History at work

[Gazzer]

I think i am quite blessed at times with some of the jobs i get.
I love researching the history of buildings that i work in. Recently i worked in Malvern on DeWalden House which was a girls school years ago and now its accomodation for religious studies so i am told but when researching on the internet it told me so much more. Lady DeWalden was a freind of Lady Baden Powell and in one corridor above an arch way her name is inscribed. A truly awesome building which is inwardly spoilt by modernising.
This week i have been working on The John Ruskin project near my home town. The building is to provide artists/poets a place to get inspiration and the majority of the building has been built from wood cut and sawn to size from the Wyre Forest where the new building is sited.
Years ago i worked at a public house which when work began it was found to have been an early morgue and place of cremation. They converted the Morgue room complete with slab into a drinking room, very eerie i thought.

Anyone else like looking up history of their work places ?

 

[diamondtiling]

We are still waiting for the go ahead for works at Cotton Hall in Holmes Chapel, It is the oldest building in Cheshire, well a part of it is. No ground floors to speak of, just flags on soil. It is a beautiful building full of beams and huge fire places, the windows are all out of square but add to the charm of the building.
Really hope to start work on it if our prices are accepted.

 

[Colour Republic]

Anyone else like looking up history of their work places ?

Always! It’s been a fascination of mine ever since I learnt about priest holes at school.

There are many large regency houses in Brighton that have since been converted in to flats, one of the very first I worked on I discovered a 'secret' staircase which must have been hidden for donkeys years, it was a small spiral staircase that went from the basement up to the top 5th floor and must have been used by the servants to service the rooms without having to be seen in the main part of the house. So if I ever work in a period building I always see what I can find out just as a past time pleasure and in many ways increases your understanding of how they were built and if you can still apply long forgotten techniques in restoring them. The internet is a beautiful thing!

 

[d noulton]

tiled a floor in eynsford kent about 3 yrs ago 300 400 yrs old
acording to the customer
as you can imagine the floor was all over the place
I asked do you want the floor leveling the reply was an ephatic no
tile it as it is to be honest if the floor was level it would be an inustice to the house no history but a story in its self

 

[tfs]

I use to restore alot of old Sash windows in Edinburgh. Many of the windows had old news paper stuffed behind them, you would find some newspaper cutting from the early 1900's. Last one I found was from the 1980's (I think) and it had an advert for Joiners and plumbers vacancies, rate of pay was £80 per week:lol:

 

[albyshellshear]

i have always been interested in old buildings there are quite a lot around liverpool & manchester that are abadoned i always think to myself if somebody put some money into these buildings it would be lovely to restore them find there history and place a plaque outside explaining its heritage one day and six lucky numbers hey never know

 

[Diamond Pool Finishers]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pR7HNeiUw9U]YouTube - Lord Baden-Powell[/ame] good man!!

 

[Gazzer]

Lord Baden Powell would sleep in the summer house at Dewalden House when visiting Malvern...

 

[mikethetile]

i love it

last year i redecorated the room where apperently according to the locals a brick in the wall was written

 

[White Room]

Worked at hunting lodge where Henry VIII used to visit and there were tunnels to the local church where he would meet Ann for abit of the other.