Stanford Rivers House, 135 London Road, Stanford Rivers. CM5 9PP. Historic building recording of the timber-framed house. Recorded 14 01 2021.
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2019 Google earth. Location of Stanford Rivers House, Stanford Rivers. Scale 200m.
2019 Google earth. Detail of the site showing the building under study.
Location Stanford Rivers House, 135 London Road, Stanford Rivers. CM5 9PP. Traditionally called Hare Street. The House is 20m south of the road. Originally two properties 133 and 135 London Road. NGR: TL536480002.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
Listing
The building is Listed.
Stanford Rivers House, 135 London Road, Stanford Rivers. CM5 9PP. Page | 2
Date: 01 Sep 2003. Reference: IOE01/10772/04 Rights: Copyright IoE Mr John Pridham.
Entry Name: Stanford Rivers House Listing Date: 11 April 1984 Grade: II Source: Historic England Source ID: 1337509 English Heritage Legacy ID: 117922 Location: Stanford Rivers, Epping Forest, Essex, CM5 County: Essex District: Epping Forest Civil Parish: Stanford Rivers. TL 50 SW STANFORD RIVERS ROMFORD ROAD 4/218 Hare Street Stanford Rivers House - II
House. C17/C18/C19 with probable earlier core. Timber framed and rough rendered. Red plain tile roof hipped to right with three C18 hipped, leaded dormer windows. 2 storeys and attics. 4 window range of small paned vertical sliding sashes with thick glazing bars, first floor, 3 range to ground floor. Off centre 6 panel original door with ironmongery and good round head fanlight over. Red tiled porch with two supports and heavy scroll brackets. Studs with 2 arched downbraces between windows, and above side girts. Single storey extension to left with 4 panelled door with lights and C19 transomed casement. Attached square red brick chimney stack off centre and red brick chimney stack to left. Internally are stop chamfered beams. C18 panelled rooms and hall with panelled arch. Corner cupboard. Jacobean fire surround. 1825-1865 - The home of Isaac Taylor artist, author and inventor. Listing NGR: TL536480002
Scope of this Report
This report records and analyses the archaeological fabric of the buildings under study. This report adheres to Historic England Level 3 as outlined in Historic England. Understanding Historic Buildings – A guide to good recording practice. 2016. Page 22.
Stanford Rivers House, 135 London Road is connected to 133 London Road, an unListed cottage that was once a Post Office and possibly a wheelwrights shop. There is also an indoor pool house with gym which is recorded to HE Level 1 in Appendix 1.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
Description – External – Main House
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2021 . The Main House, Cottage and Pool House elevations. Martyn Pattie Architects.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
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2021 . The Main House and Cottage. Martyn Pattie Architects.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
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The front of the House is the north elevation.
The north elevation of the Main House.
North Elevation
Stanford Rivers house comprises of two discreet properties. The Main House (135 London Road) and the Cottage (133 London Road formerly a Post Office). The facade of the Main House can be divided into a cross-wing at the western end (RHS) under a hipped roof and a main range with raised roofline to provide attic rooms. The fenestration has been rationalised with sash windows to conform to Georgian tastes. All the windows are LC20th high quality replacements and are shown on the 2003 Listing photograph.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
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Detail of the porch.
Detail of the fan light.
The facade has been altered considerably since 2003 and very much for the better. The painted on fake framing has been covered up and the porch has been replaced with a heavy oak framed one. The six panel Georgian style door is correct with large bolts and box lock and the EC19th glazed fanlight has been repaired and retained.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
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The north and west elevations.
The west elevation.
West Elevation
The uneven fenestration of the flanking wall indicates it has been inserted into an older timber-frame forming a cross-wing. There is pair of LC19th margin glazed French windows. A centrally placed C18th style vertically boarded door leads to the Cellar. A second larger C18th door leads into the Kitchen. There is a 8/8 sash with landscape panes with is recent.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
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The rear of the house has a number of LC20th extensions.
The Kitchen and Dining Room extensions.
