Spring 2010 Newsletter

IN THIS ISSUE:-
Report of AGM held on March 8th
National Park Update
New Planning Policy on Heritage
The Websters of Kendal – Part 1
Kirkby Lonsdale Workhouse
Civic Society Visit to Burton in Kendal

Report of AGM held on March 8th

The Chairman welcomed 50 members (plus 8 committee members) to the meeting, and then presented a joint Chairman’s /Secretary’s report of the Society’s activities during the past 12 months.
There had been a further fall in total planning applications to 115 and responses had been made to10 of them, split equally between objection and comment/suggestion. The Society continued to object to planning applications for windfarm developments in the Lune valley, and encouraged members to monitor new proposals such as that at Longfield Tarn near Hutton Roof. A submission was made to Natural England in support of their proposal to extend the Yorkshire Dales National Park into the Lune valley, in the belief that such a change would be in the best long term interests of the both the landscape and the cultural heritage. Several projects were completed during the year of which the most significant was the structural survey of Devil’s Bridge, at a cost of £16,000, made possible with a grant from English Heritage. This showed that a substantial amount of remedial work is necessary on this iconic scheduled monument, and the committee hopes to progress this during the coming year. The Chairman ended by thanking all the members of the committee for their commitment and hard work over the past 12 months.
The Treasurer reported that the Society showed a healthy bank balance. The figures presented were much larger than for other years because of the Devil's Bridge project funding. Lecture receipts have increased due to the larger numbers attending our talks. Payments were also very different from 2008 because of the exploratory work on Devil's Bridge. One other extra expense was the replacement of the plaque in Salt Pie Lane. Due to the decrease in investment income, and the early payment of subscriptions, and fees for the course on Vernacular Architecture which were included in 2008, there was a net deficit of £224.00.
Comments from the floor praised the high standard of the Winter Talks and an appreciation of the work done by the committee.
The external auditor, Mr Terry Simpkin, was thanked for his help and advice, and elected for a further year. The Chairman paid tribute to Mr Bob Price, who was standing down from the committee after many years service, for all his hard work.
The Officers and other members of the committee were then re-elected nem.con., and Mrs Judith Manifold was elected to the committee for the first time.
Following the AGM, Mr Andrew Lowe gave an entertaining talk entitled “A Career in Ruins” and the evening ended convivially with wine and nibbles.


National Park Update

Consultation on the proposed extensions to the National Parks, which could result in most of the Lune valley above Kirkby Lonsdale being included within the Yorkshire Dales National Park, ended on March 17th. There were more than 1000 responses, which represented a very high level of interest in the proposals.
The results are still being collated, but it is already clear that the majority of the affected Parishes and both the National Parks supported the proposals. Cumbria County Council and Eden District Council both objected (the former against the advice of its Officers) and SLDC did not comment either way.
The next step is for the Natural England Board to consider a final recommendation from its officers - and this is likely to be in July or November – which should result in a draft designation order being recommended to DEFRA. At this stage there is a further consultation, this time with the statutory consultees only (County, District and Parish Councils together with the two National Parks), and if there are further objections, then it is likely that the matter will proceed to a public enquiry.
At best the whole process is likely to take a further 12-18 months, with an even longer timescale should it go to public enquiry.

New Planning Policy on Heritage

In mid March the first comprehensive policy statement on heritage for nearly a decade and a new Planning Policy Statement and Practice Guide were published. These explain Government thinking and provide the policy framework within which all planning decisions will be made. They will remain in force after the General Election.

The new Planning Policy Statement 5 (PPS5) Planning for the Historic Environment replaces PPG15 and 16 and is now the keynote statement of planning policy on heritage. Local development frameworks must be compatible with PPS5 and it will also impact on decisions over individual planning applications.

The objectives are:

1. To deliver sustainable development by ensuring that policies and decisions concerning the historic environment:

• recognise that heritage assets are a non-renewable resource
• take account of the wider social, cultural, economic and environmental benefits of heritage conservation; and
• recognise that intelligently managed change may sometimes be necessary if heritage assets are to be maintained for the long term.

2. To conserve England's heritage assets in a manner appropriate to their significance by ensuring that:

• decisions are based on the nature, extent and level of that significance
• proportionate to the importance of the heritage asset
• wherever possible, heritage assets are put to an appropriate and viable use that is consistent with their conservation
• the positive contribution of such heritage assets to local character and sense of place is recognised and valued
• consideration of the historic environment is integrated into planning policies, promoting place-shaping.

