SSPC Press Release : Apsley House Purchase?

 It's very easy for things to get a bit lost in August, especially this year with the extreme heat and lack of rain, followed, for me by my first bout of Covid. Still isolating, I'm attempting to catch up with Friends' news, starting with the Press Release from South Swindon Parish Council about their expression of interest in Apsley House, where the former Swindon Museum and Art Gallery was housed for 60 years. It was possible for the parish council to trigger a six month moratorium because the Friends applied for Apsley House to be declared an Asset of Community Value; this was accepted, and we hope Apsley House can remain in community use.

Here it is:

Subject: 

South Swindon Parish Council triggers six months moratorium for the sale of Apsley House museum and art gallery.

Detail: 

At a meeting of its Full Council on the 19th July 2022 (Min. 2223-49) it was resolved by South Swindon Parish Council that –

South Swindon Parish Council, defined as a Community Interest Group in The Assets of Community Value (England) Regulations 2012 Section 12(a), will express an interest in Apsley House.

As of the 27th July 2022 per the Localism Act 2011 Section 95, the Parish Council has given formal notice to Swindon Borough Council to be treated as a potential bidder in relation to the land and buildings and therefore commence the moratorium of six months from the date of notification.

Statement from Chris Watts, Chair, South Swindon Parish Council:

“I was pleased to have proposed the motion to the Parish Full Council meeting and also pleased to have received unanimous cross-party support. The moratorium will give time and space for the Parish Council to survey the structure, investigate the potential of the facility and produce a feasibility study and business proposal.

We were disappointed that Swindon Borough Council did not give due consideration to the previous proposal to temporarily transfer the facility to the Parish Council to run whilst the town waited ten to fifteen years for the cultural quarter project to come to fruition. The closure of the Museum and Art Gallery was a great loss to Old Town and the wider community and, as a listed building, Apsley House is an iconic piece of Swindon history and heritage as demonstrated by the level of outcry when the Museum and Art Gallery was closed.”

Statement from Neil Hopkins, Chair of Leisure and Amenities, South Swindon Parish Council:

In the five years that the Parish has been in existence we have been committed, not only to protecting and renovating heritage assets, but ensuring that these assets are put back into use. 

When we took the lease for the formal parks in 2019, they were tired, run down, underinvested and at risk, if not for the heroic work of the gardeners in difficult times. Regenerating the formal parks has allowed us to increase events, such as music concerts, outdoors theatre and the Enchanted Gardens Christmas Lights. It is this style of progressive policy towards Parish Council assets that ensure we can provide much needed amenity, service and value for money for residents. 

By triggering the moratorium we would seek to apply the same values and principles to Apsley House and will be working hard to attain this goal if indeed it is feasible for the Parish to take on this property.

Statement from SOMAG (Save Our Museum and Gallery Group):

''We fully support the South Swindon Parish Council in its bid to bring Apsley House back into community use. This landmark listed building, which belongs to the people of Swindon, has been closed to the public for almost two and a half years. If it is sold into private ownership there will be no guarantees about its future.

“However, South Swindon Parish Council already has a proven track record of approaching projects with vision and innovation, as well as making them pay their way. This is an amazing opportunity to repurpose this wonderful piece of Swindon’s heritage, protect it and breathe new life into it. We look forward to working very closely with the parish council and offering whatever support we can to help make this bid a success.”

Coincidentally the Swindon Advertiser have also published this today:

Parish council seeking to purchase closed Swindon Museum and Art Gallery | Swindon Advertiser

History of Building Listing: June talk

 In June, we were very pleased to welcome Martin Newman, information and data analysis manager at Historic England who was talking about the process of listing buildings to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Town & Country Planning Act. 

I took photos of the slides Martin used for his talk, and made notes, so I'll intersperse the slides with some of the notes I took.

The idea of legislation has been to protect buildings and sites began in 1882 with the first Ancient Monuments Act. General Augustus Pitt-Rivers was appointed the first inspector of Ancient Monuments, Sites could be added to a Schedule if approved by the Privy Council in the presence of  Queen Victoria. The oldest complete list of scheduled monuments dates back to 1953 and, the last time they were published  in paper form was 1999. A comprehensive review of the the Schedule the Monuments Protection Programme was undertaken in the 1990s looking at whole classes of sites at a time to protect the best examples. This increased the number to nearly 20,000 sites. The Roman site at Groundwell Ridge is the most recent site in Swindon to be scheduled.