South Elevation
A single pent lean-to on the back of the cross-wing has been subsumed by a much larger lean-to to extend the Kitchen and has two pairs of 6/6 sash windows. Inside the original lean-to timber frame is visible and appears C18th. A two storey corridor tower was added to the back of the main range in the LC18th to connect the upper rooms allowing private doors to each bedroom and the low roof is visible. This is actually a type of parapet to a flat roof which has been inserted to connect to a LC20th extension containing a Dining Room. This has a gabled projection with a double pair of French doors, an 8/8 sash window and a 12 pane glazed back door. The main range has a four light dormer and a gabled 9/9 LC20th casement lighting the Landing. Planning was granted in 2004 - LB/EPF/0291/04. Grade II Listed building application for replacement windows except those in the top floor, demolition of existing conservatory and erection of new rear extension and conservatory centre section.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
Description – External – The Cottage
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The Cottage is a separate building.
The eastern elevation of the Main House is obscured by the adjacent cottage.
South Elevation
The one and a half storey timber-framed cottage is shown on the 1838 Tithe Map as a dwelling occupied by William Pavitt, wheelwright. He probably worked for the inventor Isaac Taylor who was known for having a workshop/ laboratory attached to his house. There is a LC20th flat-roofed extension. There are two tiny dormers with the western (LHS) being halved and push up against a brick chimney.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
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The eastern elevation of the Cottage.
The northern elevation of The Cottage.
Eastern Elevation and Northern Elevations
The current conversion is entirely recent and incorporates some awkward fenestration with one casement laid on its side and a sash window with landscape panes. There is a small oak porch that matches that to the main front door.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
Description – Internal – Ground Floor
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2021 Ground Floor and First Floor.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
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2020. Floor plans on RightMove.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
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Looking SW in the Kitchen.
Looking SE in the Kitchen.
Kitchen
The Kitchen has the exposed frame of an MC18th lean-to where the external wall has been removed to build the current extension, (which was put up in place of a conservatory). In the east wall is the base of a firestack that has been hollowed out and may have been a doorway. Against the west wall is a mounting plate for a hand water pump next to an authentic EC18th door. The north wall has a LC20th adaptation of a MC18th fireplace used to house the cooker.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
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LC20th rebuild of an earlier firestack.
The north side of the firestack in the Sitting Room.
Sitting Room (Cross-wing)
The Sitting Room has an exposed 10in wide axial main joist that passes into the firestack which has been recently decorated and has no exposed features.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
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The Staircase looking SW.
Looking down the staircase.
The Staircase
The staircase appears M-LC18th and has a closed string with simple panels in the carcase and ramped wainscoting. The turned spindles are all slightly different from being handmade and the newel posts have Tuscan capitals, pedestals and a slight entasis. The understairs closet has a Georgian style two panel servant’s door and would have accessed the Cellar.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
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Looking NW in the Front Room.
Looking SW in the Front Room.
Front Room (Cross-wing)
The front room displays the heavy 10in wide axial joist with chamfer and short cut stops and 3.5in common joists set on edge of a C17th style timber-frame. The walls are carefully panelled in C16th or C17th style panels with chamfered transoms and muntins. The detailing around the door suggests they were resited in the C19th and several panels have been cut short to fit but the paintwork covers all the joins so some may be original and others moved to suit the windows.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
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Looking E in the Living Room. The fireplace is LC20th.
Looking NW in the Living Room.
Living Room (Main Range)
The Living Room was originally two large rooms with fireplaces in each room. The dividing wall has been removed and placed with a deep section beam. The original south wall has been largely removed and a display frame fabricated from older scantling timbers which are all out of place. This has conjoined the rear extension made in the EC19th for new utility rooms with the volume of the main range. The fireplace at the eastern end of the room is entirely LC20th constructed with sandy cement with a very low bressummer. The stack can be seen upstairs and appears to be entirely modern.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
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The c.1800 fireplace and two panelled door.
The Hallway has been tunnelled through the original C17th firestack. Looking N.