3. To contribute to our knowledge and understanding of our past by ensuring that opportunities are taken to capture evidence from the historic environment and to make this publicly available, particularly where a heritage asset is to be lost.

There are 12 individual policies, HE1 to HE12, which cover a wide range of issues, for example :

HE7 requires local authorities to take account of the significance of a heritage asset to current and future generations and for them "to take reasonable steps to seeks the views of that community" where the significance may not be understood through the usual processes of consultation
HE9 states that "There should be a presumption in favour of the conservation of designated heritage assets and the more significant the designated heritage asset, the greater the presumption in favour of its conservation should be. Once lost, heritage assets cannot be replaced and their loss has a cultural, economic and social impact...Substantial harm to or loos of a Grade II listed building, park or garden should be exceptional" and "wholly exceptional" for Grade I and II*, scheduled monuments, World Heritage Sites, protected wrecks and battlefields. The PPS notes that not all elements of a Conservation Area contribute to its significance and only those elements that do should be taken into account but also that those elements which do not may be enhanced as part of the process of place-shaping.

Taken at face value this new policy seems like good news for the historic environment, but only time will tell how what difference these changes will really make. The detail of these new policies will be pored over by planning practitioners and volunteers in the coming weeks and we will try to update you on how they are being interpreted.

The Websters of Kendal – Part 1

The Webster name is almost synonymous with Kendal’s nineteenth century architecture and is also linked with many buildings in the surrounding towns and villages as well as further afield. At the end of this article we will look at some of the considerable number to be found within the Rainbow Parish The Websters came from a long line of master masons long-settled in what is now South Lakeland. George, his father Francis and Francis his brother, were responsible for the building, renovation and alteration of a wide range of commissions and much of their work survives to this day. Some worked together with partners, or in cooperation with other skilled artisans, and there was no single long established architectural office or practice until George Webster began to make a reputation for himself. Consequently, in cases where no documentation has survived, the definite attribution of a particular building to one specific member of the family is not always possible.
In 1749 a Thomas Webster is recorded as demanding £4.10s from the people of Kirkby Lonsdale because they had failed to provide sixty horses and carts to carry materials when he repaired 300 feet of the west end of Devil’s bridge, and this seems to be the first record of a member of the Webster family being paid for building work.
Francis Webster was born in 1767 and became a prominent local stonemason. Although untrained, he set the architectural ball rolling though with a number of commissions in Kendal, and briefly the patronage of Lord Lonsdale, who unfortunately died before any large commission could be obtained. He is sometimes called an executant architect, since he was often employed to implement the designs of others. An example of this is Storrs Hall, which he built largely to the design of Michael Gandy. Francis would have been permitted control of some of the elements, and of course this type of work was excellent training, and in later commissions he often introduced design features which he first encountered as an executant. By adding this type of practical architecture to his mason’s skill and his natural business acumen Francis paved the way for his second son (his first son, Robert died young), George, born in 1797, who became the best known of the dynasty, achieving significant wealth and a position in local society.
George Webster designed his first country house, Read Hall in Lancashire, in 1818 at the tender age of 21. There is no record of him having any formal architectural training, but he may have been a pupil of one of the architects of the day, William Atkinson in Manchester, and he certainly acted as an executant architect in his earlier years. With George working with his father and brother Francis, who was the Director of the Sculpture department, the company went from strength to strength and it wasn't long before their influence was being felt across the area. Richard Stirzaker from Lancaster had joined Francis Webster in 1817 as a draughtsman, and Miles Thompson joined also as a draughtsman in 1825 and eventually took over the firm.
Albeit with a wonderful legacy of churches, houses, market halls, bridges and factories throughout the county to his credit, George’s exit from the profession was quite swift. He had no son to succeed him, there had been disagreements over some projects, and with deteriorating health he seemed to lose interest in the practice of architecture. Towards the end of George’s active involvement in the business, Thompson became a partner and eventually took over the day to day running of the business, and the firm traded as Webster and Thompson from 1845.
The partnership was dissolved in 1846, when George was only 48 years old, and from then on traded as Thompson and Webster (presumably as a courtesy), until the Webster name was finally omitted in about 1856. In his later years George Webster lived a quiet life, travelling quite extensively, amassing a wide ranging art collection and investing money in various business ventures including the new railways. He died in 1864 and was buried at Lindale in a vault of his own design. No picture of him is believed to have survived.
Both Francis and his son George served as mayors to the parish. Francis from 1823 to 1824, and George from 1829 to 1830.
With a wide range of private and corporate clients, often with their own ideas about the design they wished to commission, Webster-designed buildings can be found in a variety of styles and forms. Examples can be seen of Greek classical and Italianate designs, but Jacobean is the style most frequently associated with George Webster. Mullioned windows, sometimes tripartite, highly ornamented finials and decorative bargeboards are often seen on Webster buildings. George would have learned his trade from his time as an executant, from books and architectural magazines, as well as from his own and his family’s experience. The skills in stonemasonry, which began with Francis, continued through the generations and fine carved chimney pieces were often included in Webster houses. Whilst churches featured in the Webster body of work, they are not numerous and George generally adopted a gothic style for these.
We are fortunate to have a number of fine Webster buildings in the Rainbow Parish, and the next Newsletter will look at some of these in detail.

