THE RED WING CROOME COURT Worcestershire
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THE RED WING CROOME COURT Worcestershire An Interim Report on its Structural Evolution and Historic Uses Catherine Gordon February 2012 Prepared on behalf of the National Trust THE RED WING Catherine Gordon Interim Red Wing Report 2013 Page 1 CROOME COURT Worcestershire An Interim Report on its Structural Evolution and Historic Uses CONTENTS PAGE 1.0 General Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………1 1.1 Background History………………………………………………………………………………………….1 1.2 Report Brief……………………………………………………………………………………………………..2 1.3 Scope and Limitations………………………………………………………………………………………3 1.4 Sources…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….3 2.0 Statutory Protection…………………………………………………………………………………………3 3.0 Site Observation……………………………………………………………………………………………….4 4.0 Relationship of the Red Wing to Croome Court and the Croome Landscape…….5 4.1 Relationship of the Red Wing to Croome Court………………………………………………..5 4.2 Relationship of the Red Wing to the Croome Landscape…………………………………..7 5.0 Succession of Ownership…………………………………………………………………………………..8 6.0 Historical Context: a summary ………………………………………………………………………….9 6.1. Pre-1640……………………………………………………………………………………………………………9 6.2 The Caroline Rebuilding…………………………………………………………………………………….9 6.3 Early 18th century Alterations and Proposals………………………………………………….…11 6.4 The mid 18th century Palladian Remodelling…………………………………………………….13 6.5 19th and 20th century Modifications and Modernisation…………………………….…….15 7.0 General Description………………………………………………………………………………………….19 8.0 Analysis…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….33 9.0 Historic Room Uses…………………………………………………………………………………………..45 10.0 Recommendations……………………………………………………………………………………………49 10.1 Recommendations for Further Research and Investigations……………………………..49 10.2 Recommendations for Visitor Interpretation…………………………………………………….50 11.0 Significance and Summary…………………………………………………………………………………52 11.1 Significance of Relationship between the Red Wing and Croome Court……………52 11.2 Individual Significance of the Red Wing…………………………………………………………….53 11.3 Summary of Structural Evolution……………………………………………………………………….53 Sources and Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………………..…..56 Catherine Gordon Interim Red Wing Report 2013 Page 2 General Introduction Figure 1 View of Croome Court from the north-west (Author) 1.1 Background History The Red Wing is the brick service wing that adjoins the eastern elevation of Croome Court in south Worcestershire. It dates primarily from the 1750s when the earlier 17th century house was remodelled under the supervision of Lancelot Brown to form the centrepiece of his designed landscape. This formed part of a significant series of works that Brown undertook at Croome for the 6th Earl of Coventry and was his first major architectural commission. The Red Wing was built to house the kitchens, offices and servants’ accommodation for the mansion house and it also provided an apartment for the 6th Earl in his later life. The wing is physically attached to the main building and linked to it by two interconnecting doorways. This means that it forms a single entity with the mansion house and the significance of this physical, visual, historical and functional connection is reflected by its inclusion within the Grade I listing of Croome Court. This important connection was threatened recently when the Red Wing was under separate ownership. Croome Court had remained the seat of the Earls of Coventry for around 350 years. After the family moved out of the mansion house in 1948, the service wing continued to provide ancillary and service accommodation to the main house despite numerous Catherine Gordon Interim Red Wing Report 2013 Page 3 changes of use during the second half of the 20th century. In 2006 Croome Park came into the care of the National Trust and in 2007 the Croome Heritage Trust acquired the Court and leased it to the National Trust enabling it to be reunited with its landscape park. However for a brief period the Red Wing remained in private ownership. During this time the adjacent stableblock and ancillary buildings were converted into residential units and the Red Wing was allowed to deteriorate into a very serious state of disrepair. It became included within the highest risk category within English Heritage’s Heritage at Risk register and in October 2009 Malvern Hills District Council served a Repairs Notice upon the owner. The condition of the building became so critical that in July 2011 that it became subject to a Compulsory Purchase Order. This provided the opportunity for its acquisition by the CHT and its lease to the National Trust in 2011. With Croome Court and its service wing once more under single ownership, there is a need to act quickly