There is a c.1800 round-backed fireplace with red 65x110-110x230mm bricks set in hard white lime mortar. There are blocks set in for attaching a surround and battens or panelling. The bressummer is of segmental bricks with a wrought iron strap. Adjacent is a C.1800 two panel door and the hallway has been panelled out in one decorative scheme. To achieve this the original large C17th stack has been tunnelled through and fireplaces created on either side. That in the Front Room is now hidden.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
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Looking NE in the 2006 extension.
Looking SW in the 2006 extension.
2006 Extension
The rear extension was built between 2005 and 2006 as shown on Google earth. According to the current owners it is of substandard workmanship and the roof leaks.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
Description – Internal – First Floor
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Front Bedroom in the Cross-wing.
Looking E in the Front Bedroom.
Front Bedroom (Cross-wing)
The Front Bedroom is panelled in the same way as the Front Room directly below except that it can be seen that the panels and trims are made from pine. There are two c.1800 closet doors cut for distorted frames and hung on IL and H hinges nailed to the frames.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
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c.1800 two panel closet door.
The interior of the closet reveal the panels are all pine.
Landing Closet
The Landing Closet is of interest because it shows the pine board construction of c.1800 which is part of a suite of decor that runs through the whole original house.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
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Looking NE in the Main Bedroom.
Looking S in the Main Bedroom.
Main Bedroom (Main Range)
There are exposed frames in the Main Bedroom which are a mix of an original C17th frame that has been stripped and reworked adding primary bracing, interrupted studwork and scantling studs to support lath and plaster. The top-plates, storey posts and some six inch wide studs remain from the original frame.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
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The Back Bedroom displays only the main axial joist. Looking NE.
The view of the connection between the back of the house and the new Dining Room.
Back Bedroom (Cross-wing)
The Back Bedroom is in the cross-wing and only the main axial joist for the attic floor is visible. Out of the east window is a good view of the modern connection for the 2005 rear extension with a flat roof and small pitched roof parapet.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
Description - Internal – Attic Rooms
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The Attic staircase.
Machine turned spindles.
There is a change in character for the Attic staircase which has identical machine turned spindles and square section newel posts which indicates it was made in the MC19th or later.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
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The roof frame over the Attic staircase. Looking SE.
The roof frame over the Rear Attic Bedroom. Looking SE.
The Cross-wing has a clasped side purlin roof with centre-tenoned collars and paired rafters set on edge There is evidence for trenched windbraces that have been removed. The roof is characteristic of the LC16th or EC17th. The chimney stack which comes up from the Sitting Room has EC19th brickwork.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
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Looking N from the Landing.
Detail of a collar cut through to insert a dragon beam for the corner hip.
The cross-wing was originally gabled to the front (north) and the frame has been reworked to create a corner hip by cutting through the collar and inserting a dragon beam to carry the roof around.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
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Looking E in the main range Office. Note the birdsmouthed strut.
Looking E in the main range Bedroom.
The main range also has a collar purlin roof but it been reinforced with birdsmouthed collars where the dormers have been cut in. The chimney stack that ascends from the Living Room is entirely LC20th but has been built of reclaimed bricks. All the Attic rooms were lath and plastered and the partition walls are made from scantling fixed in side nailed rebates.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
Topographical Survey from Maps
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1777 Chapman and Andre’s Map of Essex.
1805 Ordnance Survey Map.
The settlement of Hare Street is well marked as a row of separate large properties. Expansion is noted between 1777 and 1805.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
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1838. The Tithe Map for Stanford Rivers. IR29/12/311
Plot 648 Stanford House & Garden, occupied by Isaac Taylor and owned by John Kynaston who owned nearly all the surrounding land and properties. The adjoined Plot 649 House and Garden was occupied by William Pavott. White’s Directory of Essex 1848 and 1863 has Isaac Taylor, gentleman and William Pavitt, Wheelwright. The 1874 Post Office Directory has William Pavitt, Wheelwright but Isaac Taylor who was an artist, author and inventor died in 1865. By 1873 Plot 649 had become the Post Office.
1873 Ordnance Survey.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
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1896 Ordnance Survey.
1920 Ordnance Survey.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
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1972 Ordnance Survey.
