The Victorian Society in Registered Charity No. 1081435 Registered Charity No.1081435 Summer Newsletter 2014

EDITORIAL has, indeed, been the subject for in other comments on the question of monographic books by Ian he clearly distinguished between the Toplis (1987) and Bernard Porter ‘Greek’ idiom of the ancient world THE BATTLE OF THE STYLES (2011) – as well as of a number of and the ‘Italian’ of the Renaissance. CONTINUED? scholarly articles, beginning with What he surely meant was a building David Brownlee’s ‘That regular in the Victorian Italianate style which, Anyone with more than a passing mongrel affair’ in 1985. Brownlee by the end of the 1850s, had become interest in Victorian architecture will conceptualized the contretemps as the expressive idiom for a far greater know about the ‘battle of the styles’ the moment when the High Victorian proportion of British architecture than that began at the start of the Queen’s movement in architecture was derailed was encompassed by neo-Gothic reign and reached its climax with by an elderly survivor (Palmerston was churches, educational buildings and the commission for new government 76 in 1860) of the earlier nineteenth- the like. It was an idiom that had just offices on Whitehall between 1856 and century Reform movement, whose as much right as the Gothic Revival 1860. The three-section competition, architectural ideas were retrogressively to claim to represent ‘the modern launched during Lord Palmerston’s late Georgian. Although more school of English architecture’, as first administration, resulted in victories nuanced interpretations have emerged W.H. Leeds called it in the title of for little-known architects peddling subsequently, that idea has basically his 1839 monograph on Charles versions of contemporary Parisian stuck. architecture. The block-plan section was even won by a Beaux-Arts-trained architect, Alphonse Crépinet. The ensuing debate about British national identity, which centred on the appropriateness of neo-Gothic precedents for secular as well as for sacred buildings, resulted in the insertion of George Gilbert Scott as architect for the government offices in 1858, during the brief Tory administration of Lord Derby.

On his return to the premiership in 1859, however, Palmerston would have nothing to do with Scott’s Gothic Revival designs. Scott declined to take Gladstone’s advice that he should resign the commission. Instead, he attempted to retain his neo-medieval principles by switching the style of his design from Gothic to ‘Italo-Byzantine’. In 1860 Palmerston’s patience ran Burnley Mechanics Institute (1854-55) architect James Green out and he ordered the architect to abandon that ‘regular mongrel affair’ It is not, however, Palmerston’s remark Barry’s Pall Mall Travellers’ Club and make ‘a design in the ordinary on Scott’s ‘regular mongrel affair’ in Pall Mall. Joint stock and private Italian’ - or face the sack. Swallowing that catches my eye, but rather his banks, insurance buildings, clubs his pride, Scott (with the assistance of subsequent instruction to the architect and mechanics’ institutes, hotels and the East India Company’s architect, to make ‘a design in the ordinary suburban villas are all building types Matthew Digby Wyatt) went on to Italian’. What did the Prime Minister in which the Italianate predominated, produce the magnificent neo- mean by this? Not, of course, that at least up to the 1860s (much later Renaissance building that is today’s he wanted a mundane building and outside London). The warehouses Foreign and Commonwealth Office. not, I believe, that he wanted an old- of Charlotte Street in Manchester fashioned building. Neither did he exemplify it, as they do in Bradford The story is very well known and mean a generically classical building, and Glasgow. There is also good 1 Courts Act of 1846, responsibility for the erection of new buildings for hearing small debt cases was handed by the Home Office to the Metropolitan Police architect, Charles Reeves. From his London base he designed over sixty County Courts across and Wales. Almost all of them were Italianate palazzi and the finest examples are found in the growing towns of south and west Yorkshire, where they evidently became representative of civic rivalry and pride. ’s handsome County Court dates from c.1865 and was thus probably designed by Reeves’ assistant and successor, Thomas Charles Sorby. The strong commitment to the Italianate in the north-west can be seen further in buildings like Burnley’s Mechanics’ Institute, erected in 1854-55. Its architect, James Green Heywood's Bank, Manchester (1849-50): architect John Gregan of Todmorden, had evidently been studying John Gregan’s bank for Sir representation in public architecture - medieval and vernacular in nineteenth- Benjamin Heywood in St Ann Street, with Edward Walters’ century architectural design. There Manchester, completed in 1849/50. in Peter Street and Blackburn Town are really no equivalents for the No history of banking architecture in Hall as prime examples. Indeed, the ‘ordinary’ Italian. The source books Britain would be complete without this outcome of the government offices for Italian Renaissance architecture stellar Mancunian example, although competition set Whitehall on a path of used by Victorian architects were the building has not yet been fully neo-Renaissance and neo-Baroque French, not English. More than half understood. Only the basement and architecture that would only come to of the non-French subscribers to ground floor of the stone section an end with William Whitfield’s retiring Paul-Marie Letarouilly’s Edifices de housed banking activities. The neo-Elizabethan building opposite for Rome moderne in 1840 were British two upper floors provided palatial the Department of Health of 1987 – including Manchester’s own Edward accommodation for the Manager and . Walters. The copy of Letarouilly now his servants, whilst the brick section The Italianate has been forced to play in the Deansgate Library belonged in to the south, generally referred to second fiddle to the Gothic Revival for 1855 to James Stevens, an architect as the Manager’s House, in fact too long in our understanding of early who lived and worked in Macclesfield contained service quarters above a and mid-Victorian architecture. Even but kept an office at 32 Princess pair of ground-floor reception rooms in James Stevens Curl’s magisterial Street (and was later, in 1882-83, for the use of Sir Benjamin and Lady 2007 history 'Victorian Architecture: President of the Manchester Society of Heywood. Diversity and Invention' it is largely Architects). Then there are the lacunae bundled up within a single chapter in the secondary literature: for Walters Most of the buildings mentioned so (among twelve), significantly titled we have never had a monographic far have been versions of the astylar ‘Some Styles other than Gothic’! study, and the same is true for most ‘palazzo’ manner pioneered by There are many reasons for this, of of the other greatest exponents of the at the Travellers’ Club in course. Even now we are still engaged Italianate in Victorian Britain, such as 1830 and reiterated at the Athenaeum in a process of reclaiming the validity David Bryce and David Rhind, both in on Princess Street in 1837. It must of Victorian architecture from a Edinburgh, Charles Lanyon in Belfast, be recognized, however, that this twentieth-century view that, insofar as Yeoville Thomason in Birmingham, the represents only one genre within the it recognized the nineteenth century London City architect James Bunstone overall idiom that can be defined as at all, chose to see the Gothic Revival Bunning, and even Sir Charles Barry. ‘Italianate’ in Victorian Britain. Indeed and its Arts and Crafts progeny as the the term itself seems first to have antecedents of its own Modernism As these examples indicate, the been associated with those earlier (though members of Victorian Italianate story is a truly nationwide nineteenth-century villas, also astylar Societies tend to take a more catholic one and we lose essential aspects but given belvedere towers, of which view!). Then there are the texts, of it if we view Victorian architecture the Queen’s own Osborne House was from Pugin to Ruskin to Eastlake to centripetally, from the capital outwards. to become the most iconic example. Morris, that make powerful polemical Indeed, northern England is – along At Ellel, near Lancaster, the Liverpool arguments – so attractive to scholars with Scotland – probably the major whisky merchant and Mayor William and journalists – for the role of the region for the idiom. With the County 2 Preston built himself one of the best In an essentially pluralistic age like remarkable, as John Booker pointed Osbornes-in-miniature in 1857-59, that of Victoria’s Britain, it would out in his 1990 study 'Temples but there are many others nationwide, be perverse to claim that Italianate of Mammon: The Architecture of especially when one includes the architecture can be conceived as Banking', that so many hundreds middle-class suburban villa. a clearly defined and ‘pure’ stylistic of banks across the country were alternative to the logic of the Gothic erected in the Italianate idiom, often Other genres of ‘Italianate’ Revival. Hardly any architect worked as the most prominent and distinctive architecture in Victorian Britain must solely in the Italianate style; the buildings in town centres, without any include derivatives of Florentine or exclusive use of a single architectural indication at all in directors’ minutes Venetian Quattrocento architecture, style is only found among some Gothic of stylistic debate or uncertainty at such as J.A. Picton’s Hargreaves revivalists. Moreover, the Gothic the point of commission. That’s just Buildings of 1859 in Chapel Street, and Italianate idioms both became what the image of a bank was to the Liverpool - a good reinterpretation submerged in the neo-vernacular and average Victorian in 1860 – a building of what Ruskin called ‘Early eclectic approaches of late Victorian in what even the Prime Minister recognized as ‘the ordinary Italian’ style.

Dr Frank Salmon

Frank Salmon is Senior Lecturer in History of Art at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge. He taught at the from 1989 to 2002, initially under the guidance of John Archer. One legacy of that time is the book he is currently working on about Italianate architecture in Victorian Britain.

