Trentham Hall, formerly one of England’s grandest country houses, was rebuilt for the Dukes of Sutherland in an Italianate style by the architect Charles Barry – best known for rebuilding the Houses of Parliament. Such was Trentham’s magnificence that on a visit in 1873 the Shah of Persia is said to have remarked to the future King Edward VII that their host was “too grand for a subject, you’ll have to have his head off when you come to the throne.” But within decades this ‘private palace’ was abandoned, blighted by Victorian urban expansion and industry.

Trentham Hall did not fall victim to the ‘all-too-familiar misfortunes or disasters’ often faced by other large country houses at the start of the 20th century. Instead, Stoke-on-Trent’s sewage polluting the river Trent ‘made life in the house impossible and caused its abandonment’. No buyers were found for the estate and the Hall could not even be given away to the County of Staffordshire or Stoke-on-Trent Council. The majority of the Hall was pulled down in 1912 and Trentham’s stone balustrade and urns sold in a Country Life architectural supplement.

The surviving buildings, including the square tower and grand entrance give an idea of the Hall’s former magnificence. The Hall’s gardens have been restored and are a popular tourist attraction but, as the photographs show, what’s left of the Hall itself is now in a state of disrepair. Plans to turn the Hall’s remains into a conference hotel floundered when it was found that the cost of restoration exceeded the value of the proposed hotel. But with the success of the restored gardens, and a recovering economy, surely conditions are now favourable enough for the owners to begin restoration work – before what’s left of one of England’s greatest country houses is lost.

Stoke-on-Trent also featured in last years’ Top Ten when Fenton Town Hall was listed. The owner, the Ministry of Justice, has put the building up for sale. Sadly, as far as we are aware no progress has been made in safeguarding the future of the unlisted Town Hall and its interior, including its First World War memorial and Minton tiling.

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Tonedale Mill is thought to be the largest and most comprehensive textile manufacturing site in the South-West, with a range of surviving structures unparalleled in England. The mill was built for Fox Brothers, who, during the Boer War, developed the khaki dye which led to the end of British soldiers’ ‘redcoats’. Different parts of this huge site have fared very differently. One part was lucky enough to secure the backing of Deborah Meadon, made famous by the ‘Dragons’ den’ television programme, and still produces cloth for Fox Brothers. Unfortunately, a large section remains in a near derelict state. Plans to redevelop much of the unused site as housing fell through during the recession, but as the housing market recovers, surely a sensitive housing scheme incorporating the beautiful mill buildings is now viable.

The South West was last featured in the The Victorian Society’s Top Ten in 2011 when the Old Rectory, St Columb Major, in Cornwall was listed. Unfortunately no action has been taken since then and the building continues to suffer water damage. The Victorian Society urges the Council to issue and Urgent Works Notice so that basic repairs are carried out.

Other buildings nominated for inclusion in this year’s Top Ten were Birnbeck Pier at Weston Super Mare which is in an extremely dilapidated state, and Winsford Cottage Hospital in Halwill where the Trustees are struggling to find a sustainable use for the building.

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Although the First World War is often considered to be the first modern war, the same could be said of the Crimean War. It was the Crimean war which gave us both the Charge of the Light Brigade and Florence Nightingale’s hospital reforms. Monuments to Britain’s fallen in the Crimean war are relatively unusual, so it’s a shame that Sheffield Council have hidden Sheffield’s Crimean war monument away for years. As shown in pictures, the monument was originally very impressive, consisting of a tall column surmounted by a seated figure of Victory with Russian cannons at the base. In 1960 changes to the road layout meant that the monument was moved from Moorhead to Sheffield’s Botanical Gardens without the column, which was reportedly broken up and placed in a park.

In 2004, the Botanical Gardens were restored to their 1836 layout and the remainder of the monument was removed to storage from which it has not yet emerged 10 years later. Conditions attached to the listed building consent for the removal of the memorial from the Botanical Gardens are believed to have required the restoration works to be completed, and a precise location for the memorial secured, within 2 years of the Listed Building Consent approval. Failing to find a new home for the memorial means that Sheffield Council is in breach of its own Listed Building Consent.

Sheffield’s Crimean war dead do not deserve to be forgotten and their monument left indefinitely in storage. That is why the The Victorian Society is calling on the Council to come forward with a timescale for finding the monument a new home in time for Remembrance Day 2014.

Sheffield has featured in the The Victorian Society’s Top Ten a number of times in recent years. Sheffield Council is currently exploring the possibility of selling Heeley Bank School, which was included in the 2013 Top Ten to buyers who would return the building to use as a school. This would be a happy ending for this rare example of pioneering school architect ER Robson’s work outside London. Another local school, Hammerton School, in Darnall was also included in our 2011 list.

Other buildings nominated for inclusion in this year’s Top Ten included the old Sheffield Courts or Town Hall, which has been left almost untouched for the past two decades since its closure, and the Salvation Army Citadel which has been empty since 1992.