2000. Google earth. The Kitchen extension, conservatory and Pool House has been built.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
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2005. Google earth.
2006. Google earth. The rear extension has replaced the conservatory.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
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2020. Google earth.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
Phasing and Discussion
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2020. General Phase Plan. Estate agents plan from Right Move.
Phase 1. C17th. Original timber-framed house.
The building retains enough timber-frame and roof structure to identify an L-shaped house with a cross-wing on the western end. There are 10in main axial joists with deep chamfers and short cut stops in the cross-wing with 3.5in common joist set on edge (this identifies them as C17th). The original 6x4in studs have mostly been reused in the Georgian works but some remain with trenches for internal braces which again is a C17th feature.
The roof has a clasped side purlin structure where the collars are centre tenoned and the paired rafters are set on edge.
Phase 2. M-LC18th Georgiansation of the House.
There would have been a Tudor brick firestack in the party wall between the cross-wing and the main range but this has been tunnelled through to create the current entrance hall. This would have been done in the Georgian era (1714-1828) and is very common feature in Essex buildings.
Two rooms are panelled out. That on the ground floor may have C17th panels resited and cut to fit around the sash windows. They have the correct proportions and pegged fixings but have been painted throughout. The panels in the upper room can be seen in the closet as being made from pine and therefore C18th.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
The main dating feature is the M-LC18th staircase with its turned from square spindles, ramped handrails, Tuscan newel posts and nailed construction. The spindles are all slightly different as they are hand turned rather than machine made. Towards the very end of the C18th (1799 on) the style changed to stick balusters and later machine made spindles returned in Victorian times and these are seen on the Attic stairs. Page | 35 In the M-LC18th and EC19th it was common to add a rear range with utility rooms and servant’s stairs. Most of this has been removed but its plan can be discerned. The building now used as an annexe (133 London Road) has a simple exposed frame from this period and may have originally been a coach house.
The main facade was lath and plastered and sash windows added symmetrically about a Georgian doorcase, door and fanlight.
Phase 3. Victorian additions. Attic stairs.
From 1825 until his death in 1865 the inventor, painter and writer Isaac Taylor lived at Stanford Rivers House with his wife and his nine children: Jane, who married, first, Dr. Harrison, and secondly, the Rev. S. D. Stubbs; Isaac Taylor (1829–1901), churchman and author; Phœbe; James Medland Taylor, architect, born 1834; Rosa; Henry Taylor, architect and author, born in 1837; Catherine; Jessie, who married Thomas Wilson; and Euphemia.
With so many children it was probably he who had the bedrooms built or improved in the Attics and the upper section of staircase put in. It is noted that he had a workshop at the House but by the time of the 1838 Tithe Map the adjacent building was occupied by William Pavott, wheelwright. The Tithe Map shows an outbuilding south of the House which could have been a workshop. Apart from a pair of margin glazed French windows there are no other Victorian features visible in the main House. The cottage became a Post Office by 1874.
Phase 4. LC20th additions.
It is impossible that the House remained static for 150 years. However, the House has been thoroughly stripped of many of its finishes, fireplaces, ceilings and architectural detailing. Fortunately the Georgian panelling has been retained. There is a large lean-to that subsumes the earlier Kitchen lean-to. There is a large inglenook style fireplace in the Living Room which is entirely LC20th and the internal walls have been removed to form open plan living which was much favoured in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
To the west, two buildings were built probably as garages or workshops and these were later combined to form an indoor swimming pool.
Phase 5. 2006 rear extension for Dining Room.
Google earth shows there was a conservatory on the back of the House in AD2000. This was removed and replaced with the current Dining Room between 2005 and 2006.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
Significance
Stanford Rivers House is a Listed building associated with the famous literary figure Isaac Taylor, who along with other members of his family, was famous in several disciplines in the MC19th. He lived there from 1825 – 1865. The structure was originally a C17th timber- Page | 36 framed range and cross-wing of a fully floored building with brick firestacks and a clasped side purlin roof, all built in oak.