The Manchester Victorian Society c/o Portico Library 57 Manchester M2 3HY

The Victorian Society is the champion for Victorian and Edwardian buildings in England County Courts, Encombe Place, Salford (c.1865). and Wales

Renaissance’ in 'The Stones of architects – although Robert J. Venice'. It should be recalled that Johnson’s Hodgkin, Barnett, Pease NEWS Ruskin did not despise this type of and Spence Bank on Collingwood architecture, reserving his famous Street in Newcastle shows that the The Victorian Society Waterhouse comment on the ‘foul torrent of the palazzo genre was still alive and Lecture Renaissance’ for what we would healthy into the 1890s. Nevertheless, At a meeting earlier this year, the recognize as the later developments there is a case for re-conceptualizing Manchester Group Committee of Mannerism and the Baroque. None Italianate architecture – not as the unanimously endorsed a proposal the less, both Mannerist and Baroque conservative choice of a Liberal Prime to institute an annual special buildings in Italy did come to serve Minister foisted onto an unwilling lecture which will, thanks to the as models for Victorian architects, nation, but as a new approach to support of the Society’s National as did the richly sculptured ‘High the classical tradition originating in Trustees, be called The Victorian Renaissance’ work of Sansovino in the early 1830s that, by the end of Society Waterhouse Lecture. The Venice (which the Victorians rather the 1850s, had become more or purpose of the lecture is to attract confusingly tended to call ‘Palladian’). less ubiquitous and was deemed eminent scholars and researchers As Richard Jenkyns has observed, symbolically appropriate for the to present their latest thoughts on when we consider William Gingell’s burgeoning Victorian nation. We see any aspect of our areas of interest. fabulous West of England and South this most clearly in the architecture of Whilst our pre-eminent interests are Wales District Bank, begun on banking, effectively a new industry in architecture, engineering, design and ’s Corn Street in 1854, the year the nineteenth century with the advent the decorative arts those areas may after the third volume of The Stones of Joint Stock and Savings Banks, but also range through social history, of Venice appeared, ‘it is as though with roots stretching back to Medicean science and medicine. Because [Ruskin] had never written’. Florence and maritime Venice. It is of the fashion for referencing all historical periods by the dates of 3 royal sovereigns and the fact that “de facto,” extended its boundary changes in taste, styles and fashions 1897-1903 Salford northwards. Later purchases of the don’t always synchronize precisely Northern Cemetery, Drinkwater estate in Prestwich for with those dates, these lectures may an isolation hospital and land to the sometimes deal with periods slightly north of Agecroft for Salford’s second Among the Victorian Society’s list of outside 1837 – 1914. electricity generating station further the most endangered buildings of 2012 increased its land holding outside its was included the former Church of is the architect formal boundaries. For Corbett this England Mortuary Chapel at Salford associated with Manchester who has had the additional advantage of giving Northern Cemetery. Although listed acquired the most significant national the municipal authority control of the Grade II the building has been unused reputation. He moved his practice to river bank, allowing appropriate flood since the 1970s and, with no obvious London whilst still in his mid-thirties. control measures and denying the alternative use, faces an uncertain However, as John Archer pointed opportunity for further factory building future. The background to the creation out in his Art and Architecture in (with associated pollution) along the of this, the last of Salford’s municipal Victorian Manchester, his two early banks of this stretch of the river, an cemeteries, provides a fascinating buildings in the city, both demolished, area still at the time essentially rural. insight into the workings of municipal were seminal influences on other Corbett had personal dreams of authorities at the end of the Victorian architects and buildings. The restoring the river to its condition in the era Chorlton-on-Medlock warehouse for 1840s and at the same time creating a Binyon and Fryer was an archetype water park through Salford. By the mid-1890s Salford’s first for Ruskinian Venetian Gothic and in municipal cemetery at Weaste was the Assize Courts, Strangeways can Joseph Corbett prepared plans for filling rapidly, with almost 200,000 be seen the genesis of his design for the Cemetery in 1899, and in the interments. Simple mathematics Manchester Town Hall, built a decade same year a competition was held for indicated that within twenty years later. the design of the chapels, lodge and additional burial provision would prove office buildings, a competition won necessary. Thus in 1897 Salford by local architects Walter Sharp and Corporation purchased a 45 acre site Fred Foster. The cemetery layout including the farm buildings of Agecroft was a simple grid-iron pattern with the Grange from Robert Dauntesey of three chapels positioned on a central the nearby (1), the last north-south axis, the Anglican Chapel surviving member of the ancient family. in the centre, opposite the entrance gates, the Non-conformist Chapel to Situated on the west bank of the River the north and the now demolished Irwell close to Agecroft Bridge, the Roman Catholic Chapel to the site of the proposed cemetery was south. The creation of a crematorium one well-known to Salford’s borough was also considered but the idea engineer, Joseph Corbett, who had was rejected. Only in 1957 was the been a member of the nearby Agecroft non-conformist chapel converted into a Rowing Club since 1864. Born in crematorium. The design also provided 1842, Joseph Corbett was the son a strip of land ten yards wide between of the architect Edward Corbett, and the boundary wall of the cemetery and was formerly a member of the firm the river to allow works on the river of Corbett and Roby, later E. Corbett bank and the creation of a riverside and Sons. Works designed by the walk. practice included Barton Arcade and Alfred Waterhouse by Ralph Winwood Hayward’s Building in Deansgate, Robinson 1889 © National Portrait Notwithstanding his architectural Manchester. Five years a member Gallery, London background, this was one of Corbett’s of the Salford Corporation, Joseph We trust that our loyal and few opportunities as a designer. For Corbett resigned and was appointed enthusiastic Manchester group the most part, his schemes were more Borough Engineer of Salford in 1892. endorses the concept and name of prosaic, including flood prevention Corbett saw the Agecroft site not The Victorian Society Waterhouse measures on the in Lower merely as a burial ground but one that Lecture and will support the initiative. Broughton, and plans for complete offered several additional advantages Your committee will be very happy to installation of electric tramways in to further both his professional and receive suggestions for future topics, place of horse car system. For eight personal ambitions. speakers and venues regarding years Corbett conducted extensive this significant development for the experiments in sewage purification, The site was outside the municipal Manchester Group. resulting in a scheme for completing boundary, in the adjacent borough of the Salford Sewage Works, including . By its purchase Salford aerated filters, etc. One last piece of David Harwood had not only resolved the difficulty this jig-saw remained – the disposal Chair: Manchester Group of the of providing a suitable site within of the solid waste – giving rise to Victorian Society its own municipal boundaries, but, 4 Corbett’s most unusual commission, coalfield, closed and the the design of the 600-ton twin screw site has been cleared, as has Agecroft steamship, “County Borough of power station and the Thermalite AGECROFT HALL: Salford,” destined to spend its life concrete block works, built on the site From Elizabethan Manor transporting the sludge from the of Agecroft Hall. Water quality of the to Victorian Country sewage works at Mode Wheel along Irwell continues to improve and plans House: part One the and River have been drawn up for the Red Rose Mersey to the dumping grounds in Forest, a park stretching from central Liverpool Bay. This somewhat crude Manchester to the West Pennine “A house that has crossed the method of disposal was also adopted Moors. A century after his death, ocean is presumably an object of by Manchester Corporation at their Corbett’s dreams are perhaps now some reverence. If we may picture sewage works on the closer to fruition. Agecroft Hall ....in ample meadows opposite bank of the Ship Canal and with bright sunshine, and with its raft- only ceased when a pipeline was Regrettably the same cannot be ers echoing again to the sounds of opened in 1988. In 1999 EU directives said of the redundant and decaying a home, the rebirth will have had its finally prohibited dumping the waste at Mortuary Chapel building in the compensation.” sea. Cemetery. The Manchester Guardian 1926

