About 40 members were present at the Romsley and Hunnington History Society meeting on Tuesday, 23rd February. The speaker for the evening was Derek Clarke RIBA, a retired architect. The title of his talk was 'The Restoration of the Cupola and Renewing of the Roof Coverings at Hanbury Hall'.
If you have a leak in your roof, the wisest thing to do is to have it mended as soon as possible. However, if the roof belongs to a Grade 1 Listed Building, then things are a little more complicated. The roof at the Hall had been leaking for years and had been patched up many times. In 2008 the National Trust decided that the old lead panels and rotting timber needed to be replaced and Derek Clarke was brought in to oversee the work.
The first step was to cover all the old buildings in scaffolding, which looked like a huge cage. Then the whole structure was wrapped in plastic sheets, to protect it from the weather while the work was in progress. Derek took photographs of each stage of the project and we were able to see Hanbury Hall from am entirely different perspective, looking down from the top of the roof! We even had a bird's eye view of the work from a helicopter.
Expert craftsmen were employed to replace the lead and timber and they also restored the Cupola, which was built as a dovecote and clock tower, with a weathervane on top. As the work was in progress, a special staircase was built so that visitors could view the roof. Over 14,000 people climbed up to see the work! In the upper part of Hanbury Hall there are three flats, which are used by the employees of the National Trust. It was proposed that solar collectors should be put on the roof to provide hot water for the flats, but because of the listed status, only if they were invisible from the ground!
Every little detail was carefully noted as the work was carried out and Derek's stunning photographs made a wonderful record of the one and a half million pound project. It was a very interesting evening.
On Tuesday, 22nd March, Tim Bridges will give a talk on "Black Country Churches" and on Tuesday 26th April, Mary Bodfish will give a talk 'You Can't Abdicate and Eat It - Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson'. On July 3rd we are looking forward to a performance of 'The Ballad of St. Kenelm'. This will take place in the school. There will be more details later. Everyone is welcome.
Pat Evans