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Built in the early 1870s the Wesley Chapel presents an elegant classical stone portico onto a busy road junction in the heart of Hartlepool. It remains an impressive building – despite its many broken windows and the forecourt’s new use as a car park.

The owner, Jomast Developments Ltd, was granted permission to convert the former Chapel, previously used as a night club and leisure club, into a 49 bed hotel in 2009 but no work was carried out. A new permission was granted in 2013 but despite pressure from the council, only minimal remedial work to discharge consent conditions seems to have been carried out. Currently the site appears to be entirely inactive.

If a substantive start is not made on the consented works by November 2015, then another consent will lapse. Jomast should fulfil its stated intention of investing in this prominent listed Hartlepool landmark rather than leaving it to decay further.

Other buildings in Hartlepool to be nominated were the Market Hotel, for which listed building consent was granted last year for the conversion of the building into nine flats, and the Shades Hotel which has been closed for several years.

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The Greengate Baths in Salford are a rare surviving example early purpose built public baths by one of Manchester’s greatest architects.

Now obscured behind scaffolding and self-seeded trees, this handsome Italianate brick building was built by one of Manchester’s greatest Victorian architects, Thomas Worthington, in 1855. The Bath’s deterioration has been dramatic over the past decade and the The Victorian Society is calling on Salford City Council to act now to secure their future.

There does seem to be some hope. The Council’s April 2014 Greengate Regeneration Strategy states that it will create a new ‘pocket park’ outside the Baths and a new boulevard linking Greengate Square with Greengate Baths. The regeneration strategy goes on to state that use of compulsory purchase powers may be justified for specific prioritised development. Such an important building, by one of Manchester’s best 19th century architects, should be a prime candidate for the council to take such proactive action.

Salford was last featured in the Top Ten in 2012 when the Agecroft Chapel was listed. Nominated again for inclusion in this year’s Top Ten, this unique chapel has had some basic work carried out to better secure the building and remove plants. Nevertheless, it future sadly remains uncertain.

There has been better news for Manchester’s Ancoats Dispensary which featured in the 2011 Top Ten when its demolition was proposed. However, earlier this year it was awarded an Heritage Lottery Fund development grant of just over £770,000 to undertake immediate stabilisation works and to develop long-term plans for Ancoat’s restoration and reuse.

Other buildings nominated by the public for inclusion in the Top Ten included Stanley Grove School in Manchester, which is under threat of demolition, and Crossleys Lads Club, Openshaw, Manchester where a local boys’ boxing club closed recently.

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When you picture Victorian or Edwardian Cowes it is perhaps the regatta, rather than industry, which first springs to mind. However, Cowes’ industrial past is epitomised by shipbuilder J.S. White’s 80 ton hammerhead crane – installed to increase capacity for the production of naval warships. One of these, HMS Cavalier, is preserved at Chatham Dockyard as a memorial to the 143 British destroyers and over 11,000 men lost at sea during WWII. The giant cantilever crane was built within the first decade of these cranes’ development and is the only remaining pre- WWI hammerhead crane in England. We urge the Council to continue to press to secure the future of this industrial landmark.

The last Isle of Wight building to featured in the The Victorian Society’s Top Ten was the Frank James Memorial Hospital in East Cowes, which was also nominated again this year. The hospital was originally built as a Home for Retired Seamen, before becoming a hospital in 1903. The hospital closed in 2002 and has suffered much deterioration since then.

In 2013 the The Victorian Society wrote to the Council noting that plans for the building had not yet progressed and urging it to serve an Urgent Works Notice to the owners. This step has not as yet been taken. There is currently a petition on the campaigning website 38 degrees asking Isle of Wight Council to take this course of action to stop any further decay

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The Navigation colliery is a nationally important, nearly complete, complex of both Grade II* and II buildings. Listed buildings in the complex include the winding engine house, colliery baths, and chimney. Built in the early 20th century, Navigation Colliery was one of the earliest collieries in South Wales to be built in brick rather than local stone and was a show-pit of the period with high quality buildings and up-to-date machinery. The pit closed in 1967 and has been disused ever since. In 2009, a proposed redevelopment as housing fell through due to the financial crisis. Local community group, GLOFA Navigation Cyf, now plan to restore the buildings for commercial and community use, creating jobs and an education centre as well as green electricity generation. However, turning Navigation Colliery into a hub for the community once again seems a long way off without the necessary funding to address the pollution rising from the former mineshaft and a collapsing culvert beneath the main access road.

South Wales also featured in 2013’s Top Ten when Swansea’s Palace Theatre was listed. There has been some good news for the theatre since then as Swansea Council has offered a grant of over £70,000 for repair works, subject to the owner obtaining three quotes for having the work carried out. Sadly, the building’s owner has not as yet been able to provide these quotes and the building remains in danger.

