Wilson Potter Brewery – Saturday Soirée

Around 90 people braved the inclement weather on Saturday and made their way to the Edgar Wood Centre for the monthly Wilson Potter Brewery ‘Saturday Soirée’.

As well as their usual range of award winning craft ales, a new heritage themed beer was available to try.

‘Crafty Mr Wood’ has been specially brewed for Middleton Heritage to commemorate Edgar Wood, architect of The Arts & Crafts Church and the school buildings that are now The Edgar Wood Centre. The beer is a 3.8% amber session ale and it certainly seemed to go down very well with those who tried it. Bottles of the beer will be available from the brewery soon.

Wilson Potter’s next event at the Edgar Wood Centre will be Saturday 12th September when the Arts & Crafts Church and the Edgar Wood Centre will be open for Heritage Open Weekend. If you would like to receive an invitation and book a place at the brewery bar please contact Kathryn or Amanda on 0161 654 6446 or email: enquiries@wilsonpotterbrewery.co.uk

Geoff trying a half of Crafty Mr Wood
Geoff trying a half of Crafty Mr Wood
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Arts & Crafts and Craft Beer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEWS AWAKENING – JULY 2015

Here is a miscellany of Greater Manchester heritage and Arts & Crafts news over July.…

Greater Manchester

Archaeologists uncover 270 bodies as part of Cross Street Metrolink works

Whitworth Art Gallery nominated for top architecture prize

Manchester Town Hall extension and Central library bag two national construction awards

School and homes plan given green-light on former MMU Didsbury Campus

Have your say on plans to re-develop Rochdale Town Hall

Historic bridge beneath Rochdale is revealed for the first time since Victorian days

Hope for London Road fire station as ‘several bids’ made to purchase it

Two bidders for London Road Fire Station revealed

Bolton Council hopes to finally sign off town hall plans

Bolton Council will “protect” historic buildings following protests over town centre plans

Woodland Trust buys majority of Smithills estate

Project to restore paupers graves in Horwich secures funding

National

Protected status for London’s British Library, opened in 1997

‘Character and heritage’ of post boxes to be preserved

Arts & Crafts Movement

Charles Rennie Mackintosh design is first confirmed exhibit for V&A Dundee

Restoration plans for Mackintosh building trigger art school rift over studio space

Cottage dream up for sale: A Mackintosh masterpiece

The Arts and Crafts House at Compton Verney

Book review: Arts & Crafts Stained Glass

Property of the Week: Woodlands on Birkby Hall Road in Birkby

Inside the Cambridge ‘time capsule’ house

Brierley’s own Arts and Crafts house is an architectural gem

Great Dixter in Sussex – A Quintessential English Style Garden

Colour project on the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow

Art Nouveau

Hoffmann brooches shine in Vienna auction

1900-1926 Lost streets of Old Paris

Italian Liberty – Art Nouveau photographic project

Art Deco

For sale: Art Deco Highgate flat by Arsenal stadium architect

Art Deco-ded: Explore south Mumbai’s timeless architecture

Demolition Begins on Former Art Deco Salerno Cookie Factory

Almost Demo-ed Art Deco Gem on Alton Coming Back to Life

Your Big Chance to Get Inside L.A.’s Amazing Art Deco Castle

Arts & Crafts Awakening – 23rd July Meeting

Art Nouveau to Art DecoMembers of Middleton Heritage met on Thursday evening to plan the September Golden Cluster Month and Heritage Open Days. It was a very positive meeting with lots of ideas coming from different groups. Among initiatives discussed were new and improved visitor guides and trails, including new versions of the Sam Bamford trail and Edgar Wood guide (see opposite) to be published by September. Another was a Heritage Open Days Beer Soirée by Wilson Potter Brewery.

We are also planning some initiatives for this web site, including an archive, by the Family History Group, on the Middleton soldiers who fought in the First World War and a series of 50 posts, by the Friends of Middleton Parish Church, on the art and craft objects found in Middleton parish church.

The new THI officer is in post

Sue Oakley, the new THI officer is given a guided tour by David Morris, chairman of the Edgar Wood Society and members of the committee. We all look forward to working with Sue in the coming months and wish her well in her new position 

Plan Chest for Edgar Wood Society

106_procThe Edgar Wood Society has acquired a plan chest from the Earby Lead Mining Museum, near Skipton, which is sadly closing down (however, its artifacts are being transferred to other museums).

The mining museum has been housed for a very long time in Earby Grammar School, a Grade II* listed school not unlike Middleton’s Old Grammar School. With the mining museum leaving, there is an opportunity to revisit the building as an historic structure in its own right.

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The main problem was how to get the plan chest to the office at the Edgar Wood Centre without racking up van hire charges. The solution… a 1980s VW camper van!

Many thanks to Richard Matthews for his help on the day.

David

Visit of Arts & Crafts Enthusiasts

Vicky House VisitOn Monday 20th July, Edgar Wood Society was delighted to welcome Vicky House, owner of Briarcourt, and Arts and Crafts furniture experts, Sean and Joanna McManus, for a private tour of the Arts & Crafts Church. Everyone got on so well taling about the feautures of the buildings and the furniture, that the visit lasted 5 hours!