The cemetery was officially opened Notes: Evoking an image of Elizabethan on 2 July 1903 to mixed reviews. The 1 Agecroft Hall: a mediaeval half-timbered hall splendour, Agecroft Hall, originally Manchester Guardian, intent, it would set round a courtyard, the ancient home of the located in Lancashire, England, has seem, on perpetuating the myth of the Langley and Dauntesey families. By the 1930s been a Virginia landmark since it was grim industrial North, described the the hall had had enough of the encroaching disassembled and brought to mining industry and emigrated to the United district as one which at one time was Richmond by American banker States in boxes. Here it was rebuilt on the banks Thomas C. Williams Jr. in the 1920s. of considerable natural beauty but was of the James River at Richmond, Virginia, now surrounded by tall chimneys and where it remains. Williams had the house rebuilt on manufacturing works, whist the Mayor 2 See also Joseph Corbett: “The River Irwell,” a grassy hill overlooking the James of Salford claimed that no area in the published in 1907, which contains a number River just west of the city. And so, neighbourhood could excel that of of contemporary photographs of the upper 400 years after its original construc- the Northern Cemetery for suitability reaches of the river in the vicinity of Agecroft tion, Agecroft Hall began a new life and picturesque surroundings. Of Cemetery (with not a factory chimney in sight). in the New World. Ironically though, course there was industry in the the house had already experienced valley, particularly to the south of the Neil Darlington April 2014 another, earlier rebirth in England cemetery, with coal mining which during the mid-nineteenth century. would eventually extend to the gates Until his retirement, Neil Darlington of Agecroft Hall, to the west . However, was an architect in private practice Starting in the 1850s, Agecroft’s there was still extensive farm land to for almost forty years. He is a owners went to great effort and the north and east, the nearby valley contributor to Historic Scotland’s expense to restore the hall’s Eliza- sides well-wooded. (2) on-line database, the ‘Dictionary of bethan look and character. Reflecting Scottish Architects,’ and for the past the contemporary fascination with Much of the heavy industry in the fifteen years has been researching the the “Old English” style, they added district has now disappeared. Agecroft lives of architects working in Greater newer, grander Tudor-style colliery, the last deep pit in the Manchester between 1820 and 1940. architectural features and trans- 5 formed the venerable dwelling into a Tudor-style showplace. Agecroft Hall became more “Elizabethan” with each passing year. During the nineteenth century, no-one had any qualms about taking an authentic Tudor and touching it up a bit to make it look even more “authentic.” Surviving period draw- ings and photographs captured this evolution. Photos from the 1880s show the interiors lavishly adorned with deeply carved oak furniture, exotic palms, porcelain, and armour, suggesting the accumulation of centuries. The architectural press started to take notice. Agecroft was featured three times in Country Life magazine as well as in the book, In English Homes. Agecroft provides a Agecroft, Richmond, Virginia in 2013: photograph courtesy Chris Novelli fascinating case study of the Tudor, Agecroft estate was owned by five Henry VIII granted lands to him in or Elizabethan, Revival of the nine- families: the Prestwiches, the 1545, and in 1547 King Edward VI teenth century as well as the English Langleys, the Daunteseys, the Hulls, made him a knight. The fortunes Aesthetic movement, which dominat- and the Bucks. The earliest part of of the Langley family reached their ed interior design during the 1870s the original house, before its zenith during Robert’s lifetime. During and 1880s. removal, was the east range, or this period, the house appears to wing, believed to date from around have comprised what later became Agecroft’s Early History 1500. Whether this replaced or the east range, including a hall and a Agecroft was located about four incorporated elements of an earlier domestic chapel. This earliest part of miles northwest of Manchester in structure is unknown. In 1527, Robert the house was built using traditional Salford Hundred near the River Langley III (1506-1561) inherited timber-frame construction, with wattle Irwell. Between 1199 and 1925, the Agecroft from his grandfather. King and daub between the timbers.

The Elizabethan Era When Sir Robert Langley died in 1561, his estates were divided among his four daughters. Without a male heir, his death meant the end of the Langley line at Agecroft after nearly 200 years. Robert’s daughter, Anne (1536-1618), received Agecroft Hall. She married William Dauntesey (c1542-1622) of London and Wiltshire around 1570. Agecroft then passed into the Dauntesey family. William Dauntesey, a first son, was a man of wealth and property and a member of the rising gentry class. His family’s wealth was derived from the wool trade.

Even though William Dauntesey inherited properties in London, Wiltshire, and Essex, he made Agecroft his family seat. After his marriage, he added three wings onto the original range, giving the house a fashionable quadrangular plan with a courtyard. William built a new great hall and kitchen across from the original house and connected them with a new family wing on the south

6 side and new servants’ wing along The Nineteenth Century John Hull, a surgeon and distant the north side. William Dauntesey’s The earliest existing image of cousin, who died later the same year. newly enlarged residence was an Agecroft is an engraving thought to John Hull, in turn, left Agecroft jointly excellent example of a traditional be from the early nineteenth century. to his two sisters—Margaret, who Tudor courtyard house. With its It shows the south and east ranges was John Buck’s mother, and her sis- decorative half-timbering, diamond- as they looked before their Victorian ter, Elizabeth, John’s spinster aunt. pane casement windows, and refurbishment. The image shows Upon inheriting Agecroft, John’s chimneys, it reflected the latest archi- that at some point (probably in the parents moved there and assumed tectural fashions and improvements eighteenth century) the exterior of responsibility. John was a year old at in building technology. Whereas the house was covered with plaster the time. He had an older brother, the east range had been built using stucco. This treatment would have Robert, and two sisters, Catherine wattle and daub, William Dauntesey’s reflected Georgian tastes and also and Margaret. John’s father, Rever- new work featured brick infill between protected the timber framing from the end Richard Buck of Fletton (1761- the timbers. elements. The casement windows 1845), held three separate church on the east range were small and livings—one in London and two in As visitors passed through Agecroft’s asymmetrically arranged. Huntingdonshire. arched entranceway, their gaze was directed across the courtyard to the hall entrance opposite and the new hall range with its impressive display of glass windows and ornately patterned gables. This was the primary facade and the most decorated part of the house. During the Elizabethan period, decorative half-timbering reached its highpoint in the counties of Lancashire and Cheshire, and it essentially became a vernacular art form, featuring intricate patterns of stars, crosses, and quatre-foils.

After crossing the courtyard, visitors Agecroft Hall in c1865-75 courtesy of the Director of Agecroft Hall, entered the house proper, passing Richmond Virginia. through the screens passage to the great hall. Whereas medieval great The last direct Dauntesey heir was The years of Margaret and Richard halls had high, open-beam ceilings, Reverend John Dauntesey, who Buck’s ownership during the early William Dauntesey’s new great hall had inherited Agecroft in 1748 and nineteenth century were a time of was one storey, as was the current who died unmarried in 1813. At this dramatic transformation for the entire fashion, and featured a fourteen-foot point, Agecroft passed to a distant Manchester region. The area around plaster ceiling adorned with a grid of branch of the family, the Hull family Manchester, in particular, underwent oak beams. Great halls were still a of Chorley, the nearby Lancashire the drastic changes associated with status symbol in Elizabethan England town. Since so many members of the the worst of the industrial revolution and the traditional setting for feasts Hull family died either unmarried or and went from bucolic pasture and and great occasions, but were no childless during the nineteenth cen- arable fields to coal pits and fac- longer used for everyday dining by tury, the house was bounced around tory smoke which could blot out the the family. between brothers, sisters, aunts, sun at noon. By the middle of the uncles, nephews, nieces, and second 19th century, Manchester was at the From this point, Agecroft passed cousins. Two individuals appear height of industrialization. through successive generations to have been responsible for most of the Dauntesey family. Although of the nineteenth-century work at In 1826, the Reverend Richard Buck alterations were made over the Agecroft, barrister John Buck and his sold leases for coal mines at Agecroft years, none of these were great, second cousin, Captain Robert Hull- to Andrew Knowles, and large-scale and the house retained its basic Brown. John Buck received a quarter coal mining began on the estate. quadrangular form. Beginning in the share of the Agecroft estate in 1841 This brought an infusion of much- late seventeenth century, the family and was the full owner between 1862 needed capital to the manor. began to experience the financial and 1868. Captain Robert Hull- Margaret Buck died in 1830, and in troubles that would plague them into Brown owned it from 1878 until his June 1834 her sister, Miss Elizabeth the nineteenth century. Following the death in 1904. Hull (1779-1862), moved to Age- English Civil War, financial problems croft. In May 1841, at the age of appear to have been endemic among After Reverend John Dauntesey’s eighty, Richard Buck conveyed his the Lancashire gentry. death in 1813, Agecroft passed to half share of the estate to his sons

7 John and Robert, who then became joint owners with their aunt, Elizabeth Hull. In the 1841 census, Robert and John were both recorded as living at Agecroft with their aunt and three servants. In 1843, for some unknown reason, John Buck sold his quarter share of Agecroft to his aunt for £9,000. His brother, Robert, conveyed half of his quarter share to Elizabeth, as well, leaving him with an eighth share in Agecroft. Elizabeth now owned seven-eighths of the Agecroft estate. Reverend Richard Buck died in 1845 at the age of eighty-four.

