Updating the Wiltshire Volume of Pevsner’s ‘Buildings of England’

On 10 November, Julian Orbach talked about his work on updating the Wiltshire volume of Pevsner‘s ‘Buildings of England’. He started with the history of the Buildings of England series; the original concept being a paperback which you could put in your pocket and take around with you for ready reference. With changes in publishers it morphed into a hardback. It was updated in the 1970s but some of the modern buildings then included have already disappeared – such as the Princess Margaret Hospital Swindon.

Pevsner had put the county volumes together through two long summers. Julian had already taken two years on the updating and was only part way through the county; however, there are two main reasons for this. Pevsner generalised about villages as a whole -‘full of timber framed houses’ and much of the text related to the external features of the buildings. In many cases, interior features of interest have subsequently come to light so that considerably more detail is now required.

Julian took us through examples he has found in north and west Wiltshire. He advised that there had been a lack of Victorian buildings included in the original volumes. Despite Pevsner’s involvement in the Victorian Society he often considered them to be ugly and very few were listed in the 1960s so missed his eye. References to railway architecture were cursory; Box Tunnel being dismissed as ‘an engineering feat of Brunel’s’. He wondered if some of Brunel’s ‘Tudor’ stations might have been saved if they had been included, Bradford-on-Avon being the only survivor. A lot of handsome 18 c clothiers’ houses had also been omitted.

He showed slides of buildings where interior features of interest had subsequently come to light, often through the comments of local people. Some of these were distinctly non-period, especially fireplaces. He explained that it was common practice in the past to remove artefacts from one building and install them in another, not always locally. In some cases entire buildings were relocated. Pevsner’s short timescale also meant he missed older fabric within and at the rear of houses whose origins are older than their facades would suggest.
An interesting aspect is how similar features are found in unrelated buildings either owing to a common architect or social aspiration. e.g. Robert Smythson at Corsham and Longleat and Lloyds Bank Trowbridge a former clothier’s house which replicated part of the front of Dyrham Park.

Industrial buildings had been underrepresented, there being many of interest in West Wiltshire which is rich in industrial archaeology, as had estate cottages, such as those built for his workers by Abraham Laverton at Prospect Square Westbury.

The county volumes are arranged alphabetically and within each town/village the church is listed first. Wyatt’s restoration of Wiltshire churches was in many cases based on conjecture of the fabric rather than a true record. Evidence of this has come to light through the early 19c drawings by Buckler in the Wiltshire Museum. Another area worth more detailed attention is mausoleums and cemetery architecture.

In the 1975 Update by Bridget Cherry many of the modern buildings included have not stood the test of time and are already altered. They could be excluded from the update making space for newer buildings. He wondered though whether these would still be with us thirty years hence, the pace of obsolescence being so fast. Many new country houses have been built, but generally in a more traditional style, notwithstanding the technical wizardry within He showed us one with commanding views at Colerne all of Bath stone.

Members can look forward to an update as he has promised to return to talk to the society again when he reaches Salisbury.

Judy Howles
Lectures: General Purposes Committee

The attached article in The Guardian about Nikolaus Pevsner may be of interest concerning the publication of the 68th of Pevsners Architectural Guides & the final one in its series – The Guide to Lanarkshire & Renfrewshire.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/19/refugee-britain-nikolaus-pevsner-guide