In the pink
The previous post about the black and white timber-framed Round House in Evesham provoked some comment – in the comments section, via email, and elsewhere – about the relative merits of the black and white 'magpie' look of this building and the more restrained (and arguably more 'authentic') approach of leaving the timber untreated and perhaps colouring the infill with some kind of pigment. I thought this scene in Tewkesbury, showing the latter approach, might interest my readers.
What you can see here is a view along a side street into the main street. In the distance, on the left of the picture, you can catch just a glimpse of a late-15th century row house, which has been restored with natural grey timbers and plain white infill. This row was built by Tewkesbury Abbey and the buildings were originally shops. On the ground floor, where the window and green panelling are, there would have been an opening, closed at night with wooden shutters and open by day to reveal the shopkeeper's wares.
In the middle of the picture is another house, also restored and probably also late-medieval. It has been restored with a pink infill. Not everyone likes this, but it was certainly an approach taken by some house-builders of the late Middle Ages and was achieved by mixing animal blood with the infill material. I'd not want every building to look like this, but the result certainly adds a note of cheer to the street (it wasn't all monochrome in the Middle Ages, or always raining in the ancient world!), especially as the rain relentlessly falls and the floods get worryingly near to the town centre.
On the right is another timber frame in grey and white. This time the original building has been refronted in brick, and heightened too, and the exposed frame at the end of the structure shows how this has happened. It's a reminder that timber frames lurk inside many later brick buildings – although this one can hardly be playing a structural role much beyond the end wall. It's still pat of the story, though, even if it's not entirely clear in this case what the story actually was.
One of my favourite places, and one where I was lucky enough to spend much of a summer, in a Landmark Trust property!
ReplyDeletePigtown: Tewkesbury is about ten miles or so away from where I live. A lovely place to spend a summer, provided that the summer in question is not too wet! And I think I know the Landmark Trust building you mean!
ReplyDeleteAh, The Great Magpie Debate. I like to think that in medieval times these buildings were so covered in bestial excretions of one sort or another you couldn't see them anyway. And the population so out of their heads they couldn't see them properly either.
ReplyDeleteBestial excretions? Out of their heads? There are some places in Gloucestershire where - well, I'd better not go on...
ReplyDeleteWe were in the two knitter's cottages on St. Mary's street. they were adjacent so that made it convenient for our extended family.
ReplyDeleteIn Tewkesbury, I tried to measure the facades with my eye and fancied I saw that the buildings of any period occupy the same plots that were laid out when the town was first set up. The same seems to be true of Battle in Sussex and the main street in Lewes. In theory, then, some of the bases of the buildings (or cellars, if there are any) could be older even than the ?Tudor half timber. And the little alleyways (such as the one with the restored chapel in it) could, at least in plan, be just as old. Probably a lot more medieval town planning in a place like Tewkesbury than would appear from the higgledy-piggledy frontages?
ReplyDeleteJoseph: I think that's very likely. A lot of the frontages seem to divide up very well. I don't know how old the alleys are - I know local historians have done research on this but I'm not up to speed with it.
ReplyDeletePigtown: I know the ones. They must have lovely light rooms inside with those large windows upstairs.
ReplyDeleteI've long admired these Tewkesbury buildings with their softer appearance. Thanks for the information about them here. The black-and-white look has its place, but it's too often a default aesthetic for houses of all kinds, whether timber-framed or not.
ReplyDeleteJoe: Indeed. So great is the attraction of black-and-white walls in some places that they paint perfectly good brick walls white and then paint black lines to produce the effect of beams. It's absurd, of course, and the eye is rarely deceived for more than a second or two, but this kind of thing has been going on in some parts of Worcestershire and Warwickshire for so long that it has become part of the local architectural character. Which endears it to me, in a perverse sort of way. On the other hand, softer colours are always welcome, even in places in the 'black-and-white zone' like Tewkesbury - and also Alcester, which I posted about a while back.
ReplyDeleteI was interested to read your explanation of the pink colouring of one of the buildings in your photograph Philip, whereby this "was achieved by mixing animal blood with the infill material". This immediately made me think of the kitchen at Buckland Abbey that I'd visited in 2012. I had been told by the National Trust steward that the pink colouring was authentic for the room and that it would have been achieved by mixing ox blood with the limewash. I had not come across any confirmation of this colouring technique till I read this, your (as always) highly informative post.
ReplyDeleteI've thoroughly enjoyed reading the black & white debate over the last two posts. As an emigree to Devon from Worcestershire (a very long time ago), one of the few things I missed at first was the black and white architecture...and staddle stones, oddly enough, lol!
ReplyDeleteThank you for such lovely reminders Philip, and I have to say that although the grey/natural colours look quite attractive, I'm still firmly on the side of the now 'traditional' black and white.