GRYTVIKEN CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN ISSUE 06 SEPTEMBER 2018 Rowenna Wood / Michael Morrison / Charlotte Pession Issue 01 On behalf of Purcell ® May 2018 3 Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BN James Jansen (CEO, GSGSSI) and [email protected] Steve Brown (Operations Director, GSGSSI) www.purcelluk.com Issue 02 June 2018 James Jansen (CEO, GSGSSI) and All rights in this work are reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced, Steve Brown (Operations Director, GSGSSI) stored or transmitted in any form or by any means (including without limitation by photocopying or placing on a website) without the prior permission in writing Issue 03 of Purcell except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs June 2018 and Patents Act 1988. Applications for permission to reproduce any part of this Issued for public consultation work should be addressed to Purcell at [email protected]. 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Steve Brown (Operations Director, GSGSSI) Purcell® is the trading name of Purcell Miller Tritton LLP. © Purcell 2018 If you have any information regarding the copyright of any of the historic images included in this document, please contact Purcell at [email protected]. 01_238858 GRYTVIKEN CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT PLAN CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 04 3.0 SIGNIFICANCE 63 6.0 POTENTIAL FOR CHANGE 94 3.1 Criteria for Assessment 63 6.1 Change at Grytviken 94 3.2 Summary Statement of Significance 63 6.2 Managing Grytviken’s Heritage 94 1.0 INTRODUCTION 06 3.3 Assessment of Heritage Values 64 1.1 Purpose and Scope of the CMP 06 3.4 Built Fabric Assessment 78 1.2 Structure of the Document 06 7.0 SELECTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY 96 1.3 Framework 07 1.4 Existing Information and Resources 07 4.0 CONSERVATION FRAMEWORK 79 1.5 Consultation 08 4.1 Introduction 79 APPENDICES: 1.6 Gaps in Knowledge 08 4.2 Conservation Philosophy 79 A: 1992 Survey Plans 98 1.7 Adoption 08 4.3 Conservation Policies 79 B: Recent Works to Grytviken Whaling Station 108 1.8 Abbreviations 08 5.0 ISSUES AND OPPORTUNITIES 83 2.0 UNDERSTANDING THE SITE 09 5.1 Assessing Issues and Opportunities 83 2.1 Site Overview 09 5.2 Site Management 83 2.2 Historical Development 11 5.3 Conservation Maintenance and Works 85 2.3 Wider Heritage Context 27 5.4 Visitor Experience 87 2.4 Setting 30 5.5 Museum 88 2.5 Site Description 48 5.6 Education 89 2.6 Current Ownership and Management 61 5.7 Safety and Security 90 2.7 Condition 62 5.8 Natural Environment 91 5.9 Heritage Value and Change 92 5.10 Summary List of Conservation Actions 93 USING THIS DOCUMENT To navigate this document in its electronic format, click on the section name or page number in the Contents above to go directly to a specific section. At the bottom of each page, there are navigation buttons. These can be clicked on to jump between sections or to go directly to the Contents or Appendices. The ‘Back’ button will link back to the previous page viewed. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GRYTVIKEN WHALING STATION SUMMARY HISTORY Grytviken experienced another period of stagnation in terms of investment in Grytviken Whaling Station is an internationally significant site as the first Grytviken was used for sealing in the nineteenth century and was rediscovered the site during the 1940s, which was followed in the late 1950s by a substantial shore-based whaling station constructed for Antarctic whaling in the modern by the Swedish Scientific Antarctic Expedition at the beginning of the twentieth period of investment to modernise and diversify the factory. However, whale era, which was established by the pioneer of Antarctic whaling, Carl Anton century. One of those involved in the expedition was a Norwegian captain with stocks were declining and pelagic whaling using factory ships was more efficient Larsen. The longest operating station on South Georgia, Grytviken was closely a whaling background, Carl Anton Larsen, who established a whaling station than shore-based whaling. In the early 1960s, Grytviken was transferred to the connected with Antarctic exploration and particularly Sir Ernest Shackleton, at Grytviken in 1904. It was operated by the Argentinian-registered Compañia British company, Albion Star, which in turn leased it to a Japanese consortium. whose grave is in the Cemetery. Since the station’s closure, Grytviken played a Argentina de Pesca. Whaling ceased in 1964 and the station was abandoned. minor role in the