By the early 1850s, the family had started renovating Agecroft Hall in the fashionable “Old English” style, as it was then known. The second Agecroft Hall Courtyard: courtesy of the Director of Agecroft Hall, oldest image of Agecroft that survives Richmond, Virginia. is a drawing in John Booker’s 1852 Of course, remodellings of country Dauntesey by Act of Parliament or book Memorials of the Church of houses had been going on since the Licence from the Crown in order to Prestwich. This rendering shows the Middle Ages. During the Victorian “prevent the extinction of the name.” east range seemingly frozen in mid- period, however, remodellings were This stipulation required that heirs not metamorphosis. A number of more frequent and on a larger scale. merely add the name Dauntesey to cosmetic alterations intended to This was not so much because their own surname, but that they use restore the original Elizabethan needs and tastes were changing it “alone instead of his or her usual character of the house are evident. rapidly, but that money was coming surname.” Elizabeth bequeathed Most noticeable is the removal of in faster. The Industrial Revolution her seven-eighth shares of Agecroft, most of the plaster stucco to reveal generated a tremendous amount of first, to her nephew, Robert Buck, the underlying timber framing. Large wealth, which affected all levels of then, in case that failed, to his casement windows have been society. Older landed families often brother, John, and then to their sister, installed across the facade and the found their incomes increased as Catherine, and if she had no issue, to smaller windows eliminated, giving coal was found under their fields or Elizabeth’s other nephew, Reverend the east range a more uniform towns spread over their property. Robert Pennyman Hull-Brown, and appearance. An oriel window By the mid-nineteenth century, the finally in case that failed, to his eldest appeared for the first time above Agecroft estate was being heavily son, Robert Hull-Brown. Over the the arched entranceway, and the mined for coal. A circa 1850 map next sixteen years, this proved to be chimney was redesigned. It does shows three separate collieries in the the order of succession at Agecroft. not seem likely that either Reverend immediate vicinity of the house. Unfortunately, Elizabeth’s nephew, Richard Buck or Elizabeth Hull would Robert Buck, died unmarried only have been responsible for these That Agecroft was being renovated three weeks after she did. The changes; Richard was in his eighties in the Elizabethan half-timbered style estate was then settled on Robert’s when he died in 1845, and Elizabeth in 1852 demonstrates that its owners brother, John, who became the would have been seventy-three in were very much aware of sole owner of Agecroft. John Buck 1852. John Buck, on the other hand, current architectural fashions. In became the first in a series of owners was a barrister in London during the fact, Elizabethan manor houses in of the Hall to assume, by royal 1850s and 1860s and would seem Lancashire had begun to be reno- permission, the name of Dauntesey a more likely candidate. He would vated as early as the 1820s. in 1867. Soon after inheriting have been forty in 1852. There is Manchester’s first Gothic Revival Agecroft, he undertook extensive the question, though, of why he buildings were erected in the 1850s, repairs and alterations to the house, would be paying for alterations to a and a revival of half-timbered archi- most of this work taking place house of which he no longer owned tecture began in nearby Cheshire between 1865 and 1867. any share . . . unless he thought he that same decade. might be inheriting it later. It is also The architectural evolution of possible that the idea for restoring Elizabeth Hull died in 1862 at the Agecroft during the nineteenth Agecroft may have originally come age of eighty-three. In a gesture of century is difficult to trace because from Elizabeth and then have been fierce family pride, she stipulated in it is not known exactly when specific implemented by her nephew, John. her thirteen-page will that all heirs alterations were made. One of the must take the name and arms of more significant changes was the 8 reorientation of the main entrance Halls in Lancashire and Cheshire, and informative talk brought us from the east range around to published in Manchester. After up to date with the most recent the south range. By this time, the the turn of the century, Agecroft discoveries in the context of the site’s south and west ranges comprised was discovered by Country Life redevelopment as a flagship hotel the formal rooms and family living Magazine and was featured in and golf course for Peel Holdings. quarters; the north and east ranges October 1902 and again in April were utilitarian servant spaces. 1903. The coverage in Country Life Worsley New Hall was built between There had always been a door on made Agecroft an object of national 1840 and 1845 as a brand new the south range, but now it became attention. The write-ups in both country estate for the first Earl of the main entrance, providing direct issues noted that few timber houses Ellesmere, Francis Egerton, whose access to the great hall, library, like Agecroft were so well preserved, family had made their fortune and drawing room. Other changes and praised the current owner for during the Industrial Revolution included the addition of a butler’s maintaining its ancient character. from the coal mines and canals on pantry in a corner of the courtyard, In 1904, Agecroft was included in the Bridgewater lands centred on a dairy on the north range, and a Charles Latham’s In English Homes, Worsley. The Hall was on a new site housekeeper’s room at the end of the a large folio volume published by and replaced Worsley Old Hall which east range. Interior changes included Country Life with monographs and was deemed too modest. It was a the conversion of the great hall into fine photographs of English houses. rare opportunity to showcase the a billiards room. The kitchen and Agecroft was featured in Country Life talents of an architect, in this case buttery were remodelled into sitting one last time in May 1929. the renowned Edward Blore. (He and smoking rooms, respectively. would later complete Nash’s designs Lavatories were also added. Christopher V. Novelli...... Feb 2014 for Buckingham Palace.) Worsley New Hall was built between 1840 The oldest known photograph of A native of Richmond, Virginia, and 1845, with ten years to establish Agecroft, believed to have been Chris Novelli has worked as an the gardens and lake which were taken between 1865 and 1875, architectural historian with the designed by William Nesfield. The shows the east range basically as Virginia Department of Historic Hall was used as a home for seventy it looked in the 1920s just before Resources and has been a weekend years with time out as a military its removal. The remaining stucco tour guide at Agecroft Hall since hospital during World War 1 and was had been eliminated and the two 1997. He graduated from the then under military occupation during chimneys completely remodelled. University of Virginia in 1996 with World War 2 until falling into disrepair The large pond visible in the a master’s degree in architectural before being demolished above foreground of the photo, though a history. Chris Novelli has lectured ground by contractors in the late very picturesque feature, was formed on architectural topics at the Virginia 1940s. An Anti-Aircraft Operations by the sinking of the ground due to Museum of Fine Arts and has given Bunker was constructed in the coal mines below. Barrister John architectural walking tours of the grounds in the 1950s. Buck Dauntesey died at Agecroft city. Chris visited the U.K. and in 1868, unmarried at the age of Manchester for the first time in 2010. Today various aspects of the estate fifty-six. In his will, he left Agecroft survive: the Head Gardener’s to his sister, Catherine (1808-1878), Part two of this article will appear in the Cottage with its pretty octagonal the one remaining sibling. Catherine next Manchester Group Newsletter. tower, a stable block, a walled garden was living there at the time of the with a heated wall and a boiler house 1871 census with four servants. She The full length article complete with and chimney. No expense for this married, but died childless in 1878 at footnotes is available by emailing extravagant estate had been spared the age of seventy. [email protected] and there still remains the ultimate status symbol for the 1840s of the Ice Agecroft then passed to Catherine’s House, with a frontage also designed second cousin, Captain Robert Hull- MANCHESTER GROUP - by Blore. The boating lake supplied Brown, (1839-1904) who also took EVENT REVIEWS the ice when it froze in winter, and the surname Dauntesey. In 1882, he the lake itself had an ornamental Downton Abbey in Salford: the married Miss Alice Mary Schomberg. island crowned with a folly. Archaeology of Worsley New Hall It was during their ownership that 21 November 2013 YHA Agecroft reached the fullest flower- The archaeological challenge was to ing of its nineteenth-century rebirth. excavate the foundations of Worsley Many the times I have driven Photos taken in 1886 of the house New Hall and uncover the hidden amongst the thousands of vehicles and grounds provide a wonderful elements of the formal gardens: the that daily thunder along the M60 glimpse of Agecroft as a late paths and parterres. As said, the Hall as it bisects the attractive village Victorian country house. had only been demolished above of Worsley without realising what ground, so the foundations were fascinating archaeological remains The architectural press began to intact but backfilled. A Community lay in the wooded slopes to the west take note. As early as 1884, Agecroft Dig in May 2012 was organised. of the crowded motorway: Worsley was featured in Henry Taylor’s Old Once JCBs had scooped out the New Hall. Dr. Mike Nevell’s excellent 9 said backfill “Salford’s Pompeii”, had been lost has been rediscovered local people. as Dr Nevell described it, could be and documented, and many of excavated and revealed, and 3D these features will be preserved and Next door is another remnant of laser scanning would extrapolate and incorporated into the grounds of the Toxteth's past, the High Park Street then recreate images of the house new hotel complex which will arise covered reservoir built in 1845 to . and perpetuate the use of this estate. provide safe drinking water to a It was a vast and complex mansion, growing population crowded into over 100m long with 3-5 storeys and Anne Hodgson Dec 2013 insanitary living conditions plagued basements. On the hillside site, in by cholera. Up to 2 million gallons Gothic style, it boasted turrets, tall Christmas Excursion to Liverpool: of water from the reservoirs at chimneys and a flag-tower which An Xmas lunch and talk at the Anglezarke and Rivington could elevated it prominently above the Florence Institute, Toxteth. 14 be stored in this vast brick-lined, surrounding countryside. There were December 2013 cast iron-pillared cistern. Liverpool many unexpected discoveries: a A prompt start from Store Street subsequently developed its main second lower storey of cellars, the meant arriving at Toxteth Town supply from Wales but the reservoir ashlar cladding of the main front wall, Hall Community Resource Centre, only became redundant in 1996, vents and vertical flues for the central originally the Township of Toxteth to be bought by the Dingle 2000 heating, fire grates and even taps Park Public Offices, exactly on time. Development Trust. This project has and evidence of piped water running These two titles give a hint of the had less success than the Town from a lake three miles away using historical and current uses of the Hall next door becoming mired in downhill pressure – no hydraulics building. Josh Terry gave a brief but financial difficulties. The Trust are still required! Also unearthed was the very informative talk on the many optimistic that a use will be found. 1908 Otis lift. The Hall was one of the uses of the building from its opening The next stop, just a few paces first places in Salford to have electric in 1865, including Registry Office along the road, was the unscheduled power, firstly from the installation of for Births (Ringo Starr in 1940) bonus. John Southworth welcomed its own water-driven turbines as it & Deaths, Medical Dispensary, us to Our Lady of Mount Carmel was not connected to mains power Morgue, Services for the Destitute, Roman Catholic Church & until the 1920s. The final phase of Department of Health & Social Presbytery, a well proportioned excavation revealed an undercroft Security & Unemployment, before it and little altered church designed and a huge arched support wall that braced the hall to prevent it slipping down the hillside, especially after the front terracing had been constructed.

