Major National Trust property destroyed by fire

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  • housegirlhousegirl Posts: 6,017
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    Very very sad news. Was a NT member for year all that history gone
  • snoweyowlsnoweyowl Posts: 1,922
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    The National Trust doesn't have a great record as far as fires are concerned and this one looks to be worse than Uppark where much was saved and some of the ground floor survived.

    I suppose that when they're not open there are few people around and these houses are not usually very accessible to the fire services.

    I'd have hoped for better though following Uppark. Interesting to hear what the investigation finds. Insurance people will not be pleased but it has been 27 years since the Uppark disaster.
  • KapellmeisterKapellmeister Posts: 41,322
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    snoweyowl wrote: »
    The National Trust doesn't have a great record as far as fires are concerned and this one looks to be worse than Uppark where much was saved and some of the ground floor survived.

    I suppose that when they're not open there are few people around and these houses are not usually very accessible to the fire services.

    I'd have hoped for better though following Uppark. Interesting to hear what the investigation finds. Insurance people will not be pleased but it has been 27 years since the Uppark disaster.

    I know it's tempting to blame the National Trust but it's a very difficult issue to resolve: do you install water systems that can do immense damage if they go off or do you risk not having them and let the fire take over.

    It'll be interesting to see if it was an electrical fault and how the fault led to the fire. I wish there was more information forthcoming from the NT on what has been saved.

    Re. Uppark:
    A former National Trust land agent who witnessed a fire which devastated Uppark House in Sussex in 1989 has offered advice on how to restore Clandon House.

    Peter Pearce managed all National Trust properties in West Sussex in the 1980s and was part of the team that dealt with a fire that ripped through Uppark House after a workman’s blowtorch set the historic building alight.

    Speaking to Get Surrey, he said the blaze brought back some "terrible memories".

    "When I saw what had happened at Clandon, I remembered with terrible clarity the feelings I had during the Uppark fire."

    He also explained what would be happening now.

    “This process would include starting to think about what can be rescued to help any rebuilding of the house in the future. This will include saving the fabric of the house. At Uppark we rescued wallpaper, curtains, door frames, even the doors themselves. These items are very important for any rebuilding of the property in the future.”

    http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/local-news/clandon-park-fire-live-updates-9150018


    These two photos clearly show decorative elements surviving on the ground floor at Clandon:

    http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/04/30/11/2829A14500000578-3062092-image-m-37_1430390300451.jpg

    http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/04/30/11/2829B2A500000578-3062092-image-m-35_1430390286484.jpg

    And here's a photo of fragments from a plaster ceiling at Uppark being placed in their original position within the overall design following the fire:

    http://www.clivedenconservation.com/images/plaster/ceilings/ceil9.jpg

    If the shell can be stabilised then it'll take many months of work to sift through the remains inside the house looking for every single bit that could be reused in a possible reconstruction.
  • Keyser_Soze1Keyser_Soze1 Posts: 25,182
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    This is so very sad.

    But not quite as heartbreaking as those ISIS bastards deliberately destroying all those archaeologically priceless cities and so many ancient books and manuscripts.
  • KapellmeisterKapellmeister Posts: 41,322
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    Quite an interesting article here from the Guardian about the historical importance of the house and, especially, the Marble Hall.

    http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2015/apr/30/clandon-house-palladian-ruin-fire
    One of the most striking architectural spaces in Britain is a completely cubic hall that glistens with white marble and is intricately enlivened by pilasters, pediments, grand doorways, classical reliefs and statues. Look up, and the entire ceiling is a rich wonderland of sculpted stucco. This room, influenced by the Italian genius Palladio, is a magnificent piece of installation art, created centuries before the idea of installation art even existed. Or rather it was, until fire ravaged Clandon Park House in Surrey this week.

    I don't often agree with Jones and his love-in with Tracey Emin but I think this is a valid point:
    Does that matter? Isn’t it just a bit of posh heritage culture that has gone?

    There is nothing elitist or obscure about immaculate architectural beauty. It speaks to something universal – our feel for symmetry, harmony, and the wonder of the cosmos. Palladian architecture is utopian in its dreams of the perfect and yet liveable place. Something heavenly went up in flames this week.


    One slight bit of positive news, it seems from some photos that at least one of the exceptional Rysbrack fireplaces in the Marble Hall has survived.
  • housegirlhousegirl Posts: 6,017
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    You have to feel for the couple who were going to get married there today. That hall looks beautiful. So very sad



    http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/clandon-park-fire-leaves-wedding-9153859
  • roddydogsroddydogs Posts: 10,298
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    Im a bit puzzled, my hand book says it was open on Wednesday, but no mention of "People escaping" ?
  • KapellmeisterKapellmeister Posts: 41,322
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    housegirl wrote: »
    You have to feel for the couple who were going to get married there today. That hall looks beautiful. So very sad

    http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/clandon-park-fire-leaves-wedding-9153859

    You can see the same statue as the one in your link, high on the wall to the right, in this photo taken from the same direction following the blaze:

    http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/images/localworld/ugc-images/276309/Article/images/26420169/9966685-large.jpg

    I'm amazed it survived the fire.

    This seems to be pretty much all that was rescued i.e. a tiny fraction of the contents:

    http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/antique-furniture-rescued-from-clandon-park-house-is-stored-news-photo/471635450

    Sadly a football used at the battle of the Somme, one of only two in existence, was destroyed. There seems to be some hope that the hundreds of Surrey Regt. medals, including the Victoria Crosses, could perhaps have been protected by their cases. We won't know until the salvage operation begins.

    It's pretty obvious that the loss of Clandon House and most of its contents is not only the bleakest event in the National Trust's history but one of the worst cultural losses to the nation since World War Two.


    I am surprised that more things weren't rescued. I know the fire at Uppark was slow to spread which enabled most of the contents to be removed but it takes a while for a fire to spread throughout a house the size of Clandon. Rightly or wrongly, I suspect people were told to evacuate the property immediately leaving a few firemen to go in and get what they could when they could.

    It's also a sobering thought that even in the 21st century there seems to have been absolutely nothing the fire service could do to prevent the house being completely gutted.
  • bryemycazbryemycaz Posts: 11,735
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    It's also a sobering thought that even in the 21st century there seems to have been absolutely nothing the fire service could do to prevent the house being completely gutted.

    I think more could have been saved if some better fire prevention had been in place. I know that fire protection like water and foam will damage precious items. However if maybe a fire could be contained maybe a few items will get damaged rather than the lot destryoed.
  • Katharine_RangeKatharine_Range Posts: 2,490
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    bryemycaz wrote: »
    I think more could have been saved if some better fire prevention had been in place. I know that fire protection like water and foam will damage precious items. However if maybe a fire could be contained maybe a few items will get damaged rather than the lot destryoed.

    There is also the potential for the sprinkler system to develop a fault and release all the water at once like what happened at a school near where I live.
  • KapellmeisterKapellmeister Posts: 41,322
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    An informative and interesting 2013 programme from Radio 3 about the house and its contents with lots of accompanying photos:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP5SEPy8V-g

    It's only on for five minutes but well worth a watch/listen
  • Katharine_RangeKatharine_Range Posts: 2,490
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    I'm just grateful if nobody is hurt at all because of this.
  • a01020304a01020304 Posts: 2,374
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    i justs hope we the taxpayer do not have to pay for it getting redone.
  • CLL DodgeCLL Dodge Posts: 115,630
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    a01020304 wrote: »
    i justs hope we the taxpayer do not have to pay for it getting redone.

    The National Trust is an independent body.

    English Heritage was the equivalent public body until last month when Cameron effectively privatised it.
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