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Pevsner
and Essex
A Talk by Dr James Bettley
at an Open Meeting organised by the Wivenhoe Society
in the William Loveless Hall on 11th October, 2005
by Peter
Kennedy (first published in Wivenhoe News, Winter edition 2005)
As the available seats in the William Loveless Hall
filled up, and extra chairs were brought in, it became clear that the
evening's talk, arranged under the auspices of the Wivenhoe Society, was
going to prove popular.
| Dr James Bettley is an architectural historian; he
lives in Great Totham and for the past five years – following his time
as Head of Collection Development at the
National Art Library at the V&A – he has been working on the new
Essex
volume of Pevsner; "and this is what I am going to be talking about
tonight". Indeed, if any
readers of the recent Autumn issue of Wivenhoe News were puzzled by the
photo on the front page, that inscrutable image is now revealed as
"the unfortunate author labouring under the weight of previous
editions of Essex Pevsner".
Sir Nikolaus Pevsner was born in
Leipzig
in 1902, was educated "with typical German thoroughness at four
different universities", and his first published books were on German
baroque architecture and on Italian painting.
He came to
England
in 1934 as a refugee from Naziism and soon began writing and publishing
texts on design, in English. His
An Outline
of European Architecture starts with the words: "A bicycle shed is a building.
Lincoln Cathedral is a piece of architecture."
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Dr Ted Palmer talking to Dr
James Bettley |
I think we can go along with that.
He then set out to produce an up-to-date guide to the most
significant buildings in every part of the country – eventually, over
the years, Pevsner had completed 46 volumes of The
Buildings of England.
Scotland,
Wales
and Ireland
would follow.
Pevsner realised that second editions were more
important than the first, in terms of accuracy.
So why, asked Dr Bettley, do we now need a third edition of
Essex? Well, it is 50 years on,
Essex itself has changed; buildings have changed or, like Alresford
Church, been destroyed; military buildings are being documented more
fully; farm buildings that would not have appeared in the original Pevsner
are being included, as at Lawford Hall.
There are major new buildings, and also we have an interest in some
modern architecture – like the Modern Movement houses in Frinton –
that Pevsner did not consider.
We can be justly proud of the architecture of Essex,
where there are 14,000 listed buildings, which is more than in Norfolk. And Wivenhoe serves as a
good case study, as it illustrates a lot of points that need changing in
Pevsner. Wivenhoe
Church
was thought by Pevsner to be of little interest, but not so, says Dr
Bettley, there is a lot to enjoy in it "and its wooden cupola is just
as nice as the one in Finchingfield".
Garrison House was mentioned by Pevsner, but the next edition will
include, for example, the Water Tower, and of course "we cannot today
ignore the new docklands style development that has come to Wivenhoe, or
the arrival of the University – which in the new edition will have a
section to itself".
Dr Bettley is keen to
correct some misleading information with regard to Wivenhoe
Park; in the course of his talk he mentioned that Pevsner had confused Wivenhoe
Park
and Wivenhoe Hall, writing that Hopper’s mansion of 1846 concealed
fragments of an Early Tudor house. In
describing Pevsner’s error the speaker had suggested that Wivenhoe
Park
was a completely new house by Hopper, when he should have said that it was
a remodelling of the house of 1758-61 and that much of the impressive
internal plasterwork might well be 1760s.
So I am pleased that we have put that straight, and I think we can
convey to Dr Bettley – whose talk was exceedingly well received – our
feelings that in building on Pevsner's foundations he will surely produce
a fascinating third edition of
Essex
which will further enhance the reputation of this great series.
Peter
Kennedy
October 2005
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