So, what then is the significance of Worsley New Hall? Other hall sites in the region have been excavated since 2006, for example Timperley Old Hall and Royton Hall, but none match either the sheer scale of Worsley or contain the same 1840s-style cutting edge technology. In addition, Nesfield, the gardener/ designer, was a leading proponent of his craft and his detailed plans still exist. The Hall also warranted a royal visit in 1851 by Victoria and Albert as it was considered a new building of some note.

Many thanks to Dr Nevell for such a fascinating talk. There is more The Florence Institute for Boys, Toxteth in its prime. detailed reporting on his findings at ‘usir.salford.ac.uk’ and extensive fell into disuse in 1994. Henry Price, by J. O'Byrne, a pupil of J.A & C.F photographs on ‘Images for Worsley who was Manchester's first City Hansom and completed in 1878. New Hall’. In conclusion Dr Nevell Architect from 1902 to 1934, was The splendid Stations of the Cross then considered the way forward: based here early in his career. Today painted by May Greville Cooksey in there is work to be done both the building has wi-fi, a computer 1928 are part of the Grade II listing. uncovering the paths and middle suite, a range of advice services Cooksey was not an exceptional and lower terraces and continuing and very successful starter units for artist but the series of paintings is the exploration of the estate’s small businesses. It is a genuine lively and packed with small detail in woodlands. Thus a fantastic site that community resource belonging to the the manner of the Pre-Raphaelites. 10 A short walk brought us to the meticulously organised and very wide powers in an 1838 Act of location of the main event, the enjoyable Victorian Society outing over. Parliament, but the remuneration of Florence Institute, a success story the companies remained a matter Paula Moorhouse Jan 2014 - a building brought back into use of negotiation. There were similar after meticulous conservation and disputes when Parcel Post started The Victorian Postal System and reconstruction which, judging by in 1883, over which the Post Office Anthony Trollope, Julian Stray the numbers of small dancers and was not granted a monopoly. The 19 February 2014 FMH parents swarming round us as we Post Office started to use motor Julian Stray’s talk deserved its arrived, has found a central place vehicles in 1897; again services were audience of 64, ten of whom were in its community. Florence was the contracted out. members of the Trollope Society. daughter of Sir Bernard Hall (1812- We were treated to a mixture of facts, 1890), a West Indies merchant, Anthony Trollope (born in 1815) figures and anecdotes illustrating the Alderman and former Mayor of started work with the Post Office revolution in postal services in the Liverpool (1879/80.) When she died in 1834 as a copyist. He evidently Victorian era and Anthony Trollope’s tragically at the age of 22 her father disliked the work, but seemed to role in them. built a boys club as a memorial to find it more congenial when he was her, "in the hope that it might prove appointed as a surveyor’s clerk Started by the Romans for carrying an acceptable place of recreation and in Ireland in 1841. Surveyors – a messages of state, British postal instruction for the poor and working post dating from the seventeenth services became public in 1635, but boys of this district of the city". century – were responsible for all were expensive and confined to a the postal arrangements in their limited number of routes, all from The building closed in 1988 but district. Trollope took the opportunity London. Rowland Hill introduced remained intact and secure until to travel (on horseback) as much as postal reform in 1840, with postage an arson attack in 1999 halted possible, as his expenses were paid. paid by the sender instead of the early regeneration efforts. Dingle His workload increased with the recipient, at the famous one-penny Community Regeneration Trust in 1840 reforms, which surveyors were rate. Mail was posted in receiving partnership with Merseyside Building responsible for implementing. In houses, shops commissioned to Preservation Trust, Liverpool City 1851 Trollope was sent as surveyor collect it. The few post offices were Council and architects Purcell began to the Channel Islands, where he housed in rented buildings. The first to explore the feasibility of restoring took steps to increase the service’s purpose-built post office was Sir the building for community use in efficiency. He proposed the Robert Smirke’s General Post Office 2000. The Florence Institute Trust introduction of pillar boxes, already of 1829 (demolished in 1912), but the was formed in 2005 to develop and in use in Belgium and France. widespread building of post offices manage the project and the official This took place in 1852, first in St did not start until the introduction of opening by the Prince of Wales was Helier and then in Guernsey, before crown offices in 1865. The once- in April 2012. A testament to the being extended to the mainland the familiar generic style of architecture dedication and hard work of many following year. The early boxes had a only appeared in the late nineteenth local people. variety of shapes and makers and a century. Along with the burgeoning few still survive. of post offices there was a massive Our visit began with a tour of the growth in the number of employees, building, followed by an excellent Trollope later became involved in the almost all male, who filled a wide lunch provided by the in-house development of international mail, variety of posts. The work was hard; caterers in the Great Hall and an especially important in Britain. He country postmen worked a seven- informative talk by Rob Chambers negotiated a treaty with Egypt in day week until the 1890s. It was of Purcell Architects. Rob explained 1858, and in the same year he led nevertheless popular and posts often the role and philosophy of Purcell as a delegation to Malta. He later led passed from father to son; we heard main architects and their involvement missions to the West Indies, India, an example of a 142-year succession in not only the construction and China and Japan (writing novels within a family in London. conservation, but also multiple during the sea passages) before funding and planning applications. settling in East Anglia. His relations The coming of the railways had a Photos of the derelict building with senior management were not large influence on carriage of mail, emphasised the huge achievement in always good; he had feuds with which had been contracted to firms converting the facility for modern use, Rowland Hill, and pleas for a pay using enormous numbers of horses particularly remarkable as much of rise to John Tilley, the Post Office on carts and mail coaches. (The the existing structure was preserved Secretary and also his brother-in- horses were treated like employees or restored. New inserts are clearly law, fell on deaf ears. Trollope left in being given sick leave.) The modern and give the building more the Post Office (without a pension) in Post Office was an early customer flexibility. 1867, but the following year went to of the Liverpool and Manchester Washington to complete a treaty on Railway but disputes soon arose We departed through another swirl its behalf. He died in 1882 of a stroke. because it was more profitable for of small dancers for the coach the railways to carry mail privately. journey back to Manchester. Another Roger Barton March 2014 The Postmaster General was given 11 Lancashire to L.A : the Legacy of first Class A steel-framed building and offered facilities for reading, John Parkinson, Architect, and is still in use. He then designed dining, billiards and smoking. They Jamie Ryan-Ainslie 25 March 2014 the then tallest building in Los clearly offered business and social YHA Angeles, the Angelo Hotel, followed networking opportunities for the This was a joint event with by the city’s first skyscraper, the Braly local worthies. Their constitutions, Manchester Modernists held during Block (1902). Parkinson was not a rules, architecture and interior design the Manchester Histories Festival. stylistic innovator or committed to a owed much to the great pre-existing Our speaker, Jamie Ryan-Ainslie, is particular style. His buildings range London clubs. the great-great-great nephew of John from Art Deco, Romanesque, Parkinson, whose work spans the Spanish colonial, streamline Manchester’s Union Club was Victorian to modern eras. Parkinson’s moderne, prairie style and neo- opened in 1825, originally in a house life was full of fresh starts; he had classical to arts and crafts. He was in Norfolk Street, and then moving ambition, confidence in his abilities very knowledgeable about structural in 1856 to a Richard Lane designed and a strong work ethic. From issues and hired the best purpose built property in Mosley humble beginnings in Lancashire he draughtsmen. The landmark Street, possibly part financed by became the architect of many of the buildings by Parkinson include the Brooks the Manchester banker. buildings that shape our image of Los Coliseum (1921), the Wilshire (1928), The club’s membership rose to Angeles. City Hall (1928), the Wholesale 400 and it had 11 bedrooms for market (1918) and Union Station the convenience of its out-of-town He was born in Scorton, Lancashire (1935) along with many other offices, members. The style of the building, in 1861 and moved to Bolton at the houses and hotels. untypically for Richard Lane, was age of nine. He left school at fourteen Italian palazzo and we may speculate but his artistic talent led to pupillage Apart from his interest in architecture, whether it influenced the still extant with John Bradshaw, of the Bolton he was obsessed with elevator Edward Walters palazzo on Mosley practice that would become design and filed nearly a hundred Street a few years later. Bradshaw Gass and Hope. He patents. He completed his studied construction at Bolton autobiography shortly before he died The 1869 Manchester’s Brasenose Mechanics Institute but never in 1935 and his son, also trained as Club, described as an Arts and architecture, working as a joiner. an architect, took over the practice. Social Club, never had purpose Jamie’s presentation included, built premises and probably for that In March 1883 he decided to appropriately, videos showing the use reason had a more basic decor than emigrate to North America, living in of Parkinson’s buildings in films and other clubs. From time to time it held Halifax NS, Winnipeg and movies and the successful Art Exhibitions and its members Minneapolis where he worked as a restoration and conversion of the Art included eminent architects such foreman in sawmills. On his return to Deco Bullock Wilshire department as Waterhouse, Worthington, England the next year, with the store into a law college. About fifty of Darbyshire and Salomon. Its experience he had gained, he Parkinson’s buildings remain and he members had a sense of humour expected to find work easily. is now receiving the interest he and many menus were written However this was not to be and after deserves: Jamie’s MA thesis, a book with satirical overtones, probably seeing a photograph of San Iconic Vision:John Parkinson, influenced by the fashionable Savoy Francisco in Bolton Art Gallery in Architect of Los Angeles by Stephen Operas of the period. For the dinner 1885 he decided to return to Gee and the recent naming of a held in 1894 to celebrate the opening America. He had no contacts and Parkinson Square in his adopted of the Manchester Ship Canal, the again found work in a sawmill and, home of Los Angeles. fish course was called Follow Your despite his lack of architectural Leader - Leader Williams was a training, designed his own house in https://digital.lib.washington.edu/ member. Napa, California. Then, hearing of architect/architects/108/ opportunities, he moved to Seattle Regarding the two Liverpool clubs where he designed his first David French May 2014 mentioned, only the rule book commercial buildings, taking full survives of the 1835 Palatine Club on advantage of the need for new Victorian Gentlemen's Clubs in Bold Street. However, it did acquire buildings after the fire of June 1889. Manchester and Liverpool, in 1854 an Italian palazzo style In an era when competitions were Alexandra Mitchell 30 April 2014. building by Parnell (who had co- popular, he won several and in 1892 YHA designed London’s Army and navy was offered the job of school board As part of her Social and Economic Club) causing Picton to compare architect. He went on to design over History PhD thesis, Alexandra had Liverpool’s Bold Street with London’s thirty schools. looked at these clubs in Manchester Pall Mall in terms of grandeur. We & Liverpool, each town having are fortunate to have better records He left Seattle for the then small town up to a dozen examples. Whilst of the 1883 French Renaissance of Los Angeles in 1894 where he attracting members from the style Liverpool Conservative Club remained for the rest of his life. Here surrounding areas, these clubs were in Dale Street designed by F. & G. his 1897 Laughlin Building was the typically based in the town centre Holme. The building (now used by

