Historical Review Article Abstracts, Volume 3

Visualizations of Furness Abbey: From Romantic Ruin to Computer Model
Jason Wood

The ruins of Furness Abbey inspired an unusual number of images, thanks to its nearness to the Lakes, its attraction to the poets, and the notoriously insensitive construction of an adjacent railway that made the abbey a national cause. This article collates many of these images, from Georgian engravings through early photographs to modern reconstruction drawings, and shows how this rich archive has contributed to the Furness Abbey Survey Project, begun in 1985.

William Strickland’s Tower in Penrith: Penrith Castle or Hutton Hall?
D R Perriam

Until recently, it was assumed that Penrith Castle was built either by William Strickland, bishop of Carlisle from 1400 to 1419, or after his death. But the author’s research on the tenurial history of Penrith has revealed that the presumed dating and ownership evidence for the castle is unreliable. He shows that instead it applies to Hutton Hall, another 14th-century defensive building in the same town, and that Penrith Castle is more likely to have been built earlier, by the Nevills, earls of Westmorland.

Kenilworth Castle in 1563
Nicholas Molyneux

In 1563 a survey of Kenilworth Castle was made for Robert Dudley, shortly after he was granted the castle. The author’s study of the survey reveals that Dudley altered almost every part of Kenilworth Castle except for John of Gaunt’s hall. It is also clear from the survey that distinctive features such as the tiltyard on the dam and the ostentatious stable block, long thought to have been built by Leicester, were actually built by his father, John Dudley, duke of Northumberland, in 1553.

The Iconography of the State Apartment at Apethorpe Hall
Adam White

The great Jacobean courtier's house at Apethorpe, Northamptonshire, was acquired by English Heritage in 2004. This article looks at the iconography of Apethorpe’s state apartment, which was created specifically for the use of King James I and his court. In particular it examines the remarkable series of chimneypieces, and considers whether the apartment has a coherent iconographical programme.

The Plaster Decoration of the State Apartment at Apethorpe Hall, Northamptonshire
Claire Gapper

This second article on the state apartment at Apethorpe Hall focuses on the plaster ceilings, which mostly date from 1622–4. The author explains that nearly all the plaster ornament is heraldic, and the underlying designs are similar to many other high-status ceilings of the first quarter of the 17th century. The ceiling of the great chamber is similar in detail to the design of ceilings at Blickling Hall, Norfolk, and it now seems likely that they were made by the same man.

A Garden Balustrade from Holland House
Cameron Moffett

A richly carved stone balustrade, apparently of early 17th-century date, survives in an English Heritage archaeological store, inherited from the Greater London Council. It has recently been identified as belonging to Holland House, Kensington, the suburban villa of a Jacobean courtier, which was heavily bombed in 1940. This article reveals that its style suggests a date of 1606–12, when the house was first built for Sir Walter Cope.

The First Landguard Fort, 1625–1720
Paul Pattison

The first permanent fort on Landguard Point, one of the few early Stuart forts in England, was built in 1625–30 to protect Harwich Haven, in response to a renewed Franco-Spanish threat. Demolished in 1717, it is partly preserved under the glacis of the fort that replaced it. This article draws on the author's documentary research into the first fort, which has produced a wealth of evidence about both the design of the fort and its history.

The Duke of Devonshire's Menagerie at Chiswick House
Gillian Clegg

Chiswick House, the villa built by the third earl of Burlington in 1727–9, continued in use as a residence until the later 19th century. This article looks at one of the more surprising aspects of its later history – the sixth duke of Devonshire’s menagerie in the gardens, which included an elephant, four giraffes, kangaroos, and a Neapolitan pig – and at the travellers’ accounts and newspaper reports that described it.

The Archaeological Observations of the Lukis Family of Guernsey
Heather Sebire

The Lukis family of Guernsey – Frederick Corbin Lukis (1788–1871) and his three sons – took a great interest in prehistoric monuments both in England and on the continent. This article looks at their records, and in particular reveals how a section drawing by the third son, W C Lukis, of the prehistoric mound at Silbury in 1849, has helped to inform a recent re-excavation of the hill by English Heritage.

No. 20 Group Royal Observer Corps Protected Headquarters,York, 1961–1991
Roger J C Thomas

English Heritage's most modern and most unusual site is No. 20 Group Royal Observer Corps HQ, a semi-subterranean bunker which formed part of the United Kingdom War Monitoring Organisation. The building was stood down in 1991, scheduled in 2000 and subsequently restored to its original condition. The article describes how it was designed to warn of air attack, monitor nuclear explosions and fallout in the Yorkshire region, and even provide a post-nuclear attack meteorological service