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56 C O N T E X T 1 7 9 : M A R C H 2 0 2 4 social terms as well as in aesthetic values. The emergence of the picturesque is placed within a context of a renewed interest in gothic and Tudor styles. It was a period when Britain grew as a major global power and military buildings and the royal dockyards are given a separate chapter to themselves. The growing impact of the industrial revolution provides a fitting conclusion to the end of the Georgian period and all that its rich culture achieved. Brindle has captured the spirit of that age on an epic scale. The reader is left full of admiration for the sheer breadth of his scholarship and its relevance for all of us who seek to understand and protect the material evidence that is all around us. This is a major study which brings together the whole of the built environment at a crucial stage in its development and it provides a context that places it within a broad European perspective. It is complemented by an extensive bibliography and enriched on almost every page by a wealth of beautifully reproduced illustrations, which include many original documents as well as modern photographs. It is worth the price for these alone. The outstanding design and production values are a worthy tribute to the contribution that the Paul Mellon Centre has made to the literature of British art since its foundation in 1970. There is no doubt that this important book will shape the approach to the architectural culture of the Georgian period profoundly and is a worthy successor to Summerson. It is also a celebration of the outstanding quality of the scholarship nurtured by English Heritage, where Steven Brindle is senior properties historian. It will appeal to the general reader as well as the specialist historian and should be required reading for every IHBC member. Malcolm Airs, past president of the IHBC and the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain Proud Herts 60th Jubilee History of Hertfordshire Building Preservation Trust and 30th Jubilee History of BEAMS. Hertfordshire Building Preservation Trust, The Castle, Hertford SG14 1HR, 2023, 35 pages, black-and-white and colour photos, ISBN 978 1 399959 47 6, free to HBPT members; non-members £10 inc. p&p; enquiries@hertfordshirebpt.org Hertford Castle is the home of two related organisations that currently celebrate 60 and 30 years of joint activity in the field of built heritage. There is much to celebrate. Unless you are familiar with Hertfordshire (it is not a county greatly prone to tourism), the achievements of the HBPT and BEAMS (created in 1993 as the trading arm of the HBPT) might be unknown to you, since the voluntary sector does not generally indulge much in publicity or advertising. Against a background of postwar austerity, with changes in agriculture and society in a county increasingly under the influence of London, Hertfordshire faced a backlog of redundant and often decrepit historic buildings, many constructed in timber. Typical was Cromer Windmill, a 17th-century former working mill. It had ceased trading in 1924 but became the subject of a rescue appeal for funds in 1966, being placed on the statutory list the following year as a safety measure. HBPT adopted the mill as a pilot project, gradually restoring the main body and sails until the site was opened to the public in 1999. The same cycle of redundancy and decay had affected Place House in Ware, which is Grade I listed, but was in a poor state when it came into trust ownership in 1975. Quickly recognised as its star property, the ancient manor house was reopened in 1978 after historical research, restoration and adaptation. With many royal connections, the reopening ceremony was conducted at Place House by the Queen Mother and a guide by Sallianne Wilcox was published. Modern architecture has not been excluded. Hertfordshire County Council-built schools, many of which are listed, are subjects of research and advice, as are the Grade II* flight test hangars for the Comet, the pioneer jet liner, as built in 1954 and repurposed in 2005. With its garden cities and postwar new towns included, Herts is a county rich in modernism as well as medieval, Georgian and Victorian heritage. As the years have passed and as listing and conservation area designation have grown in significance, the county’s 10 local authorities, mostly with small- scale planning departments, often came to rely on BEAMS to provide specialist advice on a consultancy basis. Heritage statements became an activity for the professional staff, who became employed in-house within the Tudor and Strawberry Hill-gothick walls of the castle gatehouse. At times, the work spilled out into Bucks, Slough and other places. This gratifying story is summarised in the compact publication that should be of much service to other voluntary organisations, researchers and archivists engaged in similar difficult but rewarding tasks. Newcomers who wish to discover would also benefit from studying these jubilee pages. Graham Tite, employed as a conservation officer at BEAMS, 2011–17