Edgar Wood Centre 2

Visit to Edgar Wood’s ‘Briarcourt’

Briarcourt sThe Edgar Wood Society visit to ‘Briarcourt’, Lindley Huddersfield (18th July) was a great success.This Arts & Crafts house was designed by Edgar Wood in 1894 and built in 1895. It was considered a cutting edge design in its day and even now, after decades of various local authority uses, it is extremely impressive, as the photos taken on the visit show.

034_procWe began with lunch and a talk on ‘Briarcourt’ at the nearby Heritage Cafe in Wellington Mill. We then drove down and parked in the grounds and were shown around by the new owners, Vicky and Duncan, who are researching and beginning to restore this amazing building. We are very grateful for their hospitality and you can follow their blog on the building here.

Afterwards, some of us walked up the lane to see Edgar Wood’s Lindley Clock Tower and Norman Terrace. See the Edgar Wood Heritage Group, Yorkshire web site for interesting information on these and all his buildings in the area.

090_proc 062_proc 082_proc 052_proc 074_procBriarcourt 1897

Saddleworth Civic Trust Visit the Golden Cluster

Twenty members of the Saddleworth Civic Trust spent Saturday doing the full tour, lead by Geoff Wellens at the Parish Church and by Christine Grime at the Arts and Crafts Church. This was followed by a conducted tour of the Edgar Wood trail. Christine led – the rest followed! In the fore ground are Christine and Charles Baumann (Sec.of the SCT)

SCT Members in Middleton

The Garden is Looking Good

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Thanks to Maureen, the garden is looking good. There is no end to her talents, we have seen her in previous posts  mopping the hall floor and painting the ‘beer cellar’.

We hope the visitors on Saturday from the Saddleworth Civic Trust will be suitably impressed.

Historic England’s 2015 Yearbook features ILP Club

Milton Street Independent Labour Club is featured in Historic England’s newly published 2015 Designation Yearbook. It is, perhaps, one of the most interesting buildings highlighted, despite its modesty. Click here to download the ILP entry.

Arts and Crafts buildings generally feature strongly with two areas receiving special research for listing – West Cambridge and Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire. Click here to download the West Cambridge entry and here for the Minchinhampton entry.

Nb. Historic England was called English Heritage until recently. The whole report is here.

NEWS AWAKENING – JUNE 2015

Here is miscellany of heritage and architecture news over the past month…

Greater Manchester…

The places we miss most in Manchester

Underground Manchester: Tunnels, a tube station and even shops hidden beneath the city’s streets

Manchester town hall clock tours: stunning pictures

Vision for Princes Gate, Oldham

WW1 exhibition launched at the Pioneers Museum, Rochdale

Broadfield Stile, Rochdale

Salford’s historic Peel Park is to get £1.6m facelift

Salford relic gets a ‘bling’ new look as part of £5.5m canal restoration

Horwich Children remember the Great War

Controversial plan for Ramsbottom town centre

Medieval graves hidden beneath Bolton Parish Church

Plan to cut into front of Bolton Town Hall could be scrapped

Elisabeth Mill, Reddish, to become 150 plush flats

Victoria Baths, Longsight, welcomes back wrestling show

Salford Local History Library to close until September

QA to move into Bruntwood’s St James’, Manchester

London Road Fire Station, Manchester: investors from China, the Middle East and America show interest

Debate to determine future of historic London Road Fire Station

Rochdale windfarm plan is thrown out by town hall chiefs

Dig the City 2015: Share your childhood garden memories

Further afield…

New lease of life for Nelson mill, Heritage Trust for the North West

Manchester student unlocks secret behind 500-year-old painting

Parliament facelift could cost £7bn

UK Monuments Men bid to save sites

Stephen Fry unveils Blue Plaque for novelist Georgette Heyer

Middleton Heritage/ Arts & Crafts Awakening Meeting

Chris and Lindsey led the final ‘pre-feasibility’ workshop for the Arts & Crafts Awakening project – fourteen people came.

Chris first went through the duties of those who have become directors of the Arts & Crafts Trust. We then learnt about the new THI manager, Sue Oakley, who has been running the Keighley THI in recent years. We discussed the new plan to restore the Edgar Wood Centre buildings in phases aligned with new uses as well as Heritage Open Days and a beer festival in September.

We are now reading through the 90 page draft report!

Our next meeting will be at 7.30pm on 23rd July. We will be concentrating on the summer events such as Golden Cluster Month and Heritage Open Days, two new trails for Middleton town centre and the broader strategy for Middleton’s Heritage.

 

The Grass Keeps Growing

The lawns in the garden need to be cut every week at this time of year and there are also those areas that are out of sight and sometimes out of mind that also need attention.In this instance the heavy mob had to be called in.

Neighbourhood Planning & Historic Places

Manchester from 3 Hardman Street
Click to enlarge – Manchester city centre from 3 Hardman Street

I went to a fascinating evening event in Manchester centre Wednesday, 10th June, about the new neighbourhood planning process and how it is working with regard to heritage and Liverpool city centre, especially the Baltic Triangle and Waterfront areas.

