Heritage Now

22   HISTORIC BUILDINGS & PLACES CASEWORK CARHARRACK, CORNWALL, FORMER METHODIST CHAPEL As with Whiteley Shield (see Allendale above) this is a case where the suspension of the Historic Chapels Trust is forcing compromise. This Grade II* chapel of 1815 should really have been pre- served intact by the HCT but instead we are having to look at the prospect of residential conversion. Fortunately, the new owners of the building since 2017 have prepared a scheme that shows con- siderable sensitivity, particularly over the pews. However, it is really hard to deny that retaining all the 1907 pews in the sanctuary and creating a viable new use are mutually exclusive. The will- ingness to keep selected examples will mitigate that loss. Even more painful is the loss of some of the box pews in the gallery, especially poignant if they really are, as stated, the earliest seating of that kind in the county. However, we note that the great majority will remain (and be conserved) and that a limited number have already been dis- mantled and reduced during an earlier and severe vandal attack. This does seem the classic case of the ‘best last hope’, which we need to embrace. We have commented on the detailing only. CASTLE HEDINGHAM, ESSEX, FORMER UNITED REFORMED CHURCH In 2020 we visited this Grade II* listed chapel and spoke to the builder who had purchased it and who had lodged an application to insert four new dwellings. In a building (1842, probably by James Fenton, an experienced Essex chapel-build- er) given the elusive star precisely because the chapel was intact, we noted that this was clearly over-development. A scheme for two houses has now been followed by the latest for just one. This is probably as good as we are going to get and we have criticised components of the scheme rather than the principle. We referred to the rare area of pitchstone, dated 1868, at the front of the proper- ty, arranged in bands set at a splayed diagonal – a delicate touch. This, together with the matching 1842 shoe-scrapers, must be retained and safe- guarded. We have asked for express assurances on the retention of the stone flags and gault brick paviored floor and the in-situ suite of three wall tablets deliberately designed to frame the pulpit. The principal loss is a group of matching box pews either side of the organ which will make way for sleeping accommodation and where we have asked that the seasoned timber panels, complete with the painted numerals, be disposed of into the architectural salvage market rather than de- stroyed. The organ is to be re-homed into another church. GREAT WITLEY, ST MICHAEL, WORCESTERSHIRE This is a test case on the degree to which respect should be accorded to the secondary incarna- tion of a major building. St Michael’s (rebuilt in 1733-35, possibly by James Gibbs) is quite rightly famous for its near unrivalled display of English Baroque at its most full-bloodied −or, as Pevsner neatly noted ‘the most Italian ecclesiastical space in Georgian England’. It is also one of the more flamboyant examples of early architectural sal- vage, the ceiling paintings and the stained glass coming from Canons in Middlesex, the short-lived mansion built by the Duke of Chandos. Gibbs was definitely the architect for the internal reworkings of 1747 which gave new plaster surrounds to the canvasses. Less expected perhaps is the respect accorded to Baroque, a style which was then re- garded as less fashionable, by S W Daukes who was employed between1854 and 1860 by the 1st Earl of Dudley at Witley Court, next door. We have expressed concern to a considerable reordering scheme in the full realisation that the parish loves the building and is committed to a programme of repair and improved access. LLANDOGO, ST OUDOCEUS, MONMOUTHSHIRE Beautifully detailed mid-19th century church of 1859-61 by J P Seddon (of Pritchard and Seddon). We have been involved for some time in discus- sions over the removal of the pews in the aisles and continue to urge a compromise which should allow the parish increased flexibility but not at the expense of the character of this remarka- LEFT: Great Witley, St Michael, Worcestershire. The pulpit, font and, almost certainly the choirstalls were carved in the 19th century by James Forsyth. The parish believes that the stalls are ‘20th century’ and wants to build on a temporary permission to remove them. (Matthew Saunders) RIGHT: Llandogo, St Oudoceus, Monmouthshire, is one of the great high-Victorian set pieces of Wales – a vigorous polychromatic design of between 1859 and 1861 by J P Seddon. (Matthew Saunders)