List members might be pleased to hear that representations have already
been made by the Association for Industrial Archaeology, who continue to
be actively engaged in discussion with the local authority, English
Heritage and others. The Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology will also
be making its voice heard, together with others including the Historical
Metallurgy Society. Following Dr. Horton's remarks on 'Britarch'
discussion list a number of individuals in the UK are also making their
objections known.
More information on the building and the situation is available here:
http://www.b-i-a-s.org.uk/BIAS_news.html
http://www.totnesonline.com/brunel/
All the best
Paul
Paul Belford
Head of Archaeology and Monuments
Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust
[log in to unmask]
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion List for Contemporary and Historical
> Archaeology [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Mark Horton
> Sent: 22 February 2008 15:43
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: threat to Brunel's atmospheric railway
>
> Dear Listers
>
> I thought that I should alert an international audience to
> the impending threat to the Totnes Pumping Station - which
> was the last element of Brunel's atmospheric railway system
> to be built (but never apparently commissioned) on the South
> Devon Railway in 1847-8. It is a building in an italianate
> style, and is well preserved in a commercial dairy that has
> now closed. Dairy Crest who own it, are in the process of
> demolition - they have already taken the tiles of the roof,
> and will complete the process in the next month.
>
> English Heritage initially recommended that the building be
> listed in 2000, but did nothing about it. In Nov. 2007, as it
> was threatened, a request was made to spot list it, and the
> report on this concluded that because it had been
> significantly altered it was not on sufficient architectural
> merit to list. This decision is currently being appealed at
> DCMS. EH's view seems both wrong and perverse, given that the
> only damage to the building was the demolition of the Chimney
> in the 1930's, the rest of the complex is completely intact -
> although difficult to see as there is plant inside. For
> example the original roof is all there, as are all the
> openings etc, although there has been some relining on the
> interior walls.
>
> The building is clearly designed by Brunel personally - a
> fact that EH totally overlooked - as we have sketches for it
> (or a building very similar) in his private notebooks that we
> hold at the University of Bristol. There are only two other
> examples of his pumping system at Torre and Starcross (both
> listed 2* and 1), which interesting are less similar to the
> Brunel drawings than Totnes. It is a significant example of
> his 'Italianate phase' of railway architecture, of which
> there are relatively few other examples (see Steven Brindle's
> book on Brunel).
>
> This is a case of more than local importance. It shows that
> heritage organisations are still basing their decision to
> preserve on purely aesthetic criteria, and can completely
> ignore the intense archaeological / historical importance of
> particular structures. It seems to be incredible that a
> building of such manifest international importance, by one of
> the greatest railway pioneers, from a period of rapid
> experimentation in this new technology (in this case
> representing a failure). If we wish to understand the process
> of change and innovation in technology, we have to study not
> just the famous successes, BUT ALSO THE FAILURES. Totnes
> represents precisely this point, and is in many ways is as
> historically important as Saltash or the SS Great Britain.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Mark
>
> Mark Horton.
>
> --------------------------
> contemp-hist-arch is a list for news and events in
> contemporary and historical archaeology, and for
> announcements relating to the CHAT conference group.
> -------
> For email subscription options see:
> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/archives/contemp-hist-arch.html
> -------
> For CHAT meetings see:
> http://www.bris.ac.uk/archanth/events/chat.html
> --------------------------
>
--------------------------
contemp-hist-arch is a list for news and events
in contemporary and historical archaeology, and
for announcements relating to the CHAT conference group.
-------
For email subscription options see:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/archives/contemp-hist-arch.html
-------
For CHAT meetings see:
http://www.bris.ac.uk/archanth/events/chat.html
--------------------------
|