12 the City Council) was photographed in the 1880s by Bedford Lemere showing leather upholstered furniture under elaborate electric chandeliers, plaster ceilings & cornices with walls decorated in Lincrusta paper.

In this late Victorian period, the port of Liverpool handled twice the goods tonnage of London and Manchester was moving to the zenith of its Cottonopolis phase, finished cotton goods being England’s largest export. Within that context, these clubs in both cities fulfilled a very important social and business function.

David Astbury May 2014 Fomer Welsh Baptist Chapel, Upper Brook Street, Manchester, 1837-9: architects, Charles Barry and AWN Pugin 2014 AGM CONSERVATION Despite this, we felt that there the building has been demolished REPORT was much scope for improving and the site is cleared. the proposal. The architectural Ken Moth, Chairman of the expression and form of elements of Stamford House, Stamford New Northern Buildings Committee new design, such as the extensions, Road, Altrincham, Grade II, 1904-5, (NBC), gave the were poor and would be detrimental Charles Heathcote Casework Report for 2013 to the appearance and setting of the Back in 2010 the Society was listed building. consulted on – and objected to – The Northern Buildings Committee refurbishment plans for Stamford deals with listed building application The approach of making the new House, an impressive commercial consultations covering the North of interventions deliberately legible as block by one of Manchester’s most England and including Manchester. such was crude. Given the almost important late nineteenth and early The Manchester Historic Buildings total loss of the interiors, the aim twentieth-century architects. It has Panel advises the City Council on should be to provide as faithful a stood empty for some twenty or more listed building and conservation area restoration of the exterior of the years and is suffering from extensive issues in the city, and Mark Watson chapel as possible. The single-storey dry and wet rot. The latest proposal represents the Society on this panel. block to the south was also poor. Not sought the total refurbishment of only would it harm the setting of the the building with new shop fronts I will describe some Manchester listed building, but it would occupy to the ground floor and apartments cases dealt with by the NBC over the about half the graveyard which is on the upper floors. The Committee last year and then Mark will comment historically significant and enhances welcomed the refurbishment of this on a few more cases dealt with by the setting of the building. All of these hugely impressive building. The the Historic Buildings Panel. points were covered in our response. application was a great improvement

on the previous proposals. Our Upper Brook Street, former Welsh Sherborne Street West, Overbridge response encouraged the retention of Baptist Chapel Grade II*, 1837-9, and Springfield Mills Grade II, 1845 as much of the internal Charles Barry & AWN Pugin In 2004 the Society was notified of partitioning as possible and the After years of neglect, the roof of an application for the residential installation of authentic shop fronts. the former Welsh Baptist Chapel on conversion of this 1845 former Upper Brook Street was removed in mill complex. The conversion 2006, since when its condition rapidly , Heaviley, St George never materialised, and in April deteriorated. It was included on the Grade I, Paley, Austin & Paley, 2011 firefighters were called out Society’s 2010 Top Ten Endangered 1892-97 to extinguish a blaze in the mill Whilst this case covered a minor Buildings List. We were consulted on which left it badly damaged. The issue it included an important point a scheme to convert the building present owner applied to demolish of principle. At its August meeting, to student residential use, and to the building in order to facilitate the NBC considered proposals to erect a single-storey building to a new mixed-used development. make permanent the creation of a house additional units, the whole We strongly objected to the mill’s meeting space in the north aisle of amounting to 93 rooms. The reuse demolition on the basis of the meagre this church, and a children’s area in and external restoration of this documentation submitted. Mark the south aisle, involving the disposal important and much dilapidated Watson supplied the information that of some pews. Though we were not building was welcomed in principle. 13 opposed to the scheme in principle, Altrincham Railway viaduct with its advocated a thorough and accurate we objected to the manner in which series of cast iron bridges. During restoration of Stephenson’s bridge, the areas had been furnished, in a the year we were given two lengthy in which the quality of the masonry domestic style with bright carpets, presentations by Network Rail repair was paramount. Public access brightly coloured upholstery and together with a site inspection. to and visibility of the Stephenson IKEA-style furniture; we also Whilst accepting the need for these bridge was also recommended. expressed our disappointment about major infrastructure improvements The caisson pier at mid-span of the poor quality of the application our response began by stating the girder bridge is a sturdy and materials. The DAC considered our how harmful the proposals were. impressive structure and should comments. It accepted the need for Implementation of the scheme would remain in place. It was clear from detailed Statements of Need and cause substantial harm and it was discussions that a number of options Significance, which the PCC has therefore essential that sufficient were still being investigated for the since provided. Noting our concerns mitigation was provided. There were adjoining zig-zag viaduct in terms about the furnishings, it averred that a number of details on which we of how much of its fabric could be the parish intended to replace these commented. We regretted the loss retained. We were firmly of the view after their temporary arrangements of the rail connection to the station, that as little as possible should be had been authorised by faculty, although this is rarely used. Widening lost. The CGIs submitted in the public and as funds became available. of the 1848 viaduct was acceptable consultation documents suggested However, the DAC repudiated our in principle but the quality of detailing the electrification gantries crowning right to object to the furnishings in was vital. In addition, the 1848 cast the viaducts were crude. For such a the first place: the DAC considered iron bridge over Water Street was project as this, a carefully-designed, the unfixed and entirely ephemeral proposed to be largely demolished, bespoke solution to the gantries – as nature of soft furnishings and with only a small portion remaining in with other aspects of the scheme – children’s furniture to be of extremely situ stranded between re-laid railway was required. Finally, we commented low significance to the interior of lines. This is one of several iron that all other heritage assets to the building. It further felt that such bridges along the viaduct. remain should be carefully conserved considerations were outside the and repaired. scope of statutory consultation, particularly when on such a small scale as the two areas concerned.