There is a National Heritage List for England which as you can see from the slide below is quite extensive. There are 19 World Heritage Sites in the UK, listed by UNESCO, there were 20 before Liverpool lost theirs recently.

Here's the list for Swindon:

And locations, 

Photo of the Old Vicarage, the first listed building 75 years ago

and just over 4 years later, 20 buildings were listed in Swindon, top of the list being Apsley House, the home of Swindon Museum at that time

Below you'll see the Renault building, listed in 2013, the Crumpled Horn, the Mechanics and the Railway Village

Not everyone thinks listing buildings is a good idea, the Civic Offices and the Oasis have been recent examples of listings in Swindon that haven't pleased everyone, and some were disappointed The Murray John tower was not listed.

Misconceptions heard on property shows include if it's Grade 11 listing, it's only the outside that's protected, that you can change the parts of the interior that aren't original. That listing makes a building harder to sell and more expensive to do anything to it.

You can also list landscapes like Queen's Park and Town Gardens, which use the same grading system as listing.

Heritage at Risk, there are 12 entries for Swindon, the Mechanics Institute being one. The  Corn Exchange isn't on the register as it is Grade ll and the register only extends to Grade ll* buildings outside London. 

Some important links

and Martin also mentioned that a building normally has to be 30 years old to be listed, it can be as 'young' as 10 years old.  The Conservation Areas were instituted in 1967, Old Town became a Conservation Area in 1969. 

A fascinating insight into listing, and a valuable resource, thank you, Martin.

The sale of Apsley House

 I'm aware the blog has been fairly quiet on the future of Swindon Museum and Art Gallery recently, this post is intended to update you on where we are now. Apsley House, the former home of SM&AG has now been emptied and Swindon Borough Council have agreed to sell it. Aware of the vital role it does play in the Swindon community, the Friends applied to make it an asset of community value, and this was agreed. At last night's talk on 75 years of listing, Martin Newman of Historic England led us through the history of listing and reminded us that Apsley House was one of the first buildings to be listed in Swindon:

Interestingly, the 1960s gallery extension was also listed later.

The Swindon Advertiser has published three articles about the sale which is attracting a lot of interest unsurprising really bearing in mind the importance of this building:

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/20238734.apsley-house-closed-swindon-museum-art-gallery-sale/

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/20234790.swindon-museum-art-gallery-building-put-at-risk-list-save-britains-heritage/

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/20240664.response-proposed-sale-swindon-museum-art-gallerys-former-home/

What is the future of Swindon Museum and Art Gallery? In March, SBC applied for planning permission for a change of use of  the first floor of the Civic Offices, to temporarily open the museum and art gallery there until the Cultural Quarter is built on the Kimmerfields site. Currently you can see some paintings and ceramics in the entrance to the Civic Offices and Committee Room 3, on Monday-Friday 9-5pm.

Friends committee members are meeting with Cllr Matty Courtliff, Cabinet member for culture, heritage, leisure and town centre experience, on a monthly basis to keep them updated and enable discussions about the shaping of the future of Swindon Museum and Art Gallery.

Trip to Fresh Air Sculpture Exhibition

A group of Friends visited the Fresh Air Sculpture exhibition set in the grounds of Quenington Old Rectory on the evening of the 9th of June, and were warmly welcomed by organiser Lucy Abel Smith and her husband, David. It's amazing to think that this exhibition has been running biennually for 30 years, making this the 15th exhibition. It would have been held in 2021, but Covid restrictions made that impossible, so it is especially wonderful to be able to attend as a group this year.

The Pool Gallery is a good place to start the tour. I loved the blue tits made by Emily Lawlor from vintage china and bought one which is now hanging/flying in my kitchen. From there, I began wandering round the garden and adjoining field and took a few photos of sculptures which attracted my attention:

I think this was my favourite exhibit, although I wouldn't necessarily want it in my garden, it's very clever, and presumably if you bought it, Sara would install it in your garden onto a suitable tree or shrub. It's called 'Cornucopia' by Sara Budzik

I liked this series of ribbon and stainless steel structures which hang in trees, they're by Edith Meusnier and called 'Dans L'Intervalle

I was a bit concerned that birds might fly into them.

