NEWS
Everything old is new again
For many owners, buying a property in need and turning it into a fully modern home is a lifelong dream. After five years of work Anton Jones has finally managed to complete his passion project. When he bought Llantwit Castle in the Vale of Glamorgan it was in such a poor condition that he only paid £5000, but now a modern, stylish home worth over £1 million has been carefully and sensitively renovated into the fabric.
The 16th century Grade II listed castle was largely ruined when Anton took the project on, with the roof and interior lost by the 20th century. However, this poor condition created the opportunity for a creative and ambitious renovation. The new home was placed within the footprint of one wing where the only original material was the external walls, which allowed the interior to be entirely newly built without harming existing fabric.
One notable feature of the new home is that all work was carried out using traditional materials, and exclusively using manual tools. This huge undertaking took five years, but has finally paid off as a gorgeous modern home with a walled garden inside the existing castle wall. The ruined wing of the castle sits alongside showing both the original history, and the evolution of the site.
New Arrivals
The new parliament has brought in a new class of MPs. Almost a hundred seats changed hands, and many long- standing MPs left parliament. There were also many results listed building owners should take particular note of.
© South Wales Property Photography
This is a great story that shows what can be achieved with a property in need and a little imagination. While not for the faint-hearted, these kinds of projects help to ensure our listed buildings survive and thrive. Creative ways of finding new uses for otherwise disused buildings are essential in protecting our history.
History repeating itself
A listed iron footbridge over King Weston Road in Bristol has been struck by a lorry, while still swathed in supportive scaffolding put in place after the last impact. Plans to raise the bridge by a meter, to move it out of harms way, were put on hold after Historic England raised heritage concerns.
This shows the challenge facing a great many heritage structures today, especially those which abut roads. They were never built to handle modern traffic and so are at constant risk of damage. However, moving or altering them would require very substantial work and damage to historic fabric. The result is that nothing will change, and damage will continue until demolition is the only option.
This situation is all too familiar to owners whose historic walls form the boundary of
Listed buildings should be on the agenda of all MPs, especially those who’s majority is smaller than the number of local owners. The historic city of Canterbury is one such area, held by Labour’s Rosie Duffield, where her 1836 majority equals the number of historic buildings she represents. Equally, Tim Farron’s 1934 majority in Westmoreland and Lonsdale is significantly outnumbered by listed buildings.
In the North East, Dehenna Davison defeated Helen Goodman in Bishop Auckland. Goodman was a long- standing member of the APPG on Listed Properties, in recognition of the 1583 listed buildings in the area, which are a huge part of the local community. We hope to see Davison continue to support her local electorate and Bishop’s industrial heritage like her predecessor did.
In Scotland the most significant result was Wendy Chamberlain winning North East Fife back from the SNP, but on a 1316 majority with almost seven thousand listed building owners in the area. Elsewhere, the SNP’s Richard Thomson took the Aberdeenshire seat of Gordon. With a majority of just 819 in such a historic area, listed buildings could be an important swing issue for him too.
a road, or where the vibration from heavy traffic has caused cracks. Too often the need to protect a building, and the need to keep it historically authentic pull owners in different directions, and the result is never positive.
For Welsh members, Brecon and Radnorshire was taken back by Conservative Fay Jones after it was won by the Liberal Democrats earlier in 2019 in a by-election. The constituency covers both the historic Brecon town and much of Powys, and so includes some two thousand listed buildings. Ynys Mon also moved to Tory control, with Virginia Crosbie now representing Anglesey’s two thousand listed building owners.
All of these MPs would make great additions to the APPG on Listed Properties (see page 14), so if you live in any of their constituencies then we would ask that you write to them and ask them to join.
12 Listed Heritage Magazine January/February 2020
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