2 SECRETARY’S NOTES Green Deal? No deal. And SPAB was indeed Morris’s pride.
3 IN AND AROUND 1 The Society is inviting applications for the new post of Director; AGM at the Mansion House, with speaker Sir Donald Insall; riots, demolition threats, theft – James Innerdale’s Conservation Rituals bids farewell to summer.
6 NEWS 1 Death by insulation? – Green Deal’s potential heritage harm scrutinsed by Philip Venning; Robin Stummer and John Lawrence pay a visit to yet more historic buildings threatened by the Government’s High Speed Rail scheme.
12 IN AND AROUND 2 This May, a team of volunteers rowed all 132 miles of the Thames between William Morris’s homes in London and Oxfordshire to raise money for the SPAB’s Scholarships. Hugh Conway Morris reports on seven days afloat.
14 NEWS 2 Planning problems – Matthew Slocombe fears that heritage might lose out in the Government’s radical policy shake-up to boost construction; SPAB signs up to the Right Lines Charter Group to voice concern over HS2, says Philip Venning; SPAB’s thermal research project shows that old buildings are not necessarily cold buildings, write Dr Caroline Rye and Jonathan Garlick.
18 CASEWORK Brentwood’s Old House isn’t getting any younger; there’s a temple to Theseus in Hagley (yes, really); last battle for the Robin Hood hotel?; replace and repair under discussion at York Minster; protecting the best of Middle Parc.
32 BACK TO THE BATTLE Cherry Hinton’s ancient church, one of the earliest SPAB cases, revisited by Philip Venning.
36 SITE SEEN Recent repairs in the spotlight – a gem of a church in rural Bedfordshire given new life for the Churches Conservation Trust by Ptolemy Dean; a 17th-century Shropshire dovecote, by Sarah Butler; and Izaak Hudson and Dr Andy Russel report on the final stages of work at Southampton’s Tudor House.
50 METALS FOCUS “Cornerstone” looks at three aspects of historic metal – the grim state of what could be Britain’s oldest surviving iron furnace, 17th-century Gunns Mill in the Forest of Dean, revealed by Robin Stummer; Sophie Goodchild on the spate of thefts of architectural metalwork; and the part that investment in copper mining played in the growth of theWilliam Morris family fortune.
60 ABROAD Lifta is the last, intact historic village in Palestine. Now on the outskirts of Jerusalem and empty since 1948, it is at the heart of a struggle over luxury development plans; Kashgar, Silk Road treasure, is being systematically bulldozed by the Chinese government; and Ayaka Takaki reports on how Japan has been protecting its heritage in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami.
68 BRISTOL FASHION The Priory Church of St James is one of the city’s medieval glories. Newly conserved, it revealed much history that had remained hidden for centuries. Andrew Ziminski tells the story of his work there.
72 BEING THERE Mark Watson, a mason and now mature student of heritage conservation management, spent his work placement with North Dorset District Council, recording historic assets known and unknown. He sums up his experiences and his concern over dwindling training and career opportunities for professionals.
76 TECHNICAL Q&A The SPAB’s Technical Secretary, Douglas Kent, warms to the subject of installing insulation at the rafter level of historic pitched roofs.
82 NEW ARTISTS For the first in a series of interviews with fresh creative talents whose work is inspired by historic buildings, artist, illustrator and designer Ed Kluz tells Naomi Marks about his fascination with architecture and landscape.
88 BURNE-JONES, ABSENT FRIEND The great Pre-Raphaelite painter was one of Morris’s closest allies and a kindred spirit, so why didn’t he turn up at the SPAB’s inauguralmeeting in 1877? Answering that question sheds light on the artist, his outlook, attitude to old buildings and relationship with the Society’s founder. Writer and biographer Fiona MacCarthy weighs up the evidence.
97 KEY READ William Golding’s 1964 novel “The Spire” has always been understood to be based on Salisbury Cathedral. David Heath admires this great work of fact-based historico-architectural fiction – whatever its orgins.
104 NEW BOOKS LucyWorsley’s inside stories, plus surveying and maintenance.
108 ARCHITECTURE IN ART Eric de Maré’s 1960s photograph of a church dwarfed by the vast cooling towers of the Ferrybridge power station has taken on iconic status. But what’s the picture actually saying, wonders Robin Stummer.