This piece, 'The End is Nigh; Apophis' is made from wood, hinges and stainless steel bolts, made by Ben Rowe, it's sits well in this woodland setting.

From the intimate garden setting, the sculptures continue in the field reached by crossing the river

The piece below, 'Lotus and the Pearl of Wisdom' by Jessica Gill is a really striking piece, beautifully positioned by the river

Pete Moorhouse produces sculptures that rework traditional Islamic designs producing beautiful sculptures like this one called 'Zahir'

I haven't included many photos of Friends, but thought I'd include this one I took of Lesley and Gwyneth who very much enjoyed their time at the exhibition

And here's Neil trying out the bench which he said was very comfortable. It was made by Matthew Burt and commissioned by Lucy to be used in a contemplative place 

The final piece in my selection from so many great sculptures is titled 'Virus (Large)' by Joanne Risley, it's very beautifully constructed, and does resemble the microscopic photos we have seen of the Covid virus.

There is so much information about Quenington Old Rectory in the magnificent catalogue, too much to mention here, I hope you have access to one, if not, you can borrow mine. I'd like my final photo of this splendid copper beech, possibly among those trees planted 250 years ago, to recognise the wonderful work done by Robert, just putting his wheelbarrow away when we arrived at 6pm. The gardens are open for Rare Plant Fairs, and well worth a visit in their own right.

Thank you once again Lucy and David for your warm welcome when we came to visit, and for continuing to make such a difference to the lives of so many people.

The Lydiard Archives

 Our May talk via Zoom was given by Sarah Finch-Crisp, Chair of Lydiard Park Friends on the Lydiard Archives. They are a unique digital collection of objects, records, reports and ephemera documenting the thousand year history of Lydiard House and Park, managed by the Friends of Lydiard Park, an independent charity formed to protect, conserve and educate people about the beautiful historic estate with its Palladian house, ancient church, walled garden and rolling countryside. It was fascinating to hear so much of the history of this beautiful place, and how much work the Friends have put into raising the profile of Lydiard estate and attracting finance to maintain it.

How did the Lydiard estate come to be owned by the people of Swindon? Two families, the Bollingbrokes and the St.Johns were unable to maintain Lydiard estate in the 1950, and like many stately homes, it seemed Lydiard House would be demolished, however David Murray John ensured this didn't happen, the then Swindon Corporation bought the house and 147 acres of land for £4500 in 1943, ensuring it could be enjoyed by future generations. In 2015 its future was uncertain when Swindon Borough Council wanted to privatise the estate, the threat to its future was overcome when 750 people attended Lydiard Park Academy to keep it in public ownership. 

Sarah gave a fascinating insight into life in and around this area of Swindon by a fabulous PowerPoint presentation, I took 24 photos of the computer screen during the talk and will add 22 of them here to give you an idea of the sort of things Sarah talked about.

It is probably better to click on the links above because the writing here is a bit small, but gives you an idea, hopefully of the range and scope of the talk.

Sarah talked firstly about the many things that the Friends of Lydiard do.

As a member, I can say that they organise a lot of interesting activities

I attended the Christmas social pictured below

Below some of the publications from the last 50 years

Below an example of the work undertaken by volunteers.

A photo of the rally at Lydiard Park Academy in 2015. I was there, the strength of feeling was amazing 

And then moved on to examples of the sort of thing in the Archives

Starting with their goals

and the sort of things they work with

Photos of the Bollingbrokes and tea on the lawn at the turn of the last century

School photo from 1928

Below a photo of a medal awarded to Earnest Titcombe for best school gardens in 1890

A thousand year old oak tree felled in 1945 with some schoolchildren posing for scale

Greenhill Carnival Queen in the 1950s and Malcolm Titcombe in the insert

Photos of Miriam Titcombe, village Constable with her walnut truncheon

Below the Gough brothers in the 1930s

There's lots to be learned from reading diaries written at the time

A photo of Lydiard Park Social Club in the 1950s

The military required Lydiard Park during 1943-48, it became a German prisoner of war hospital, and after the war, the huts erected on the site were converted in the 1950s and 60s as homes for local people

These photos show Roy Webb putting up replacement wallpaper in 1983

All that remains is to thank Sarah Finch-Crisp again for the wonderfully informative talk and direct readers to visit the house, church and grounds and support them in any way you can.