Like many such buildings it was gentrified in the Georgian era and retains a fine MC18th staircase and two panelled rooms, a good quality front door with period fanlight. The level of remodelling was high, with whole walls being cut about and remodelled and sash windows replacing the original openings. The original firestack was tunnelled through and new fireplaces inserted.
In the Victorian period the staircase was extended up to the Attics and more rooms created probably to cater for Isaac Taylors’ nine children. The adjacent cottage was occupied by a wheelwright and later became a Post Office.
Extensive works were carried out in the LC20th including adding a lean-to extension and a conservatory. In 2006 the conservatory was replaced with a more solid extension containing a Dining Room. All the sash windows have been replaced.
Acknowledgements
I am indebted to the owners for engaging me to record the building and to Martyn Pattie, architect for recommending me and providing the architect’s plans.
Bibliography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Taylor
Alcock et al. Recording Timber-framed buildings: an illustrated glossary. CBA Reprint 2008.
Brunskill, R.W. Brick and Clay Building in Britain. 2009.
Hall, Linda. Period House Fixtures and Fittings 1300-1900. Countryside Books. 2005.
Harris, Richard. Discovering Timber -framed Buildings. Shire Publications. 1978.
Hewett, Cecil. English Historic Carpentry. Phillimore. 1980.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
Appendix 1 – Pool House and Gym. HE Level 1.
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The eastern elevation of the Pool House.
The southern elevation of the Pool House.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
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The western elevation of the Pool House.
The eastern elevation of the Pool House. The north range contains the pool.
Two separate buildings appear on the site between 1961 and 1972 which were both likely to be garages and/or workshops. These replaced a larger rectangular building shown on the 1961 large scale 1:10560 OS map. The building have subsequently been conjoined and a swimming pool installed.
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
Appendix 2 – Isaac Taylor
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Isaac Taylor. 1787 -1865. Isaac Taylor. 1787 -1865. By Josiah Gilbert 1862.
Isaac Taylor. 1787 -1865. 30 January 1782 – 20 December 1866
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
He was the eldest surviving son of Isaac Taylor of Ongar. He was born at Lavenham, Suffolk, on 17 August 1787, and moved with his family to Colchester and, at the end of 1810, to Ongar. In the family tradition, he was trained as draughtsman and engraver. After a few years' occupation as a designer of book illustrations, he turned to literature as vocation.[1] From 1812 to 1816 he wintered in the west of England, and he spent most of this time at Ilfracombe and Marazion in the company of his sister, Jane. About 1815 through the Page | 40 works of Sulpicius Severus he started to collect patristic literature. Shortly afterwards Francis Bacon's De Augmentis excited his interest in inductive philosophy. In 1818 a friend of the family, Josiah Conder, then editor of the Eclectic Review, persuaded Taylor to join its regular staff, which already included Robert Hall, John Foster, and Olinthus Gilbert Gregory.[1] In 1825 he settled at Stanford Rivers, about two miles from Ongar, in a rambling old- fashioned farmhouse. There he married, on 17 August 1825, Elizabeth, second daughter of James Medland of Newington, the friend and correspondent of his sister Jane. In 1836 Taylor contested the chair of logic at Edinburgh University with Sir William Hamilton, and was narrowly beaten. In March 1841, in Hanover Square, he delivered four lectures on 'Spiritual Christianity'. Though he joined the Anglican communion at an early stage in his career, Taylor remained on good terms with friends among the dissenters.[1] Taylor was granted a civil list pension of £200 in 1862 as acknowledgment of his services to literature, and he died at Stanford Rivers three years later, on 28 June 1865.[1] Works[edit] As a young man he executed designs for his father and for the books issued by his sister Jane Taylor. He executed anatomical drawings for a surgeon, and painted miniatures, one a portrait of his sister, another of himself in 1817. Some of his designs for John Boydell's 'Illustrations of Holy Writ' (1820), were admired by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and compared by Alexander Gilchrist with some of the plates of William Blake (Life of Blake, 1863).