The session was led by Dave Chetwyn who is managing director of Urban Vision Enterprise, as well as chair of the Historic Towns Forum and a planning adviser to Locality. The other speaker was Gerry Proctor MBE, who is chair of the social enterprise, Engage Liverpool. They discussed the challenges of identifying neighbourhood areas and getting neighbourhood forums to work in the context historic area regeneration. The attitudes os local authority planning departments and developers were also considered. They explained the neighbourhood plan process and how it related to heritage and growth in a city context and how to put together a neighbourhood forum in a complex urban area.

Albert_Dock,_Liverpool
Liverpool Waterfront – Albert Dock

Neighbourhood planning is becoming very popular and, while the process is slow and involved, it engages local people in a way traditional planning does not. I could imagine a neighbourhood plan for the heritage area of Middleton, north of the Market Place traffic island, being very popular with the people who live there.

The event was held in the office of event at Pinsent Masons on 3 Hardman Street, the top floor of a city centre glass box. It took a while to combat the vertigo when looking out of the windows!

David Morris

Talk

Plan for 3 houses in garden of Edgar Wood house

Backup_of_1904-EW-Ding-1912WtnArch-E01_proc - CopyThe Dingle, Dore is one of Edgar Wood’s most dramatic houses which, until recently, was ‘lost’, other than for the design drawings and the contemporary photographs shown here. In recent years, however, it has been ‘discovered’.

It lies near Sheffield, in Totley, and is now featured on the Totley History Group’s website. Wood’s design embraces a very steep slope, with the house, terracing, perimeter wall and garden lookout all constructed from rugged uncoursed rubble stone. It is Wood’s most primitive design, turning raw geology into art.

The house is stunning in the way is presents a different aspect from every viewpoint. There is no weak elevation. Instead, it is almost sculpture-like in its three dimesional quality. Nevertheless, the varied elevations at their core have a disciplined and almost grid-like arrangement of window openings, which holds the dramatic composition tightly together.

The windows, of course, light specific areas of rooms, in relation to the sun’s travel and the activities taking place there. Consequently, the design resolved a range of practical needs and requirements as well as being something aesthetically exciting. Wood was among a handful of elite Arts & Crafts architects who could design to this level of artistry. It is no wonder that the house was published in several British and American journals.

Celebration quickly turned to concern with the discovery that a planning application has been submitted to Sheffield City Council for three detached houses with garages within the garden, at its highest point adjacent to the house. The planning application is HERE – the public is free comment on the scheme.

Wilson Potter Brewery – plans for the summer at Edgar Wood Centre

Wilson Potter Brewery have again produced a special beer for us, this time to celebrate  our revolutionary architect Edgar Wood.  The previous beers were ‘Nod to Nowell’  and ‘SBA’  in honour of Alexander Nowell and Sam Bamford. We now need to think of a name for the Edgar Wood beer, do you have any suggestions? Please let us know by leaving a reply below.

Once again the brewery will be holding their bar or ‘Soiree’ at The Edgar Wood Centre on Saturday 6th June. Let’s hope for a warm sunny day so that the guests can enjoy the garden. Please note this is a private event and places are reserved by invitation only. Anyone who is not on the guest list will, unfortunately, not be allowed in! If you would like an invitation to future events please contact the brewery – contact details are HERE.

In addition to a regular monthly bar we are also exploring ideas for a Beer Festival to be held at The Edgar Wood Centre. It is in the early planning stage at the moment but we think it will make a fantastic late summer event.

NEWS AWAKENING – MAY 2015

A miscellany of heritage and architecture news over the past month…

Greater Manchester…

Four town centres in the Rochdale borough are at risk of losing their charm, according to Historic England

Hands off our Tudor treasure crest! – George Shaw of Saddleworth

Future of Ellenroad Steam Museum hangs in the balance after unexpected £7,000 water bill

Manchester’s best modern buildings: Citylabs, One St Peter’s Square and MMU’s Birley Campus all win top honours

Manchester’s £25m Home is a sorely missed architectural opportunity

Bolton’s young acknowledge WW1 sacrifice

VE Day in pictures: Looking back at how Stockport marked the end of the war in Europe in 1945

History of Didsbury Library to be explored during centenary celebrations

Manchester Museum: Quirkiest wedding venue in the city?

Historic Ashton Town Hall closes as major work gets underway

New film about the history of Trafford Park

Demolition work at Woodford Aerodrome home of the Lancaster Bomber

Bolton Town Hall – give this other plan a chance

Bolton Civic Trust’s thoughts on Town Hall plans

New Kingfisher Trail to star one of Britain’s best loved birds

Radcliffe Tower – ‘Last chance’

Further afield…

Brian Cox welcomes boost for Jodrell Bank

£2.4million funding bid for Pendle Hill

The street that might win the Turner prize: how Assemble are transforming Toxteth

You favourite architect or artist on the next £20 banknote?

Making the grade: Newly listed post-war office buildings

Church that gave refuge to Charles I and inspired TS Eliot in need of rescue

UK heritage sites to receive £98m lottery cash boost

National Trust calls for footpath around English coast

How the ancient city of Palmyra looked before the fighting – in pictures