Winsford Trust

Queens Diamond Jubilee Flower Border 2012

Daniella — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:47:02 +0000

This is the second installment to our project the ‘Queens Jubilee Border 2012‘. Tuesday 24 April had been chosen for the working party to lift the turf for the Queens Jubilee Border, since it was forecast to be dry all day. An unusual thing in this very wet month. Since the Garden Club Chairman, Anne Russell, was not free on that day Anne and the Secretary met to mark out the size and position of the two beds on Monday, which was most definitely not a dry day.

Halwill Garden Club members digging the Jubilee Border

However, for once, the forecast was right and the Tuesday working party set to with a will. Garden Club Treasurer Kathy Grange enlisted husband Niall, Winsford stalwart Dennis Mauger, Jim Whitton and the camerawoman toiled away until aching limbs decreed enough was enough. By then the main bed had been cleared and dug and forked over, leaving a green square in the centre of the second bed.

Digging Fork At The Ready!

Fast forward to Tuesday 8 May and the garden crew were again persuaded to grab a spade and tackle the final hurdle. This time spurred on by the Chairman. After all their hard work the team decide to take a welcome break and a very deserved cup of tea! After taking tea Jim Whitton sprang into action to take credit for lifting the final turf.

Girl power came into its own with spreading compost on to the Queens Jubilee Garden and strimming all the edges to make a neat tidy job.

The next meeting of the Garden Club is on Tuesday 15 May, which is Plant Swap night. Hopefully some of the plants brought in will be of red, white and blue, to add to the already good selection that have been purchased or grown on. Volunteers for the planting party, which is the best part of the project, apart from standing back and watching nature do its thing, can then be organised. Next edition should actually begin to show a real garden emerging.

Bastille Day Quiz

Daniella — Wed, 09 May 2012 12:37:28 +0000

Bastille Day 14th July 1789

On Saturday 14th July we are hosting our summer quiz night, which happens to be the French national holiday – Bastille Day. Though you can expect a Gallic touch to one or two of the rounds, no knowledge of la langue francaise will be required. Supper, included in the price of the ticket as usual, will also have a Gallic flavour but you can be assured that frogs and snails will not feature. Neither will the winners of “la lanterne rouge” (that’s the French equivalent of the wooden spoon) fall victim to the guillotine.

Come along for yet another fun bonne nuit des questions!

Bastille Day

Bastille Day is the name given in English-speaking countries for the French National Day.
Bastille Day is celebrated on the 14th July every year.
Bastille Day commemorates the storming of the Bastille on the 14th July 1789. This marked the beginning of the revolution.
The Bastille was a fortress in Paris and for most of it’s life played as a state prison to the Kings of France.
Benjamin Raspail recommended the day a national holiday on the 6th July 1880.

RIBA – ‘Love Architecture’ Festival

Daniella — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:55:42 +0000

‘Love Architecture’ Festival 2012 will be taking part across England and Wales from the 15th – 24th June. The Festival will bring architecture alive with planned events, such as tours, exhibitions, presentations and children’s events. The festival aims to engage the general public in architecture and the built environment – to reveal what makes great architecture, old and new. It hopes to inspire, to inform, to excite!

We are pleased to inform you that the former Winsford Cottage Hospital will be opening its doors on Friday 15th and Sunday 17th June. We welcome visitors to this event for a presentation and tour delivered by the ‘Winsford Trust’, the charitable organisation established in 1999 to restore and preserve the building. Presentation and tours will be conducted at 11.00am and 2.30pm.

All bookings being taken by Eventbrite.

The Winsford Cottage Hospital has good disabled facilities along with designated parking. You will find an over-spill car park at the nearby Village Hall should it be needed.

About RIBA

A key aim of the RIBA is ‘celebrating and promoting the benefits that good architecture brings to society, the economy and the environment.’ The Architecture Festival is an ideal way to achieve this aim and it provides an opportunity for RIBA members, practices, branches and students to engage with the RIBA and external organisations to create activities which demonstrate the importance of Architects and the role that Better Buildings play in improving our society.

Architecture has a role in daily life. It is all the places and spaces we live and work in. It is the buildings, streets, squares and odd little corners that make up our daily environment.

Condition Survey – Update

Daniella — Tue, 01 May 2012 12:04:07 +0000

The Condition Survey, funded by English Heritage and The Pilgrim Trust is almost complete and we shall soon know the size and likely cost of the task ahead. There have been many meetings with the various consultants involved and we hope to see the comprehensive results of their work at the beginning of May. Meanwhile, we have seen the preliminary results from a number of the individual reports.