to make it windproof, watertight and structurally sound in accordance with MHDC’s schedule of repair in order to remove the Repairs Notice and prevent the structure from imminent collapse. Listed Building Consent has now been granted for essential and urgent repairs to the building. Although this is not a normal requirement of repair works to a listed building, this has been a special requirement in this instance to cover any minor alterations that become necessary as works progress and also the use of any non-authentic materials to ensure that there are no unnecessary delays to hinder the repair work. English Heritage has granted £500k towards an estimated £1 million repair project that commenced in February 2013 and is due to be completed before 15th June 2014. Proposals for the future use of the Red Wing will form part of the next phase of the Project. It is intended that the Red Wing will form a key part of the National Trust’s overall strategy to secure the care and conservation of Croome Court in its entirety, and also an important component of its exciting new plans for the presentation of the property and for visitor engagement. 1.2 Report Brief This report on the structural history of the Red Wing has been undertaken at the request of the National Trust’s Red Wing Project Board. The aim is to provide an interim analysis of the structural evolution and historical development of the Red Wing and link this physical and structural evidence with the readily-available archival sources. It is hoped that this analysis will inform the ongoing repair work and any future plans for the building’s care and maintenance, and also help to identify specific areas of sensitivity and parts of the building that are likely to reveal information of interest and are worthy of further investigation. This report also includes a brief account of the building’s historic uses and how it has been adapted to accommodate the social, economic and technical changes of the past 250 years, together with recommendations for the future use and interpretation of the building that could be developed in the subsequent care and management programme. Catherine Gordon Interim Red Wing Report 2013 Page 4 1.3 Scope and Limitations This report is based primarily upon the interpretation and analysis of existing structural evidence and known documentary sources. It is therefore by no means exhaustive, and where structural investigations have been restricted by access issues due to the unstable condition of the derelict building, reference has been made to the structural survey undertaken by Kirsty Rodwell in 2005 ( K.Rodwell, The Structural History of the Red Wing, Croome Court, Worcestershire, 2005 and K.Rodwell, Further Observations on the Structural Sequence, 2005) and observations made by Nick Joyce of Nick Joyce Architects, Project Architect. As the report focuses upon the building’s structural evolution and historic uses, it does not form a record of the surviving structure nor an appraisal of its structural condition. Within the limitations of the brief and of the access issues, it conforms to the overall guidelines laid down by English Heritage in Understanding Historic Buildings-A Guide to Good Recording Practice, English Heritage, (2006), a revised and expanded version of Recording Historic Buildings: A Descriptive Specification (RCHME 1996) and Clark’s Informed Conservation (2001). 1.4 Sources This report is based on information gathered on site mainly in December 2012 and January 2013 and is informed by the vast resource of documentary and illustrative material in the Croome Estate Archive (CEA), now held mainly at The Hive in Worcester, with additional reference to the Antony archive (AA) held at Antony House, Cornwall. As noted above, much of the structural detail makes reference to the 2005 survey by Kirsty Rodwell. All the structural drawings are reproduced with the permission of Nick Joyce Architects, although the colour-coded details included on the drawings in Appendix III and IV are the work of the author. Additional sources are listed at the end of this report in the Bibliography section. 2.0 Statutory Protection Listing Designation Croome Court is a Grade I listed building and the Red Wing is included within the same Grade I designation. Croome Park is registered as a Grade I landscape in EH’s Register of Parks and Gardens of special historic interest and most of the ancillary buildings and structures associated with the Croome landscape are also listed. Six of these are listed Grade I, two are listed Grade II* and there are twelve listed Grade II. See Appendix I for complete list description. Catherine Gordon Interim Red Wing Report 2013 Page 5 3.0 Location and site observation Croome Court is located at NGR SO 8849444596. around eight miles south of Worcester, eight miles north of Tewkesbury and