Chapter XX Conclusion
Whatever method can be devised for the prevention of the vanishing of England’s chief characteristics are worthy of consideration. First there must be the continued education of the English people in the appreciation of ancient buildings and other relics of antiquity. We must learn to love them, or we shall not care to preserve them. An ignorant squire or foolish landowner may destroy in a day some priceless object of antiquity which can never be replaced. Too often it is the agent who is to blame. Squires are very much in the hands of their agents, and leave much to them to decide and carry out. When consulted they do not take the trouble to inspect the threatened building, and merely confirm the suggestions of the agents. Estate agents, above all people, need education in order that the destruction of much that is precious may be averted.
The Government has done well in appointing commissions for England, Scotland, and Wales to inquire into and report on the condition of ancient monuments, but we lag behind many other countries in the task of protecting and preserving the memorials of the past.
In France national monuments of historic or artistic interest are scheduled under the direction of the Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts. In cases in which a monument is owned by a private individual, it usually may not be scheduled without the consent of the owner, but if his consent is withheld the State Minister is empowered to purchase compulsorily. No monument so scheduled may be destroyed or subjected to works of restoration, repair, or alteration without the consent of the Minister, nor may new buildings be annexed to it without permission from the same quarter. Generally speaking, the Minister is advised by a commission of historical monuments, consisting of leading officials connected with fine arts, public buildings, and museums. Such a commission has existed since 1837, and very considerable sums of public money have been set apart to enable it to carry on its work. In 1879 a classification of some 2500 national monuments was made, and this classification has been adopted in the present law. It includes megalithic remains, classical remains, and medieval, Renaissance, and modern buildings and ruins.63
We do not suggest that in England we should imitate the very drastic restorations to which some of the French abbeys and historic buildings are subjected. The authorities have erred greatly in destroying so much original work and their restorations, as in the case of Mont St. Michel, have been practically a rebuilding.
The Belgian people appear to have realized for a very long time the importance of preserving their historic and artistic treasures. By a royal decree of 1824 bodies in charge of church temporalities are reminded that they are managers merely, and while they are urged to undertake in good time the simple repairs that are needed for the preservation of the buildings in their charge, they are strictly forbidden to demolish any ecclesiastical building without authority from the Ministry which deals with the subject of the fine arts. By the same decree they are likewise forbidden to alienate works of art or historical monuments placed in churches. Nine years later, in 1835, in view of the importance of assuring the preservation of all national monuments remarkable for their antiquity, their association, or their artistic value, another decree was issued constituting a Royal Commission for the purpose of advising as to the repairs required by such monuments. Nearly 200,000 francs are annually voted for expenditure for these purposes. The strict application of these precautionary measures has allowed a number of monuments of the highest interest in their relation to art and archæology to be protected and defended, but it does not appear that the Government controls in any way those monuments which are in the hands of private persons.64
In Holland public money to the extent of five or six thousand pounds a year is spent on preserving and maintaining national monuments and buildings of antiquarian and architectural interest. In Germany steps are being taken which we might follow with advantage in this country, to control and limit the disfigurement of landscapes by advertisement hoardings.
A passage from the ministerial order of 1884 with reference to the restoration of churches may be justly quoted:—
“If the restoration of a public building is to be completely successful, it is absolutely essential that the person who directs it should combine with an enlightened æsthetic sense an artistic capacity in a high degree, and, moreover, be deeply imbued with feelings of veneration for all that has come down to us from ancient times. If a restoration is carried out without any real comprehension of the laws of architecture, the result can only be a production of common and dreary artificiality, recognizable perhaps as belonging to one of the architectural styles, but wanting the stamp of true art, and, therefore, incapable of awakening the enthusiasm of the spectator.”
And again:—
“In consequence of the removal or disfigurement of monuments which have been erected during the course of centuries—monuments which served, as it were, as documents of the historical development of past periods of culture, which have, moreover, a double interest and value if left undisturbed on the spot where they were originally erected—the sympathy of congregations with the history of their church is diminished, and, a still more lamentable consequence, a number of objects of priceless artistic value destroyed or squandered, whereby the property of the church suffers a serious loss.”
How much richer might we be here in England if only our central authorities had in the past circulated these admirable doctrines!
Very wisely has the Danish Government prohibited the removal of stones from monuments of historic interest for utilitarian purposes, such as is causing the rapid disappearance of the remains on Dartmoor in this country; and the Greeks have stringent regulations to ensure the preservation of antiquities, which are regarded as national property, and may on no account be damaged either by owner or lessee. It has actually been found necessary to forbid the construction of limekilns nearer than two miles from any ancient ruins, in order to remove the temptation for the filching of stones. In Italy there are stringent laws for the protection of historical and ancient monuments. Road-mending is a cause of much destruction of antiquarian objects in all countries, even in Italy, where the law has been invoked to protect ancient monuments from the highway authorities.
