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House History Workshop III
About the Trust
The Tithing today
Historic profile
Projects
Projects continued
Image Library
House History Workshop V
Background information on the two Painswick Mills
Article to Painswick Beacon
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Projects
Location: Gloucestershire
1. Archive research
Research is being undertaken into original historic documents held in the local Gloucestershire Records office. Our researcher, Dr Chris Philpotts looked at documents relating specifically to this area, dating back some 500 years and is currently researching papers belonging to the Palling family.
These papers are the foundation of this project; the family was one of the first clothier families in the area in the early 17th century who became major landowners at the height of the prosperity of the local cloth industry. The papers contain details of the family’s business transactions from their early residence at Brownshill Farmhouse, including the construction of Brownshill Court and its grounds. This documentary evidence together with a landscape little changed since this time makes a unique contribution to our understanding of this part of Gloucestershire.
2. Industrial and domestic architecture
The Tithing has a great number of listed buildings, many of which were built originally as farmhouses and later extended and embellished as their owners became wealthy. The records of buildings, listed for their historic or architectural merit will be examined together with any additional buildings, which are of local interest.
House history workshops
The Trust is encouraging local people to investigate the origins of their houses by holding workshops where illustrated talks are combined with practical observation. Individual house histories will be prepared using survey techniques learnt at the House History seminars presented by Dr Phil Dixon.
Workshop I
This workshop heard an introductory talk from Dr Philip Dixon illustrating how to look at historic properties and finding clues to their origins by asking questions about any physical anomalies. Many buildings have earlier origins then would appear at first glance, clues can be found in roof structures and changes in coursing of stonework for instance. He showed us many examples of medieval buildings hidden behind later facades. We then heard about the physical characteristics of building stone from Dr Graham Lott of the Royal Geological Survey.
This was followed by a visit to Wick Street House for practical observation of a 17th century house with later extensions, helped by Dr Beryl Lott, a specialist in historic buildings conservation.
Workshop II
This workshop opened with a talk from Dr. Dixon explaining why there are so few medieval houses and explained the reason for their varied distribution in the country. This was followed by an illustrated talk on a selection of local houses with interesting features demonstrating early origins or successive periods of development.
Workshop III
The third workshop in the series was held at Greenhouse Court, Bulls Cross where we learnt about the history of houses, beginning with Saxon settlements and heard how houses today are literally palatial in size when compared to that of a Saxon king. The second part of the morning introduced people to practical observation of buildings to discover their past. The coach house providing an excellent example of a building having undergone a number of transformations, demonstrated by a number of blocked up windows and doors. Workshop III >>
Projects continued >>
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