These include the bat & bird survey, asbestos survey, drain survey, paint analysis, material analysis and the measured survey. The rest are due to be completed by the end of April 2012. An extension was granted from English Heritage whilst some further investigations were carried out. Full details of the consultants involved can be found here.

The Paint Survey

These investigations by Lisa Oestreicher were commissioned by the Trust to establish the colour and type of paints used within the Winsford Cottage Hospital since it was opened. The paint survey will help inform the programme of repair and conservation. One aim in particular was to establish the original colour scheme that was used when the hospital was opened in 1900.

Twenty-one paint samples were taken from internal and external surfaces, including walls, doors, skirting boards, fireplaces and drainage downpipes. Samples were removed with the aid of a scalpel blade, dental drill and conservation chisel.

The samples were mounted in polyester resin and very thin cross-sections were prepared. A high powered microscope was used to examine them under normal light and ultra-violet light. Once the sequence of paint layers was established micro-chemical tests were undertaken to identify the pigments used in each layer.

Lisa discovered that enough of the historic paintwork survives to gain an understanding of how the hospital was decorated at various times in its history.

Wall Colors

Immediately following construction of the hospital the walls in the Entrance Hall, Men’s Ward and Operating Theatre were distempered a brilliant shade of white. It is most likely that the wall surfaces in the other wards, circulation spaces and adjoining offices and treatment rooms were treated in a similar manner. It is also likely that the ceilings throughout the hospital were likewise plainly distempered white.

Paint Finish – Woodwork

The Men’s Ward was the only room found to have traces of the original paint on its woodwork. The first colour used in this room was a yellow- green traditional lead based paint applied over a red lead primer.

Original paint was not found on woodwork in other spaces, but Lisa concludes that the plain nature of the hospital and the identification of the same wall treatment in more than one room suggests that the woodwork throughout the building may have been decorated using the same colour. One exception to this may have been the oak fireplace surround in the Entrance Hall.

Corridor Door Hinge Strap

Paint Finish – Iron Work

Against this yellow-green background the ironwork door hinges were painted a greenish-brown colour originally.

A little more work is needed to do exact colour matching but it is hoped that as part of the repair and restoration of the grade II* listed cottage hospital, the building will once more be painted in the original colour scheme.

Queens Jubilee Border 2012

Daniella — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:11:34 +0000

The Chairman of Winsford Trust wondered if the Halwill Garden Club, who have their monthly meetings in the Winsford Centre, would like to do a Queens Jubilee Garden in the Grounds, to add yet another strand in the Winsford history and to give the Garden Club a practical project which connected them with their base.

Stage One – Gets Under Way!

Although it was a little late for any major planning the suggestion was taken up and the aim is to have something in place for the Halwill Open Gardens event on 17 June. After the warmth of March April has settled in to be a cold, windy and wet month so far. Just when the grass needed to be mown to allow a bed to be cut from the lawn. Not deterred, and now that Ray Ward has finally managed to turn the unkempt field back into a lawn, they plan to turn the first sod on Tuesday 24 April (Images to follow!).

Seeds, bulbs and plug plants are being nurtured into life to form the bones of the Jubilee Garden. The Club’s meeting in May will be a Plant Swap, which normally results in dozens of surplus plants, so, this year there will be no problem in knowing how to make good use of them.

Border Design

Bare rooted Deutzia Scabra Plena and Exochorda Macrantha ‘The Bride’ have been received and potted up ready to go out as a white backdrop to the bed towards the end of next month, with some Giant Lilium Regale bulbs between each bush. A couple of Hollyhock Chaters Double Scarlet were spotted in Morrisons this week and should give a couple of highlights. The colour scheme of the Queens Jubilee border, in this special year, will be red white and blue.

Since there is rather a large space available it has been agreed to install the Queens Jubilee border and a plot that can be used by Garden Club members as a test bed. This can be for new varieties of flowers, fruit or vegetables or just for things that would not fit in with our current schemes but can be studied for future use, or to show members possibilities that they may not have previously considered.

Find out more about the second stage

Arts And Crafts Exhibition

Daniella — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:37:52 +0000

One of the finest Arts and Craft buildings in Britain is hosting an exhibition of stamped book cover designs from the Arts and Crafts period. Blackwells is a true Arts and Crafts house designed by architect Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott (1865 – 1945) and completed in 1900.