We need not record the legal enactments of other Governments, so admirably summarized by Mr. Bond in his paper read before the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club. We see what other countries much poorer than our own are doing to protect their national treasures, and though the English Government has been slow in realizing the importance of the ancient monuments of this country, we believe that it is inclined to move in the right direction, and to do its utmost to preserve those that have hitherto escaped the attacks of the iconoclasts, and the heedlessness and stupidity of the Gallios “who care for none of these things.”
When an old building is hopelessly dilapidated, what methods can be devised for its restoration and preservation? To pull it down and rebuild it is to destroy its historical associations and to make it practically a new structure. Happily science has recently discovered a new method for the preserving of these old buildings without destroying them, and this good angel is the grouting machine, the invention of Mr. James Greathead, which has been the means of preventing much of vanishing England. Grout, we understand, is a mixture of cement, sand, and water, and the process of grouting was probably not unknown to the Romans. But the grouting machine is a modern invention, and it has only been applied to ancient buildings during the last six or seven years.65 It is unnecessary to describe its mechanism, but its admirable results may be summarized. Suppose an old building shows alarming cracks. By compressed air you blow out the old decayed mortar, and then damping the masonry by the injection of water, you insert the nozzle of the machine and force the grout into the cracks and cavities, and soon the whole mass of decayed masonry is cemented together and is as sound as ever it was. This method has been successfully applied to Winchester Cathedral, the old walls of Chester, and to various churches and towers. It in no way destroys the characteristics and features of the building, the weatherworn surfaces of the old stones, their cracks and deformations, and even the moss and lichen which time has planted on them need not be disturbed. Pointing is of no avail to preserve a building, as it only enters an inch or two in depth. Underpinning is dangerous if the building be badly cracked, and may cause collapse. But if you shore the structure with timber, and then weld its stones together by applying the grouting machine, you turn the whole mass of masonry into a monolith, and can then strengthen the foundations in any way that may be found necessary. The following story of the saving of an old church, as told by Mr. Fox, proclaims the merits of this scientific invention better than any description can possibly do:—
“The ancient church of Corhampton, near Bishops Waltham, in Hampshire, is an instance. This Saxon church, 1300 years old, was in a sadly dilapidated condition. In the west gable there were large cracks, one from the ridge to the ground, another nearer the side wall, both wide enough for a man’s arm to enter; whilst at the north-west angle the Saxon work threatened to fall bodily off. The mortar of the walls had perished through age, and the ivy had penetrated into the interior of the church in every direction. It would have been unsafe to attempt any examination of the foundations for fear of bringing down the whole fabric; consequently the grouting machine was applied all over the building. The grout escaped at every point, and it occupied the attention of the masons both inside and outside to stop it promptly by plastering clay on to the openings from which it was running.
“After the operation had been completed and the clay was removed, the interior was found to be completely filled with cement set very hard; and sufficient depth having been left for fixing the flint work outside and tiling inside, the result was that no trace of the crack was visible, and the walls were stronger and better than they had ever been before. Subsequent steps were then taken to examine and, where necessary, to underpin the walls, and the church is saved, as the vicar, the Rev. H. Churton, said, ’all without moving one of the Saxon “long and short” stones.’”
In our chapter on the delightful and picturesque old bridges that form such beautiful features of our English landscapes, we deplored the destruction now going on owing to the heavy traction-engines which some of them have to bear and the rush and vibration of motor-cars which cause the decay of the mortar and injure their stability. Many of these old bridges, once only wide enough for pack-horses to cross, then widened for the accommodation of coaches, beautiful and graceful in every way, across which Cavaliers rode to fight the Roundheads, and were alive with traffic in the old coaching days, have been pulled down and replaced by the hideous iron-girder arrangements which now disfigure so many of our streams and rivers. In future, owing to this wonderful invention of the grouting machine, these old bridges can be saved and made strong enough to last another five hundred years. Mr. Fox tells us that an old Westmoreland bridge in a very bad condition has been so preserved, and that the celebrated “Auld Brig o’ Ayr” has been saved from destruction by this means. A wider knowledge of the beneficial effects of this wonderful machine would be of invaluable service to the country, and prevent the passing away of much that in these pages we have mourned. By this means we may be able to preserve our old and decaying buildings for many centuries, and hand down to posterity what Ruskin called the great entail of beauty bequeathed to us.
Vanishing England has a sad and melancholy sound. Nevertheless, the examples we have given of the historic buildings, and the beauties of our towns and villages, prove that all has not yet disappeared which appeals to the heart and intellect of the educated Englishman. And oftentimes the poor and unlearned appreciate the relics that remain with quite as much keenness as their richer neighbours. A world without beauty is a world without hope. To check vandalism, to stay the hand of the iconoclast and destroyer, to prevent the invasion and conquest of the beauties bequeathed to us by our forefathers by the reckless and ever-engrossing commercial and utilitarian spirit of the age, are some of the objects of our book, which may be useful in helping to preserve some of the links that connect our own times with the England of the past, and in increasing the appreciation of the treasures that remain by the Englishmen of to-day.
