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Open Research Online Oro.Open.Ac.Uk Open Research Online The Open University’s repository of research publications and other research outputs The Burford Masons and the changing world of building practice in England, 1630-1730 Thesis How to cite: Mobus, Melody Ann Clara (2012). The Burford Masons and the changing world of building practice in England, 1630-1730. PhD thesis The Open University. For guidance on citations see FAQs. c 2011 The Author https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Version: Version of Record Link(s) to article on publisher’s website: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21954/ou.ro.0000d4ed Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online’s data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies page. oro.open.ac.uk I THE BURFORD MASONS AND THE CHANGING WORLD OF BUILDING PRACTIC.,E IN ENGLAND 1630-1730 Melody Ann Clara Mobus, BA, FRICS Thesis submitted to the Department of Art History, The Open University, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2011 Volume I of2 DC\-tz ad SQbrvUSSlQI'\: 30 sept Qrnbcr 2011 DCl~ DJ J\VIf OI(J: 3 M ~ 2 011- ABSTRACT Architectural history has traditionally focused on the named architect and the completed building. Investigation of the master craftsmen who realised the emerging architect's ideas while continuing to build to their own design has only recently been embarked upon. This thesis sets out to address this imbalance by scrutinising a group of master masons closely connected with Wren for over five decades. This thesis, for the first time, explores the Burford Masons, three dynasties comprising the Strongs, the Kempsters, and Ephraim Beauchamp, who rose to join the elite of mason-contractors in the rebuilding of London. Examining their experience over the period 1630-1730, it aims to shed light on building practices undergoing transition to modem methods. The research is largely based on primary sources, some hitherto untapped, which has produced a wealth of new evidence. The Burford Masons' careers are set out in Chapter Two, a Catalogue Raisonne giving the first comprehensive account of their works. The remaining chapters are thematic, Chapter Three investigating their experience after the Great Fire, a catalyst for changing building practices and their careers. Chapters Four and Five study the Burford Masons' evolving contractual arrangements, and their strategies to withstand the endemic problem of dilatory payments. Chapter Six scrutinises changes in London Masons' Company and the Burford Masons' involvement with it. Chapter Seven explores their role in design, both in conjunction with the architect and as mason-architects in their own right. It identifies them as a school of masons emerging from quarries. The research deepens knowledge of the evolution of the contracting system in both London and the provinces. It shows the Burford Masons also in the process of change, becoming interdisciplinary master-builders, entrepreneurs, and financiers. TABLE OF CONTENTS This thesis consists of two volumes. Volume 1 Abstract Acknowledgements Abbreviations and Notes on the Text Chapter One: Introduction pp. 1-27 Chapter Two: The Burford Masons and their Careers pp. 28-58 - generations of Burford Masons - geographical mobility - wealth accumulation - social mobility Chapter Three: The Burford Masons after the Great Fire of London, 1666-1681 pp.59-98 Section One: Circumstances after the Great Fire - the Fire and its impact - legislation to facilitate rebuilding - the Strong and Kempster stone operations - differential rates of pay Section Two: The Wren Connection Section Three: Response of Strong and Kempster to the post-Fire situation - response as purveyors of stone - response as masons - assessment of Strong's and Kempster's success in London Chapter Four: Business Organisation: Employment pp.99-153 - the Burford Masons' employment in the light of Wren's '3 wayes of working' - examination of the Burford Masons' surviving contracts - basis upon which Burford Masons won their contracts Chapter Five: Business Organisation: Finance pp.154-206 - general financial and operational background - the Burford Masons' experience with dilatory payments - the Burford Masons as contractors: profit - the Burford Masons' use of capital - strategies used by the Burford Masons to counter the effects of dilatory payments Chapter Six: The Burford Masons' Involvement with the London Masons' Company pp. 207-235 - the London Masons' Company in transition - reasons for the Burford Masons' involvement with the Company - the Burford Masons' commitment to the Company Chapter Seven: The Burford Masons as Translators of Design pp.236-300 - continuity and change in masons' skill base - design skills: the architect and the mason - the Burford