From Rossetti to Voysey: Arts & Crafts Stamped Cloth Book Cover Design

10 May – 15 July 2012 to be held at Blackwells, Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria LA23 3JT

Book cover designed by CFA Voysey for the Studio Magazine

The exhibition brings together books with case-bound cloth covers by well known artists and designers, published between 1866 and 1911 and issued by commercial publishers. The featured designers read like a roll-call of the leading names of the day, including: DG Rossetti, CFA Voysey, William Morris, Philip Webb, Charles Ricketts, Walter Crane, Laurence Housman and Gleeson White.The exhibition will illuminate relationships between designers, writers and publishers.

Arts And Crafts Movement

The covers have been selected on the grounds of their style and for the proximity of their designers to the core of the Arts & Crafts Movement. Most of those included had work shown at the Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society; four of the designers were Masters of the Art Workers Guild.

Simplicity Is The Ultimate Sophistication

Daniella — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 11:26:46 +0000

One of our Trustees is a retired furniture restorer who has a deep interest in the furniture designs of Charles Voysey. She writes as follows.

Bookcase & Stationary Cabinet Designed by C F A Voysey

Voysey was not a craftsman in the literal sense but was a true designer. Though primarily an architect it was his belief that no detail of a project was too small to deserve his attention in order that a harmonious whole was the result. He designed everything, from the landscaping of gardens to wallpapers, textiles and even the handles of a kitchen dresser. In the Winsford Cottage Hospital we see many examples of this philosophy.

However, though not a craftsman himself, he had his designs made up by people who undoubtedly were, including Frederick Coote, with whom he worked from 1889 to the end of the 1890s, and F C Nielsen. The first exhibition of furniture designed by Voysey was at the Arts & Crafts Exhibition in 1893.

Sideboard Designed by C F A Voysey

Simplicity with Sophistication

His style combines refined simplicity with sophistication, simple in form without what he considered to be superfluous decoration. Wood has been carefully selected for the quality of the grain, usually oak, unpolished, unstained, and with a soft oiled finish. Often the details of the construction are visible and this emphasises the material being used.

His furniture is meticulously proportioned and of an elegant and sturdy character. Straight lines and lack of embellishment give these pieces a deceptive simplicity. Sparing use of favourite motifs such as pierced hearts and gently curving tops with tapering and capped uprights above chamfered legs contribute to his very individual style.

To know where to stop and what not to do is a long way on the road to being a great decorator by CFA Voysey

There is currently a resurgence of interest in his wallpapers, no doubt because they are easier to reproduce than his furniture designs, but his furniture should never be underrated.

The Studio

The above images and quotation were taken from an article ‘Some recent designs by Mr C F A Voysey’ in The Studio, Vol.7, 1896, 209-218. Copy held at the Winsford Trust Archive.

Parson Jack Russell’s Doctor

Daniella — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 16:59:07 +0000

Mr Thomas Linnington Ash LRCP (Edinburgh) MRCS (England)

Mr Thomas Linnington Ash at the Winsford Cottage Hospital 1906

Thomas Linnington Ash was the Winsford Hospital’s first attending medical officer and a Justice of the Peace for Devon since 1890. Of interest to many will be that fact that he was also the doctor attending the Reverend Jack Russell – he who bred the eponymous terrier. It is reported that it was in the arms of Linnington Ash that Parson Russell died in 1883.

We have this photograph of Linnington Ash surrounded by the rest of the hospital’s staff which was taken in 1905. The caption reads “The Winsford Hospital Staff 1905 – Presented to the Winsford Centre by the Winsford Walled Garden, February 2003″

Mr Linnington Ash was sent a copy of the plans for the Winsford Cottage Hospital by CFA Voysey in 1899. He may well have advised on the type of equipment used and the layout of the hospital.

Mr Thomas Linnington Ash

This portrait was painted by Gerard Leigh-Hunt, nephew and protégé of Maria Webb Medley. As a child he demonstrated artistic talent but he was born into a large family and so his aunt undertook to pay his school expenses. He was sent to Lord Williams’ Grammar School at Thame, in Oxfordshire, where he thrived on the encouragement he received.

Career Development

He began his career as a civil engineer and visited Mexico and the United States. However, he subsequently decided to become a painter and attended the St. John’s Wood School of Art and at the Royal Academy Schools. After military service in the Boer War he had some success as a portrait and landscape painter and his work was shown in the Paris Salon and in London.