Footnotes
1 History of Oxfordshire, by J. Meade Falkner.
2 It is now in possession of Mr. Kenneth M. Clark, by whose permission the accompanying plan, reproduced from the Memorials of Old Suffolk, was made.
3 Memorials of Old Suffolk, edited by V.B. Redstone, p. 226.
4 The Builder, April 16, 1904.
5 History of Renaissance Architecture, by R. Blomfield.
6 Cf. Memorials of Suffolk, edited by V.B. Redstone.
7 The Chester folk have a proverb, “When the daughter is stolen, shut Pepper-gate”—referring to the well-known story of a daughter of a Mayor of Chester having made her escape with her lover through this gate, which he ordered to be closed, but too late to prevent the fugitives.
8 The Rev. T. Auden, Shrewsbury (Methuen and Co.).
9 Ibid., p. 48.
10 The Charm of the English Village (Batsford).
11 The Charm of the English Village, pp. 50-7.
12 Old West Surrey, by Gertrude Jekyll, p. 206.
13 Highways and Byways in Sussex, by E.V. Lucas.
14 I fear the poet’s plans will never be passed by the rural district council.
15 The rood-loft has unfortunately disappeared.
16 Excursions in Essex, published in 1819, states: “The old market cross and gaol are taking down. The market cross has long been considered a nuisance.”
17 These tiles have now found a place in the excellent local museum.
18 A payment to the superior lord for protection.
19 Cf. Memorials of Old Suffolk, p. 65.
20 Grose’s Antiquities.
21 Taunton and its Castle, by D.P. Alford (Memorials of Old Somerset), p. 149.
22 A fine linen cloth made in Brittany (cf. Coriolanus, Act ii. sc. 1).
23 A rich sort of stuff interwoven with gold and silver, made at Tournay, which was formerly called Dorneck, in Flanders.
24 An alloy of copper and zinc.
25 Large standard candlesticks.
26 The Lent cloth, hung before the altar during Lent.
27 A Pax.
28 History of the Church in England, p. 401.
29 Doubtless our author means Norman.
30 A china punch-bowl was actually presented by Sir T. Drake to be used as a font at Woodbury, Devon.
31 English Church Furniture, by Dr. Cox and A. Harvey.
32 The Parish Councillor, an article by Dr. Jessop, September 20, 1895.
33 Canon F.E. Warren recently reported to the Suffolk Institute of Archæology that while he was dining at a friend’s house he saw two chalices on the table.
34 Memorials of Old Warwickshire, edited by Miss Alice Dryden.
35 The present Marquis of Northampton in his book contends that the house was mainly built in the reign of Henry VII by Edmund Compton, Sir William’s father, and that Sir William only enlarged and added to the house. We have not space to record the arguments in favour of or against this view.
36 The Progresses of James I, by Nichols.
37 Old-time Parson, by P.H. Ditchfield, 1908.
38 Country Life, September 17th, 1904.
39 Farmers.
40 Stand away.
41 One just.
42 The Builder, March 6, 1909.
43 It is erroneously styled Bishop Hall’s Palace. An episcopal palace is the official residence of the bishop in his cathedral city. Not even a country seat of a bishop is correctly called a palace, much less the residence of a bishop when ejected from his see.
44 History of Newbury, by Walter Money, F.S.A.
45 Report of the State of Lancashire in 1590 (Chetham Society, Vol. XCVI, p. 5).
46 Ancient Crosses of Lancashire, by Henry Taylor.
47 Ancient Crosses and Holy Wells of Lancashire, by Henry Taylor, F.S.A.
48 Ancient Crosses and Holy Wells of Lancashire, by Henry Taylor, F.S.A.
49 Ibid.
50 Act of Parliament, 1405.
51 History of Hungerford, by W. Money, p. 38.
52 Notes and Queries, 4th series, X, p. 6.
53 Ancient Crosses and Holy Wells of Lancashire, by H. Taylor, F.S.A., p. 37.
54 History of Skipton, W.H. Dawson, quoted in Bygone Punishments, p. 199.
55 The corporation of Hungerford is peculiar, the head official being termed the constable, who corresponded with the mayor in less original boroughs.
56 Act of Parliament 25 George II.
57 Ferry.
58 Mr. Nisbett gives a good account of the hospital in Memorials of Old Hampshire, and Mr. Champneys fully describes the buildings in the Architectural Review, October, 1903, and April, 1904.
59 The Treasury, November, 1907, an article on hospitals by Dr. Hermitage Day.
60 Highways and Byways in Berkshire.
61 Old English Customs Extant at the Present Time (Methuen and Co.).
62 The book of words is printed in Old English Customs, by P.H. Ditchfield.
63 A paper read by Mr. Nigel Bond, Secretary of the National Trust, at a meeting of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, to which paper the writer is indebted for the subsequent account of the proceeding’s of foreign governments with regard to the preservation of their ancient monuments.
64 Ibid.
65 A full account of this useful invention was given in the Times Engineering Supplement, March 18th, 1908, by Mr. Francis Fox, M. Inst. C.E.