ME AND MY LISTED HOUSE
Finding out all about the history of the building is just one of the many pleasures of living in an old house
That is why number 39 High St, Dorchester- on-Thames, is a lucky building! Malcolm has carried out exhaustive research on it over the years, and, needless to say, made some interesting finds.
“Hopefully anyone who lives in an old building is fired with curiosity, notes anomalies in the structure and tries to answer the questions that the building raises,” he said. “For the answers to much of that you have to go to documentary sources.
“Finding out all about the history of the building is just one of the many pleasures of living in an old house. These include trying to establish when it was built and why and by whom, who lived in it and when the doubtless many alterations took place. We should not forget that all old houses that have survived have done so because they have evolved.”
Malcolm has plenty of practical experience in all this. He worked for five years as a conservation officer for South Oxfordshire District Council, so he can see things from both the point of view of the owner/occupier and those whose responsibility it is to uphold the rules and regulations that surround listed buildings.
“I think one of the major things I have learned over the years is not to do anything dramatic too soon after moving in,” he said.
“Although we find this house far from ideal in some ways, we were very lucky when we found it. We love the situation in the centre of Dorchester and we were very fortunate in that we bought it privately from a former student of mine.
“After moving in we had very little money to do much work on it, which probably turned out to be a good thing.”
Megan continues: “I love the phrase ‘poverty protects’. I honestly believe – from experience – that if you throw money at an old house too quickly there is every chance you will live to regret it.”
Malcolm adds: “Despite money being tight we soon had to spring into action. I returned one April from a conference and Megan asked
112 Listed Heritage Magazine January/February 2020
The garden room was built to house the utility and laundry rooms. There is also a WC with a shower and a workshop for Malcolm. It was constructed in 1990
about these curious tapping noises emanating from some of the elm framing on the first floor. I soon realised we had deathwatch beetle and needed to do something about it. We ended up eradicating the conditions in which these insects operate – namely damp timbers. This involved removing all the inappropriate cement render from the front of the house, replacing most of the oak framing there and re-rendering it with lime.
“But that doesn’t mean we have entirely eliminated the problem,” Malcolm continued. “We took a conservative approach to replacing the affected timbers, which means there is still some damp remaining in the ones we did not replace. Every spring when the insects are in mating mode I keep a torch by the bed and get out when necessary to capture and kill the males tapping the wood. It is all part of the annual mating process and I am glad to say, after many years, we are slowly eradicating the problem. The males are getting fewer and smaller. Suffice it to say that in the world of the deathwatch beetle size is everything!”
Continued >>
Deathwatch beetle marks in a beam in the upstairs room at the front of the house. About a year after they moved into the house in 1979 Malcolm and Megan realised there was deathwatch beetle in some of the timbers in this room. They finished up eradicating the conditions in which these insects operate – namely damp timbers. However the problem still persists in a minor way every spring, when the males are in mating mode, Malcolm keeps a torch by the bed and gets out when necessary to capture and kill the males tapping the wood
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180