Kirkby Lonsdale Workhouse

Following the “Three Centuries of the Workhouse” talk given by Peter Higginbotham on January 11th, I was contacted by member Pat Nicholson, who lives in Mill Brow House, which of course was the old workhouse, about which she kindly provided the following additional information:
Erected in 1811 at the cost of £2150 for the use of 17 townships. The money spent in erecting the house was borrowed in £50 shares and besides the interest one twentieth part of the capital is liquidated annually so that the whole debt will be discharged in 1831. Mr Thomas Parkinson is the Governor and Mr Thomas Gregg the visitor. The poor rates for the township of Kirkby Lonsdale amounted in 1803 to £561.13.10d; in 1820 to £889.5.71/4d; in 1824 to £702.16.1d; and in 1827 to £820.17.71/4d. This township includes the hamlets of Biggins, Kearstwick and Tarnside.
Quotation from a letter from William H Baldwin, Vice Chairman of the committee appointed to inspect and report on the workhouses within the Kendal Union:
“ The workhouse is in the town, the access to it is unfavourable, it is situated on the slope of the hill overlooking the River Lune. An addition made lately to the building renders it capable of accommodating about 120 persons. The internal arrangement is very defective within for work, for inspection or for classification. The area on which the buildings stand is very limited, and the fall of the ground towards the river so precipitous that any material alteration would be made at great expense. In the front is a small garden but no suitable airing ground for the use of the inmates capable of being received into the house. In conclusion your committee are united in the judgement that the workhouses at Kendal and Milnethorpe are the most eligible for the accommodation of the Union, and as far as they can judge these two are likely to be found sufficient”.
10th September 1836
Pat Nicholson adds her own observations and recollections: “The cellar to the left of the building contains the refractory cell, (this appears to have been used for disruptive inmates) approximately nine feet square with no natural light, an earth floor, and a small hearth in the corner with a crude brick chimney breast. The heavy studded door of double thickness has a very large bolt and a rusty iron plate, which may have been an inspection window. The whole workhouse building has flag floors except for the first floor and two rooms on the ground floor. Most doors on the upper floors have been replaced but on two doors it was possible at one time to see “Womens 22” and “Prisoner” written beneath the varnish. It meaning of the latter is obscure.
To the right of the building on the ground floor was the Red Cross Room and older residents of the town remember visiting the school dentist there. Mr Newton, National School headmaster, organized the youth club on the ground floor. During World War Two, when officers were billeted in Lunefield House, the NCO’s were housed in Mill Brow House”.

Civic Society Visit to Burton in Kendal

A walking tour to look at some of the history and old buildings of Burton in Kendal has been arranged for the evening of Monday 14th June 2010. It will be led by historian Kath Hayhurst of the Holme and District Local History Society. We wiil meet at Burton in Kendal Memorial Hall on Main St (A6070) in the centre of the village opposite the primary school, and start promptly at 7pm. Duration up to 2 hours. Please wear suitable clothing and footwear. Numbers are limited so if you want to come please call Mike Kingsbury on 015242 76434 or email m.kingsbury455@btinternet.com. The cost is £2 for adults and children are free.