[1] In 1822 appeared Taylor's first book, The Elements of Thought (London, 1823; 11th edit. 1867), later recast as The World of Mind (London, 1857). This was followed in 1824 by a new translation of the Characters of Theophrastus (by 'Francis Howell,' London). The translator added pictorial renderings of the characters drawn on wood by himself. In 1825 there followed the Memoirs, Correspondence, and Literary Remains of Jane Taylor (London, 1825, 2 vols.; 2nd edit. 1826; incorporated in The Taylors of Ongar, 1867).[1] History of the Transmission of Ancient Books to Modern Times (London, 1827) and The Process of Historical Proof (London, 1828) were later remodelled as a single work (1859), in which he attempted to show grounds for accepting literary documents like the Bible as a basis for history. Next appeared an expurgated translation of Herodotus (London, 1829), work which seems to have suggested an anonymous romance, The Temple of Melekartha (London, 1831), dealing with the prehistoric migration of the Tyrians from the Persian Gulf to the Levant. Taylor is said to have depicted his wife in the heroine. His next and best-known work, The Natural History of Enthusiasm (London; Boston, 1830; 10th edit. London, 1845), appeared anonymously in May 1829. It was a sort of historico-philosophical disquisition on religious imagination, and had an instant vogue. Taylor developed the subject in his Fanaticism (London, 1833; 7th edit. 1866) and Spiritual Despotism (London, 1835, three editions). Three further volumes on scepticism, credulity, and the corruption of morals were included in the author's plan of a 'morbid anatomy of spurious religion,' but these complementary volumes were never completed. Those that appeared were praised by John Wilson in Blackwood's Magazine and the last of the three particularly by Sir James Stephen in the Edinburgh Review (April 1840).[1] In the meantime Taylor had published a devotional volume, Saturday Evening (London, 1832; many editions in England and America). Subsequently, he developed a part of that
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk
book into The Physical Theory of Another Life (London, 1836; 6th edit. 1866), a work of speculation, anticipating a scheme of duties in a future world, adapted to an assumed expansion of human powers after death.[1] His next book was Home Education (London, 1838; 7th edit. 1867), in which he insisted on the beneficial influence of a country life, the educational value of children's pleasures, and the natural rather than the stimulated growth of a child's mental powers. He then Page | 41 completed and edited a translation of the Jewish Wars of Josephus by Robert Traill (1793– 1847);[2] it appeared in two sumptuous illustrated volumes (1847 and 1851), but lost money.[1] In his publication during 1839–40 of Ancient Christianity and the Doctrines of the Oxford Tracts (in 8 parts, London; 4th edit. 1844, 2 vols.), Taylor argued as controversialist against the Tracts for the Times, his contention being that the Christian Church of the fourth century had already matured into superstition and error. This view was contested. Loyola and Jesuitism in its Rudiments (London, 1849; several editions) and Wesley and Methodism (London, 1851; 1863, 1865, and New York, 1852) were followed by a popular work on the Christian argument, The Restoration of Belief (London, 1855,; several American editions), an anonymous publication. Logic in Theology and Ultimate Civilisation were volumes of essays reprinted in part from the Eclectic Review during 1859 and 1860, and were followed in turn by The Spirit of Hebrew Poetry (London, 1861; numerous editions), a volume of lectures, originally delivered at Edinburgh. After Considerations on the Pentateuch (London, 1863; two editions), in which he opposed the conclusions of John William Colenso, and a number of short memoirs for the Imperial Dictionary of Biography, his last work was Personal Recollections (London, 1864), a series of papers, in part autobiographical, which had appeared in Good Words.[1] Inventor[edit] Taylor was interested in mechanical devices and inventions, and he had workshop that he fitted up at Stanford Rivers. Early in life he invented a beer-tap (patented 20 November 1824) which came into wide use, and he designed a machine for engraving on copper (pat. 12248, 21 August 1848). Though it did not profit him, the idea was eventually applied on a large scale by a syndicate to engraving patterns on copper cylinders for calico printing in Manchester.[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Taylor
Barry J Hillman-Crouch MStPA DipFA BSc HND. Tel. 0794 2010703. e-mail [email protected]. Website www.dowsingarchaeology.org.uk