Falklands Conflict and remains important as the only whaling station on South Georgia that is accessible to visitors. Despite doubts as to the success of this pioneering venture, Larsen proved The Falklands Conflict began in April 1982 with the Argentinian invasion of the potential for whaling in the Antarctic and five other whaling stations were South Georgia and Grytviken’s church was briefly used as a refuge by BAS staff Grytviken is located at the west end of King Edward Cove in Cumberland later established on South Georgia. From the initial factory building processing before they were taken hostage. British military presence in the area continued Bay and is the second southernmost of the shore-based whaling stations on only whale blubber, Grytviken evolved with new buildings added to develop for two decades until 2001. South Georgia. Occupying the relatively flat land on the edge of the shore, it is effectively a small settlement. surrounded on three sides by hills with snow-capped mountains beyond. Along In 2003/4 a major remediation project was undertaken to remove asbestos and the bay to the east is King Edward Point (KEP), where the British Antarctic Although the demand for whale oil and other by-products soared as a result of oil from Grytviken, which also resulted in the removal of many buildings. Since Survey (BAS) maintains a base on behalf of the Government of South Georgia & the First World War, it was not until the mid-1920s that there was substantial then, the GSGSSI has undertaken a series of projects to bring the surviving the South Sandwich Islands (GSGSSI). investment to modernise the factory. By this time, meat and bone were being buildings back into use. processed as well as blubber and guano (bone and meat meal) was also being At the centre of the Whaling Station is the remains of the Flensing Plan, which produced. is surrounded by the plant and limited structural remains of the three main components of the Factory: the Blubber Cookery to the north, the Bone Cookery to the west and the Meat Cookery to the south. Other plant includes the Guano Factory, Separator Plant and the Glue-water Plant. To the north of the factory lies the former Manager’s Villa, now home to the South Georgia Museum; the former Slop Chest, now the Post Office; and various minor buildings. The Church and the one surviving barracks building, Nybrakka, are located to the west of the factory. Large oil tanks are massed to the north and the south. The Repair Yard lies to the south of the factory, where the Main Store survives along with the Engineering Workshop, which remains in use by the Government’s Building Team during the summer. Amidst the few standing buildings are various building bases, some with plant on them, which are the surviving remains of buildings that were mostly removed in 2003/4 as part of the asbestos and oil redemption project. The Cemetery is located a short distance apart from the rest of the Whaling Station. Along the shoreline are the remains of Tijuca and Harpon jetties and the catcher slipway. Four vessels are beached along the shore: the barque Louise, which has been at the station since its creation in 1904, the whale catchers Albatros and Petrel and the transport vessel and sealer Dias, all of which arrived in the 1920s. Grytviken viewed from Gull Lake dam SECTION 1.0 SECTION 2.0 SECTION 3.0 SECTION 4.0 SECTION 5.0 SECTION 6.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY APPENDICES CONTENTS 04 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The surviving historic buildings are illustrative in their design and appearance of CONSERVATION FRAMEWORK Grytviken Whaling Station is of high significance at an international level as the strong connection with Norway, something deliberately fostered by Larsen The purpose of conservation is to preserve and enhance the significance of the first shore-based whaling station to be constructed for the modern era of in the procurement of everything from structures and provisions to vessels and heritage assets, such as Grytviken. This Conservation Management Plan (CMP) Antarctic whaling. It is also the first and longest operating whaling station of the men from his home country. Although the buildings were prefabricated and have provides various levels and types of guidance for future management of the site. six that existed on South Georgia as it ran from 1904 for 59 seasons out of 60 been much repaired subsequently, they are distinctively Scandinavian in their These include overarching, strategic policies outlined in Section 4: Conservation until 1964.