Masons as mason-architects - stylistic influences on the provinces Chapter Eight: Conclusion pp.301-306 Volume 2 Appendix One: Sources and Careers of the Burford Masons pp.307-349 Appendix Two: Catalogue Ralsonne pp.350-365 Manuscript Sources and Bibliography pp. 366-376 List of Illustrations pp.377-381 Illustrations ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would probably not have been undertaken without the early encouragement of Malcolm Airs for my research of Christopher Kempster. Over the course of this PhD I have been most appreciative of the support and guidance which my supervisors Elizabeth McKellar and Susie West have patiently given me. Also remembered, with gratitude, are Martin Vessey and John Ashdown, who believed in me in supporting my application for research. I have thanks to many Burford people, in particular, Christopher Walker of the Tolsey Museum, who made available Kempster's Daybook and responded to my countless, probably tedious, queries; also David Cohen, who as mayor generously gave me unlimited access to recently-found documents, Abbot Stuart then of the Priory, Julia Melvin, the late Roger Warner, and Lord of the Manor Nicholas Mills. Many of the secondary sources were found in London Libraries, and my gratitude lies especially with the ever-helpful staff of the Guildhall Library. I extend my thanks to Jo Wisdom at St Paul's Cathedral Library, and to Geoffrey Fisher, then at the Conway Library of the Courtauld Institute. I should like to acknowledge the help of many archivists, particularly those at Oxford colleges, the College of Arms, St Bartholomew's Hospital, and Westminster Abbey. My thanks also to the experts who shared their wisdom on particular issues, Geoffrey Beard, James W.P. Campbell, Anthony Geraghty, and the late Howard Colvin and Andor Gomme. To Siegfried Helm, for his editorial skills, support, and sense of perspective, I am most indebted. ABBREVIATIONS AND NOTES ON THE TEXT ABC Abingdon Borough Council, Oxfordshire AQC Ars Quatuor Coronatorum BEA Bank of England archives, London BL British Library, London Bodi. Bodleian Library, Oxford BOE The Buildings of England BT Burford Tolsey Museum, Oxfordshire CAA College of Arms Archives, London Campbell 'Finances' James W.P. Campbell, 'The Finances of the Carpenter in England 1660-1710: A Case Study on the Implications of the Change from Craft to Designer-based Construction', in L 'Edilizia Prima della Rivoluzione Industriale. Secc.XIII- XVIIL ed. by Simonetta Cavaciocchi (Prato: Instituto Intemazionale di Storia Economica "F. Datini" 2005), pp.313-346 Campbell'F ortune' James W.P. Campbell, 'Building a Fortune: The Finances of the Stonemasons Working on the Rebuilding ofSt Paul's Cathedral 1675-1720', Proceedings of the Third International Congress on Construction History (2000), 297-304 [viewed online 2009 at: www.bma.arch.unige.itJPDF/CONSTRUCTION _HISTORY _20091 VOLlICAMPBELL-James_ VW_Paper_layouted.pdf] Caroe W. Douglas Caroe, 'Tom Tower', Christ Church, Oxford: Some Letters of Sir Christopher Wren to John Fell, Bishop of Oxford, hitherto unpublished, annotated by W. Douglas Caroe (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1923) CCM Muniments of Christ Church, Oxford Colvin, 'Townesends' Howard Colvin, 'The Townesends of Oxford: A Firm of Georgian Master-Masons and its Accounts', Georgian Group Journal, 10 (2000), 43-60 Dictionary Howard Colvin, Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840, 4th edn (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2008) GA Gloucestershire Archives, Gloucester GL Guildhall Library, London HKW H.M. Colvin, ed., The History of the King's Works, 6 vols (London: HMSO, 1963-82), v (1976) HRO Hertfordshire Record Office, Hertford KJ Douglas Knoop and G.P. Jones KvW TNA, PRO C 106/145, Master Richards' Exhibits, Kempster v. Wrigglesworth Letter-book Letter Book of Edward Strong Junior, 1730-1740 LMA London Metropolitan Archives, London London Mason Douglas Knoop and G.P. Jones, The London Mason in the Seventeenth Century (Manchester: Manchester University Press and the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, 1935) LPL Lambeth Palace Library, London NCA New College Archives, Oxford ORO Oxfordshire Record Office, Oxford Parentalia Christopher Wren, Parentalia: or Memoirs of the Family of the Wrens; viz. Of Mathew Bishop of Ely, Christopher Dean of Windsor, etc but chiefly of Sir Christopher Wren, Late Surveyor- General of the Royal Building, President of the Royal Society, etc etc, ed. by Stephen Wren (London: Osborn and Dodsley, 1750) Plot Robert Plot, The Natural History of Oxford-shire: Being an Essay toward the Natural History of England, 2nd edn (London: Lichfield, 1705; reprint Chicheley: Minet, 1972) PRO Public Record Office RCHM Royal Commission
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