Plymouth University

Daniella — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 17:23:49 +0000

Visit from the University of Plymouth

Educational Links

One of the Trust’s objectives is to build close links with West Country universities, colleges and schools in order to establish a role for the former Winsford Cottage Hospital as a valuable educational resource.

On 29 February we were pleased to welcome a party of postgraduate students from the University of Plymouth, who are working for their MA degrees in Architectural Conservation.

Sustainable Development

Their practical exercise for the day was to examine the building and then propose sustainable future uses for it.
Identifying a sustainable use is an essential prerequisite for securing funding for repair and restoration. No one will offer funds for major repairs if it is not clear that there is enough income to maintain it in good repair afterwards.

After an introductory presentation from Dr Ray Ward, Vice Chair of the Trustees, and Daniella Coughlin, the Centre Manager, the students divided into four groups and, with guidance from Ray and Daniella, spent several hours in detailed exploration of the building inside and out, even venturing into the cavernous roof spaces.

Architectural Heritage

The groups then came together to share their thoughts on what the future use of the building might be, given its importance as part of the nation’s architectural heritage and the design and layout imposed by its original role as a hospital. Ray and Daniella listened in to what turned out to be a well informed and thoughtful discussion which ranged over many of the issues that have engaged the Trust’s Board in recent times.

It was good to have these views from a genuinely independent body of people and, thankfully, the consensus was that the paths we are currently exploring are the most likely to lead to the goal of a sustainable use.

We look forward to future visits as our visitors were keen to follow the progress of the Restoration Project.

The Arts And Crafts Movement

Daniella — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 10:04:08 +0000

'Whoot' wallpaper designed by C. F. A. Voysey ca. 1897

The Winsford’s architect and designer, Charles Francis Annesley Voysey, is celebrated as an important figure of the Arts and Crafts movement. Not just an architect, Voysey also designed fabrics, wallpaper, tiles, ceramics, furniture and metalwork. His style combined simplicity with sophistication.

Origins of the Movement

But what was the Arts and Craft movement? Why and how did it start?

The quick answer is protest, politics, and idealism. It’s easy to see how concern for the condition and exploitation of the working poor and the perceived lowering of quality associated with mass production led to rejection of industrialisation by key figures such as A.W.N. Pugin and John Ruskin. Their views stimulated a movement that celebrated craftsmanship in all its forms and which was to spread its influence to Europe and to North America.

The Arts and Crafts movement had as its inspiration

the image of a medieval craftsman working out with his hands the free impulses of his creative mind. [1]

No wonder then that the movement fostered a return to traditional craftsmanship where good design was realised in simple forms and where the designer focused on all elements of a building from its architecture to every component of its interior fittings and decoration. Individual craftsmen designed what they then made. It was a point of honour with Arts and Crafts movement artists to respect the materials they worked with.[1]

C.F.A. Voysey 1857-1941

British Architects

Beginning in the 1860s, the Arts & Craft movement was led by the artist and writer William Morris(1834–1896) and Charles Voysey (1857–1941). Many of those who became involved trained as architects and, as did Voysey, extended their work into the decorative arts – metal craft, ceramics, glass, textiles and furniture, though Voysey was not a craftsman in any of the materials for which he designed. The styles are gloriously simple, with fabric designs borrowing heavily from nature and from the Gothic. Some work –silver work, for instance, demonstrated huge technical skill. Furniture could be well made or display evident home-made touches. This was done to reinforce that these objects were not machine made.

Artists Associations

The Arts and Crafts movement stimulated the start of Higher Education in Art, with the opening of the Municipal School of Art in Birmingham in 1885 – it later became the leading centre for the Arts and Crafts Movement. The movement chiefly made progress through special-interest associations – imitating the medieval craft guilds. A hundred and thirty Arts and Crafts organizations were formed in Britain, most of them between 1895 and 1905.[2] These encouraged interest in the movement and the take-up of crafts. The movement stayed true to its concern for the working man. The Guild and School of Handicrafts founded by C.R. Ashbee in 1888, was a craft co-operative intended to give working men the satisfactions of craftsmanship through its production as well as training apprentices. Initially based in the East End of London, the Guild moved to Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds where it was less successful. Though it folded 6 years after this move, its permanent legacy is the continuation of the craft traditions in the area.

Court Barn Museum is a celebration of the lives and skills of the craftspeople who have worked in and around the North Cotswolds since the time of the Arts and Crafts period.

1. The Design Museum – Arts and Crafts Movement

2. Wikipedia – Arts and Crafts Movement