Text of a five-minute response I was asked to make at the South-Central Regional conference of the RSA on Heritage, Southampton in June 11th 2016. Like a lot of my contributions it took the form of a provocation designed to promote some lateral thinking about the comforts of the subject. As is also usual there is a lot of recycled material in here too, so some of it might seem familiar. Continue reading
Heritage
CULTURE, BUILDINGS, LANDSCAPES, MEMORIES, YOU NAME IT
West Street in the 20th Century
Chichester Programme for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897
I am delighted that local historian Ken Green has given me permission to reproduce his collection of historic photos of Westgate and West Street for the delight and education of Westgate residents and interested parties. Please do not copy these photos for commercial purposes.
Continue reading20th Century Art and Chichester Cathedral
The extraordinary body of works of modern art and design commissioned and held by the Cathedral in Chichester since the latter half of the twentieth century now forms a group of exceptional interest and significance among English cathedrals, giving Chichester a leading position as a patron of late C20 creative work by artists of the first rank. In the following listings these artists are mentioned in bold and the Cathedral dignitary concerned is underlined.
Continue readingChichester’s 20th Century Buildings
A walking tour around the city of the architectural and public art heritage. With grateful thanks to my colleague Nevil Hopkins.
The 20th Century did not exactly contribute a wealth of landmark buildings to Chichester and it reflected the work of even fewer big-name architects. Continue reading
Defining Conservation
As a paid-up member of the 20th Century Society and as a child of the sixties who cheered the replacement of history with modernism, I have lived a lifetime of resistance to what I have seen for years as the useless preservation in aspic of past glories. Continue reading