Other Welsh buildings nominated by the public for inclusion in the Top Ten included Plas Gwynfryn, Llanystumdwy, where Gwynedd Council are reluctant to use their powers against an offshore owner, and the former Market Hall, Stanley Street, Holyhead where the owner is refusing to sell to the Council.

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Among the most prominent buildings listed in the Top Ten is the Coal Exchange in Cardiff. The Coal Exchange is a huge building reflecting Cardiff’s status in the 19th century coal export trade – it was reputedly here that the first recorded million-pound business deal was made. The exchange closed in 1958 but the impressive architecture and early 20th century interiors remain. The Coal Exchange recently operated as a music venue but it was suddenly declared unsafe and in imminent danger of collapse by Cardiff Council in 2013.

The Council claims to be convinced of the building’s structural instability although no conservation report has been produced to verify this claim. Nor is the Society aware of any remedial work having been carried out. Cabinet meeting papers, obtained by local campaigners, include costings for a “demolition scheme” and “retention of facades”.

Rather than considering such damaging action the Council should carry out a thorough heritage assessment and work with all interested parties to restore this important part of both Wales’ and Cardiff’s history.

South Wales also featured in 2013’s Top Ten when Swansea’s Palace Theatre was listed. There has been some good news for the theatre since then as Swansea Council has offered a grant of over £70,000 for repair works, subject to the owner obtaining three quotes for having the work carried out. Sadly, the building’s owner has not as yet been able to provide these quotes and the building remains in danger.

Other Welsh buildings nominated by the public for inclusion in the Top Ten included Plas Gwynfryn, Llanystumdwy, where Gwynedd Council are reluctant to use their powers against an offshore owner, and the former Market Hall, Stanley Street, Holyhead where the owner is refusing to sell to the Council.

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The chapel in Abney Park is both the oldest surviving non-denominational chapel in Europe, and the only surviving public building by the architect William Hosking. Built in an adaption of early English gothic, the Grade II listed chapel’s 120 foot steeple remains the focal point in one of London’s ‘magnificent seven’ cemeteries established in the 19th century to alleviate overcrowding in local parish burial grounds. However, time has not been kind. Over the years the site became overgrown and the chapel suffered severe vandalism – even the chapel’s catacombs’ contents were scattered leading to rumours of black magic. Subsequently, ownership passed to Hackney Council and the park is now managed by the Abney Park Trust.

In 2012 Hackney Council hoarded off the chapel for safety reasons. The Council states it will update its long term strategy for the park following a re-survey of the chapel in the near future. Although now a picturesque ruin, without immediate action this building could be lost forever. The Victorian Society is calling on Hackney Council to work with the Abney Park Trust to take advantage of the chapel’s position within the heart of an engaged community to save this unique piece of architectural heritage.

Another Hackney building featured in 2013’s Top Ten, the Haggerston Baths. Closed and boarded up since 2000 the Baths seem no closer to being restored or finding a new use.

Other London buildings nominated for inclusion in this year’s Top Ten included, the Grade II listed Ladywell Swimming Baths, which have been empty since the Ladywell Gymnastics Club left in 2004, and the Sutton Dwelling Chelsea, among the world’s first social housing, where residents fear re-development.

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]]> https://www.victoriansociety.org.uk/endangered-buildings/all-souls-church-hastings-east-sussex/ Sun, 19 Oct 2014 09:12:24 +0000 https://www.victoriansociety.org.uk/all-souls-church-hastings-east-sussex/ Grade II*-listed church at risk of demolition This tall red brick church, in a vigorous Early English gothic style, is beautifully proportioned and largely intact. Described in its listing as...

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]]> Grade II*-listed church at risk of demolition

This tall red brick church, in a vigorous Early English gothic style, is beautifully proportioned and largely intact. Described in its listing as an outstanding example of a large, red-brick town church, it is one of the best works by Blomfield, one of the 19th century’s most active and successful church architects.

Sadly, despite being watched over by a dedicated member of the former congregation, a lack of repair since the church closed in 2008 means that daylight can now be seen through the roof above the altar. As a result, the magnificent Powell & Sons inlaid stone decoration on the wall behind the altar has been damaged by damp. The projected cost of repairs over the next 10-15 years is £1.2 million, but this reflects a backlog of basic maintenance rather than any fundamental structural problem affecting the building.

The Church has been up for sale since January 2012 but there have been no sustained expressions of interest. As a result, the Church Commissioners are now mooting demolishing the church. Demolishing a Grade II*-listed building without fundamental structural issues is extremely unusual and would set an unfortunate precedent.

The Church Commissioners should work proactively with local groups and the council to find a new use for this important building.

Other buildings nominated for inclusion in the Top Ten in Sussex included the Carmelite Convent in Hunston, empty since 2007 and damaged by fire in 2009,and the Brighton Hippodrome whose owners were recently granted permission to transform the Hippodrome into a cinema.

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