We rejected the DAC’s reasoning here. We do not believe that the removal of the pews, in which we have a legitimate interest, can be considered separately from the result of removing the pews on which we must be consulted. It may be true that, unconnected from any other proposal, the introduction of soft furnishings into a church is none of our business, but here the introduction of soft furnishings is a direct consequence of something that is our business. Furthermore, the selection of soft furnishings which are not in character with existing furnishings goes against the Church of England’s own guidelines. Stephenson's Irwell Railway Bridge, Manchester (Grade I) 1830, The Ordsall Chord Project This major regional infrastructure We requested that this bridge be A great many of our comments project affects a number of listed disassembled in its entirety and were accepted by Network Rail and unlisted structures, most notably reused elsewhere. The proposed line and incorporated into the design. George Stephenson’s Grade I of the new bridge crossing the Irwell English Heritage has lodged an listed Irwell railway bridge, the would entail the demolition of at least objection to the proposal, preferring setting of the Grade I listed 1830 half of the adjacent un-used girder another option which moves the Liverpool Road Station buildings, bridge. However, the removal of the chord about 100 metres to the south the severance of the line connecting entire girder bridge would reveal the west. We did not prefer this option, the station to the rail network and elevation of Stephenson’s bridge which would cost many millions the adjacent 1848 Grade II listed – a far more significant structure, of pounds more. Significantly, the Manchester, South Junction and and we recommended this. We proposed option now involves taking

14 important heritage assets such proceeding satisfactorily. on 07831 267 642 or email as Stephenson’s Bridge and the • Not on the Top Ten list but topical [email protected] by August 28th adjoining land which are currently is London Road Fire Station, 2014 to book on this event. owned by a developer into public Woodhouse, Willoughby and ownership and carrying out full Langham, Planning permission has The excursion by train to Hull has restoration, landscaping and public been renewed for a further three been postponed due to engineering access as we requested. In English years for a scheme approved by the works which have affected journey Heritage’s preferred option these Northern Committee. times. We hope to run this event in would remain in private ownership 2015 and remain unrestored. We felt Mark Watson also reported on the that the consultation process had Ancoats Dispensary and the work of been helpful and productive and on the Save Ancoats Dispensary Group TUESDAY 23 SEPTEMBER 2014 balance are pleased with the benefits and the campaign to secure a new An illustrated talk which the scheme will deliver. use for the building. Harold Peto: Architect, Garden

Designer, Collector and Aesthete. Later in the year we were consulted with Hilary J Grainger on options to increase platform MANCHESTER GROUP Chair of the Victorian Society capacity at Piccadilly Station. We 2014-2015 Events expressed a preference for one of Harold Ainsworth Peto (1854-1933) is three options which were tabled and saturday 21 June 2014 perhaps best known for his eighteen- objected to the other two. An excursion by train to year partnership with the late Lancaster; a walking tour of Pala- Victorian architect Sir Ernest George, Ken Moth 25 January 2014 tine Lancaster during which time they became one with Stephen Gardner and Mark of the most sought-after practices. Mark Watson gave an additional Watson Peto, however, the fifth son of the report highlighting the current state celebrated mid-Victorian public works of some of the local buildings which and railway contractor, Sir Samuel have featured on the Victorian WEDNESDAY 16 JULY 2014 Peto (1809-89), was to become Society's Top Ten Endangered widely accomplished in his own right Buildings lists in past years. An excursion by train to Leeds: as an architect, interior designer, Marks & Spencer, Penny Bazaars landscape gardener and collector, •The Masonic Church, St Edmunds and the Manchester connection. but is perhaps best remembered Falinge, Rochdale by Medland Led by James Etherington and Mark for his significant contribution to the Taylor is now being looked after by Watson. development of the Italian School of the Churches Conservation Trust. Edwardian gardening at the start of • Chapel, Sharpe Cost: £12 including donations and the twentieth century. and Foster. Salford Council have excluding travel costs and lunch. repaired the fence and removed Peto began his architectural training most of the ivy and trees but, despite Booking form can be found on page in 1871 with J. Clements before a decade of negotiations with the moving to the workshops of Lucas 19 of this newsletter. Heritage Trust for the North West, Brothers, both based in Lowestoft. seem to be taking the line that the Later that year he was briefly in building should be a managed ruin. SATURDAY 30 AUGUST 2014 the offices of Lewis Karslake & •Crumpsall Library, Henry Price. The Mortimer in London. He joined Buildings at Risk officer tells us that An Examination of Victorian and George in partnership in 1876 at the he has been in consultation with the Edwardian Manchester age of 21, providing a direct entrée owner and is hopeful for the future with Mark Watson. into the London building world, but in the meantime it is deteriorating historically through Sir Samuel, and rapidly. Meet at St.Ann’s Church at 10.15 am. contemporaneously through Harold’s • St Ignatius, Salford, Alfred Cost £10 including donations but not older brothers Morton Kelsall and Darbyshire, Amber Sanchez has refreshments. Pay on the day. Finish William Herbert, whose building persuaded English Heritage to list 5 pm. operations, Peto Brothers, were also this as Grade II. to be of immense importance to the • Conservative Club Accrington. We shall meander through the city development of George & Peto’s There has been no action or reaction centre discussing the buildings and practice. to exposure so far. streets along with their histories, • St John, Crawshawbooth, Austin allowing time for lunch and, no Peto emerges as a highly significant and Paley. Theft of lead has resulted doubt, visiting a teashop or two. Be but hitherto overlooked figure in in catastrophic and extensive water prepared for Manchester’s weather late nineteenth and early twentieth damage. and wear suitable footwear. century architecture and design. • Town Hall development is Despite possessing his father’s Please 'phone or text Mark Watson business acumen, Harold appears

