . and the rest of the aesthetic iby in calling a haltto paving er front gardens. In recent years, ndon has lost equivalent of 22 ■de Parks under concrete in the amble for off-street parking, sthetes grumble that such action Mr Leal has lived in Fordingbridge all his life. )ils the street-scene, bird-lovers His front garden is flooded with dahlias ;md don't they love water 1 turn the loss of trees for nesting, Steve Bradbury, the county d now the London Assembly SAVE OUR FLOWER BASKETS council's intelligent transport ighs in unable to cope with run- systems manager [sic], is planning . Hard, impermeable surfaces, Hanging baskets face council ban to write to all parishes instructing :h as concrete and paving, throw For health and safety reasons Parish them to avoid placing hanging rain-water. Gulleys and drains Councils in the West Midlands are baskets on lamp posts. 1 overwhelmed in times of being told to stop hanging flovver 1 suggest that ASHTAV campaigns rential rain resulting in flash baskets fromlamp posts. The ban is to persuade other parish councils oding and consequent damage being imposed by Staffordshire that are ordered to avoid "hanging property, and increasing the risk County Council which believes accidents through aquaplaning, heavy wateringof thebaskets could offences" to protest by increasing the number ot baskets they •quently, floods damage the eas "flood" electrics and cause damage tern because when surface drains to the lamp columns and increase sponsor. Staffordshire's example is a pernicious one. It is yet another , a by-product is spillage from the council's expenditure on il drains. Apparently, there's case of fear of ambulance chasing maintenance. thing like good old-fashioned lawyers. To follow the Staffordshire BASKETCASE : The council fears nt garden. It is just like a great route will condemn us all to life in claims tor compensation if the >nge soaking up precipitation. a padded cell. baskets tall and injure pedestrians.

ASHTAV explores ideas 21 for some years and it may be Fordingbridge is a frontier FORDINGBRIDGE wise for Fordingbridge to trad* town guarding a vital more heavily in his currency. entrance to Hampshire's One place that is doing so is New Forest. The Lord of "The Augustus John" Inn on its Manor was obliged to the Darnerhatn road that has prints of seta watch on the ancient bridge John's work around the bar walls. Wild during "fence month", the annual it was called "The Railway Inn" it was stock take of animals roaming the Augustus John's local. Members will be forest. visiting the pub for a networking For half of the 20th century the luncheon beforethe ASHTAV AGM. peace of Fordingbridge was wrecke by the busy through road from "The Fordingbridge Society have Bournemouth to Salisbury. Fortu already given the town ils worst ever nately, by-passing lias taken that blot on the landscape - the crazy traffic away. Unfortunately, many concrete crinkle chip statue in the potential visitors now roarpast without pausing to spend time or Market Place," (seetopafbackcover) money in this old market town. It wrote The Fordingbridge Times. In a pity that the T.I.C closesfor contrast, I mused "what a lovely idea f< winter. When I paid a visit in mk other town societies to emulate: qualii September Fordingbridge Museum L modern sculpture with plaques arounc (advertised as "Open") was firmly- the base giving due credit plus listing barred. Now there are fewer cars, some of the local industriesthat shape perhaps pedestrians might be given a Ford i ngbridge," (see bel<»w, lefi) higher priority in the town centre - Fordingbridge maintains its New Fore; one pavement fades to nothing links - when I visited great tree trunks leaving walkers with no option but were trundling through the centre of to cross road traffic. town in the direction of Shaftesbury. One tourist attraction is the artist The heath around makes good holiday Augustus John, the "King of the country - one resort is called "Sandy Bohemians" who lived close by in a Rails" an ancient and wonderfully 14th century friary called Fryern descriptive name that it shares with a Court from 1927 until his death in Fordingbridge charity 1961. One senses that polite Ford Fordingbridge offers quiet pursuits: ingbridge society found the red- walking in the forest or along the Avoi blooded, randy painter and angling and pony-riding . Its close ro b polemicist too hot to handle. A isolated from theclubs and youth of statue of John presented to the town Bournemouth and that makes it was relegated to a distant corner of attractive to older people nearing therecreation ground. Forty years retirement. No doubt, that's why Engli on, memories of John's romantic Courtyardschose to develop an old excesses have dimmed and rhe timber yard as a close with about 20 statue has been moved to the banks | dwellings for the over 55's. The high of the Avon at the end its famous ■ORDIrlGBfilDGE - A RIVER CROSSING P : quality design around multi-level garde stone bridge. Augustus John has ROMANS AND SAXONS UVED HER§ GHEAT BRIDGE PUILT 3th CEHTUfiT, WIDiNEi'- -i. is stunning and the security is as tight; been called "one of the best BIVEn HAVIGA3LE FROM CHfllSTCHURCH 10 5'■■' HABKET HELO HERE - WAS AT HOUHfiH.L1. UHT !. 1S73 that in bookshops on the day before & draughtsmen of any age" by Robert 1B76 TOWN HALL BUILT launch of the latest Harry Potter novel dimming in his recent book: * PAST TRADES - TANNING. GLOVE MftKIHE \ HEMP SACKS, LIN N PRQDUCTlGH, WEAV1IW A.R.T. John has been under-rated HILLING OF BABY FOODS BY 1HQMA3 HEAVE ASHTAV will hear more about such d LOCK MAKER THOMAS CHUBb ;0HHHERE

22 AUGUSTUS JOHN: Gigantism is a disease... Classical Athens was hardly bigger than Fordingbridge. RIBBLESDALE -THE FIRST "BOUTIQUE PARK IN THE WORLD

ASHTAV takes a great interest in favourite: the static mobile home development of around 16 units. sustaining the rural economy. Our park. No more pretence that the Essentially, it is a USA-style gated heritage of glorious country houses home is mobile, these caravans are community with all the expected suffered innumerable losses in the ranch-style wooden lodges firmly fringe benefits. depression of the 1920's. Today, rooted in the soil. It must be such a many fine properties are selling relief to have security 24/7 when So whatdo ASHTAV members slowly and below the anticipated facing the forbidding mass of Pendle think of such changes- desecration market price, especially when the Hill, haunt ot die infamous 17th of heritage or salvation through country house is divorced from town century witches who were found earning its keep? or village. Costs of maintenance, guilty of murdering 17 innocents in To read more: www.ribblesdalepark.com security issues and the difficulty of Pendle Forest. earning a living from the surrounding estate combine to make Formerly called Gisburne Park, the buyers wary. estate and Grade I Georgian mansion came into the Hindley But,... who would not enjoy a small family on the back of British Home second home set in rolling Stores. Now, the main house is a countryside.7 private hospital and its stables pamper thoroughbred racing horses. Ribblesdale Park resurrects and The Home Farm has been sacrificed pushes upmarket the seaside to support the Ribbledale Park Witch, hazel and a hot ruh. Whin bllssi

ASHTAV encourages new ideas THE TABLE D'HOTE THE PROGRAMME ASHTAV LUNCHEON MENU at THE AUGUSTUS JOHN 12.30 Main courses range from under £8 to £12 and will include a salmon Network Luncheon at dish, a pork dish andone tor Vege THE AUGUSTUS JOHN tarians Fordingbridge (Thai options are available tor those 14.00 who feel the south coast is an exotic ASHTAV AGM location) Fordingbridge Methodist Hall Desserts, including homemade Forest Fruits sorbet, cost £3.95 each 14.30 To hook, your seat for the network lunch Lynne Bowers pleasering Ed on 01230815758 or (English Courtyards) email: [email protected] presentation: Housing for the Over 55 's