15 from an early age to have reacted Most art historians write off the their acclaimed trilogy of gazetteers against mid-Victorian business period in the history of illustration dealing with the Arts and Crafts values and religion. He developed between the ending of the British Movement in the North of England. an abhorrence of London and what caricature tradition and the rise of he termed ‘the squalor and rush of black and white book and magazine They will give a general overview modern life’. His father had been illustration as a cultural wasteland of what they have found relating to a patron of the arts where Harold filled only with what David Kunzle the development of the Movement was to become an aesthete with a has called meaningless 'graphic in Yorkshire, leavened with more sensitivity to art, a fastidiousness, bric-a-brac'. On closer examination detailed discussion of some of their a horror of vulgarity and a form of the comic art of the late Regency own favourite places, artefacts, aestheticised cosmopolitanism. and early Victorian period proves to artists, craftsmen and patrons His perfectionism and concern to be extraordinarily vivid, experimental cultivate highly developed senses and driven by a rapidly expanding and faculties led him into an almost market for graphic images that drew overriding obsession with good taste in new consumers from a broad and refinement, which deepened as range of social backgrounds. This he grew older. Henry Avray Tipping highly illustrated talk charts some of considered Peto to be the ‘British the key continuities, developments aesthete in pose, appearance and and innovations that characterised voice’. graphic comedy in this period and seeks to celebrate the restless This lecture explores Peto’s inventiveness that characterised the architectural work - in particular his market place for illustrated books, villa and garden practice in the South magazines, play-texts and song of France - and his interior design books at this time. work. Brian Maidment is Professor of the Professor Hilary J Grainger is History of Print at Liverpool John Dean of the London College of Moores University. He also holds Fashion, University of the Arts, Visiting posts at the Lewis Walpole London, having taught the history Library of Yale University and at the of architecture and design for over Centre for Textual and Print History thirty years at the Universities of at the University of Ghent. He has Leeds, Northumbria, Staffordshire, written widely about nineteenth Keele and Wolverhampton. She is century print culture, especially St Cuthbert, York; detail of the a leading authority on Sir Ernest writing by labouring-class authors, St Cuthbert window by Edward George and also on the architecture mass-circulation periodicals, and Woore, 1935 : courtesy Barrie of British crematoria. Her book Death illustration. His most recent books Armstrong Redesigned: British Crematoria, are Dusty Bob - A Cultural History History, Architecture and Landscape of Dustmen' (Manchester University Amongst many other examples they was published in 2005 and The press 2007) and Comedy, Caricature will discuss the influence of Sir Hugh Architecture of Sir Ernest George and the Social Order (Manchester Cholmely Fairfax on the Arts and was published by Spire Books Ltd University Press 2013) Crafts village of Brandsby and the in late 2010. Hilary is the Chair work of the Home Arts and Industries of The Victorian Society and a 7 pm for 7.15 pm Classes held by Beatrice Carpenter council member and trustee of The YHA Potato Wharf, off Liverpool Road, at Bolton on Swale. Their talk will Cremation Society of Great Britain. Castlefield Manchester M3 4NB also highlight some loose ends Cost: £5.00 per person. needing further research, such as 7 pm for 7.15 pm the little known North Riding Arts and YHA Potato Wharf, off Liverpool Road, No need to book in advance Crafts Exhibition Association and the Castlefield Manchester M3 4NB mysterious Harrogate stained-glass Cost: £5.00 per person. artist Violet Mary Barnewall. TUESDAY 25 NOVEMBER 2014 The talk, like all three of their books No need to book in advance An illustrated talk will be lavishly illustrated. The Arts and Crafts Movement in Yorkshire TUESDAY 28 OCTOBER 2014 7 pm for 7.15 pm with Barrie and Wendy Armstrong. YHA Potato Wharf, off Liverpool Road, An illustrated talk Independent researchers The Comic Image in the Market Castlefield Manchester M3 4NB Cost: £5.00 per person. Place 1820-1850 Barrie and Wendy Armstrong will talk with Brian Maidment Professor about The Arts and Crafts Movement No need to book in advance Liverpool John Moores University in Yorkshire, the final volume in 16 SATURDAY 13 DECEMBER 2014 along Potato Wharf. The youth hostel is on the Manchester page of Victorian on the left after you go under the railway Society’s main site at victoriansociety. Date for your diary bridge. This is approximately a 700 yard org.uk/manchester/ as can the current walk. talks and visits. If you would like Christmas excursion to to receive an email version of the Birkenhead. The annual Xmas From Piccadilly station: take a train lunch, walk and a talk Newsletter please email beryl.patten@ to Deansgate or a tram to Manchester virgin.net. Metrolink then follow the above Further details will follow in due directions. Alternatively, catch the course number 3 free bus which runs every 10 MANCHESTER GROUP minutes (the last bus is 19.00) from the forecourt - get off at the second stop on The next Manchester Group SATURDAY 31JANUARY 2015 Quay Street (after the Opera House). Newsletter will be published in early Annual General Meeting followed From there go back along Quay Street 2015 as will the next Events Card by an illustrated talk and right along Lower Byrom Street to (February to September 2015) Liverpool Road. Turn right and proceed . Building their own platform: as above. This is approximately a 600 If you wish to make a contribution to Victorian bandstands and the yard walk. the Newsletter, such as an article, harmony of mass production news item or event review, please From : catch the with Kathy Clarke, Victorian Society email [email protected]. number 33 bus which runs every 20 caseworker for the south of England compiler of this Newsletter and North and East London. minutes to the second stop on Liverpool Road (opposite the Science Museum). Disclaimer: You participate in events Bandstands were the pride of Then go back to the Castlefield Hotel and follow the above directions. This is at your own risk and neither the Society almost every urban park in the late approximately a 200 yard walk. nor its officers or servants accept any nineteenth century, and a focus of liability of any kind whatsoever howsoever social life and musical endeavour for From Oxford Road station: catch arising. The Victorian Society reserves the very communities whose lives the number 2 free bus (times as for the the right to cancel, alter or postpone were bound up with the production of number 3 above) from the forecourt to events if necessary. The Victorian Society such mass-produced pieces, which Liverpool Road (first stop only). From is a Registered Charity No 1081435 were often bought off-the-peg. This there follow the ­directions above. This is and a Company Limited by Guarantee talk will illustrate their varied, often approximately a 400 yard walk. Registered in England No 3940996 florid designs, and show how far from From Victoria station: catch the being quaint park ornaments these Please note that buildings we visit may number 2 bus outside and get off at the structures once were and, happily, present a variety of hazards including how they are being revived. second stop outside the Great Northern complex; continue down Deansgate, turn uneven surfaces, stairs, low head heights, low lighting, building and demolition 1.45 pm to 4.30 pm right along ­Liverpool Road and follow the works. We would like all our events to be YHA Potato Wharf, off Liverpool Road, directions as above. accessible to everyone, but there may be Castlefield Manchester M3 4NB stairs or uneven surfaces which cannot Please note - the major road works on be avoided, and long periods of walking or Attendance at the AGM is free but there Water Street are due to continue well standing. is a charge of £5 for the talk into next year. No need to book in advance Should you have any questions about By car - the YHA car park is still your ability to participate in an event, The AGM agenda and nomination accessible from the south via Liverpool please contact us. Some of our events are form can be found on page 18 Road and from the north via Quay unsuitable for children. If you have any Street and Lower Byrom Street. special needs or ideas about how we can improve our events, please let us know. potato Wharf yha By public transport - the number 33 Our usual venue for talks in 2014-2015 bus route has been changed and currently no longer in serves the YHA. Remember to let us know if you will be the YHA, Potato Wharf, change your email address. Castlefield, Manchester M3 4NB (tel: 0161 839 9960) NEWSLETTERS BY EMAIL Directions to the YHA by public Thank you to those members who transport have agreed to receive the Manchester Newsletter by email. This has allowed us From Deansgate Castlefield or to reduce postage and copying costs. Manchester (Metrolink) stations: turn right along Deansgate, then left along If you lose your email copy or it Liverpool Road as far as Castlefield disappears from your computer a pdf Hotel (also known as the Y club – note of the Newsletter can now be found this is not our venue). There, turn left 17 Manchester Group of the Victorian Society

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Saturday 31 January 2015

1.45 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. YHA Potato Wharf, Castlefield, Manchester. M3 4NB

AGENDA 1. Apologies 2. Minutes of last meeting 3. Matters Arising 4. Membership Secretary’s report 5. Conservation report. 6. Treasurer’s report. 7. Chairman’s report. 8 Questionnaire July 2014 9. Election of Officers and Committee. 10. AOB

All members are entitled to attend the AGM free of charge Cost of refreshments and illustrated talk £5.

NOMINATION FORM FOR A COMMITTEE MEMBER:

NOMINEE Name of nominee: ......

Address: ......

......

Tel: ...... Email: ......

Nominee’s signature of acceptance...... date......

Please give reasons for nominating this person to the Manchester Group Committee

......

......

Your contact details:

Name: ......

Address: ......

......

Tel: ...... Email: ......

Return to: The Secretary, Manchester Victorian Society, c/o , 57 Mosley Street, Manchester M2 3HY or bring along to the AGM.

18 Booking form : Manchester Victorian Society - Leeds M & S Archives wednesday 16 july 2014 An excursion by train to Leeds: Marks & Spencer, Penny Bazaars and the Manchester connection. Led by James Etherington and Mark Watson. Buy your tickets in good time to catch the 09.41 to Leeds from Manchester Piccadilly Rail Station. If joining in Leeds, meet at the station ticket barrier at 10.40. Cost, including refreshments at the Archive, excluding train and bus travel, £12. Bring a packed lunch. Wear strong shoes. We expect to be back in Manchester by 6pm.

CLOSING DATE FOR BOOKINGS: WEDNESDAY 14 JULY 2014

First name...... Surname...... Address...... Postcode...... telephone numbers*...... *mobile number preferable - please switch on your mobile and bring with you to the event email address*...... *please add your email address if you have one; this will be used for confirmation of booking and receipt of payment

Names of others attending First name...... Surname......

First name...... Surname......

First name...... Surname...... Enclose your completed form, a stamped self-addressed envelope (if no email given) and a cheque for £12 per person made payable to: The Victorian Society to: Mark Watson, 18 Thomas Telford Basin, Manchester M1 2NH. Tel 07831 267642 Email [email protected] Disclaimer: You participate in Victorian Society events at your own risk and neither the Society nor its officers or servants accept any liability of any kind whatsoever, howsoever arising. The Victo- rian Society reserves the right to cancel, alter or postpone events if necessary. Victorian Society Manchester Group Committee Secretary email:[email protected]

19 Manchester Group of the Victorian Society: Questionnaire July 2014

We would be grateful if you could take the time to let us have your views which will help with future planning.

1 How long have you been a member of the Manchester Group?

2 Do you attend any Victorian Society Manchester Group or National events? (If you don’t attend events please give reason)

3 Where from and how do you travel to Manchester Group events at the YHA?

4 Outline your main interest in the Victorian & Edwardian Period: (eg Architecture/Engineering/Decorative Arts/Textiles/Social History)

5 Do you consider that our Group event charges, in addition to the Victorian Society subscription, offer value for money?

6 Are you willing to write material for our Group Newsletter?

7 Do you miss the serving of refreshments at most of our meetings?

8 How often do you visit the Victorian Society’s website?

9 What could you do to promote our events to other interested people you know?

10 Do you have any suggestions regarding the Manchester Group’s Golden Jubilee to be celebrated in 2016?

Please complete and return to: David Astbury Manchester Group Deputy Chair 8 Masefield Avenue Prestwich Manchester M25 9QW or bring to a meeting - thank you

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