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SPAB | The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings

@spab1877

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We're here for old buildings and the people who care for them. @spabireland @spabscotland @spabmills

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We’ve had a few new followers recently, so we thought it was time to reintroduce ourselves.

Hello, we’re SPAB, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings.

We’re the oldest national building conservation charity in the world, founded in 1877 by William Morris and Philip Webb after they were horrified by the damage being done to historic buildings in the name of “restoration”

Today we protect old buildings at risk through our casework, offer free technical advice to anyone who owns or cares for an old building, and train the next generation of conservation professionals and craftspeople through our Scholarship and Fellowship programmes. Our Mills Section looks after the UK’s windmills and watermills. And it’s all made possible by our members.

Whether you’ve just joined us or have been following for years, thank you.

Hashtags: #SPAB1877 #HeritageBuildings #BuildingConservation #WilliamMorris #HeritageSkills by @spab1877

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2 months ago

The Bayeux Tapestry is on home soil for the first time in nearly 1,000 years - currently on display at the British Museum. What better moment to look at what it tells us about buildings from that era, including one right here in England?

Of the tapestry's 33 depicted buildings, one is the church of Bosham, where Harold is shown praying before setting sail for France. According to @theconversationdotcom, the tapestry shows it at a much smaller scale than its depiction of Westminster Abbey - fitting, since the real church was modest by comparison.

Curiously, the tapestry doesn't show a tower at Bosham. Today, the tower is the only part of the original Saxon church still standing - a reminder that the tapestry's buildings were symbolic impressions, not architectural records.

📷 Bayeux Tapestry, depicting Harold and his men riding to Bosham Church, Bayeux Tapestry Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Hashtags: #BayeuxTapestry #AngloSaxon #Bosham #HistoricBuildings #SPAB by @spab1877

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It’s rare to see a place frozen in time, Finzean Bucket Mill is an amazing example of history in action.

Thank you so much Owen for sharing this incredible place with us. It was so much fun working on the weir! We can’t wait to see what you do next!

@spab1877
@rgbushell
@bucketmillcic

#heritage #conservation by @spab1877

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2 days ago

Exploring Suffolk with @folklore_building_conservation

Walpole Old Chapel looks like a farmhouse from the outside then you step inside to the beautifully calm (& nautical) feel of the worship space, with plenty of honest repairs. Then to Sibton Abbey ruins & Framlingham Castle to check out the repairs & consolidation of ruins.

Thanks for a great day Thom!

#spab by @spab1877

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2 days ago

We joined Philip Orchard for a quinquennial inspection of St Andrews church in Wickham Skeith, really helpful to see his process and a lovely opportunity to see the bells in the tower 🔔

He also took us on a walk around Bury St Edmunds around the cathedral and ruins

#spab taken in Wickham Skeith by @spab1877

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3 days ago

Architects didn't always work behind a desk.

For #WorldArchitectureDay, architect and author Eleanor Jolliffe traces how the profession changed. She covers Renaissance scholars who treated design as separate from making, the Great Fire of London and Christopher Wren's appointment as King's Surveyor of Works in 1669, and today's divide between design and construction.

For centuries, the person who designed a building was also someone who knew how to build it. Medieval master masons trained in stone for years, led the workforce, and sometimes carved the most intricate details themselves. Towns even competed to hire the best ones.

Then came the Renaissance. Scholars began studying ancient texts and measuring ruins, and design gradually became an intellectual pursuit, separate from making. By the end of the 16th century, the architect had left the scaffolding for the office.

In 1877, William Morris and architect Philip Webb and others who founded SPAB, called for care, caution and craftsmanship. Webb even called himself "a drains man".

Read Eleanor Jolliffe's full article via the blog section on our website - link in our bio.

📷 Ralph Hodgson | Visuals of Lukas, Unsplash

Hashtags: #EvolutionOfTheArchitect #Architecture #MasterMason #HeritageCrafts #Stonemasonry @eleanor_jolliffe_ by @spab1877

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3 days ago

"We are only trustees for those that come after us."

William Morris died 130 years ago today, on 3 October 1896.

Designer, poet, socialist… and the man who started the fight to protect Britain's old buildings.

As a boy, Morris explored Essex churches with his father, and Canterbury Cathedral became his favourite. Later, he watched in dismay as Victorian "restorers" scraped away centuries of history. In 1877, he and architect Philip Webb founded the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings to champion repair over restoration.

Every building we help care for today carries a little of his thinking.

Find out more via our website, link in our bio.

Hashtags: #WilliamMorris #SPAB #ArtsAndCrafts #OldBuildings #HistoricBuildings by @spab1877

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5 days ago

It's International Podcast Day, and we're taking the chance to shout about our own @spabireland Heart to Hearth podcast!

We've chatted to stonemasons, folklorists, heritage specialists and more, all about Irish vernacular buildings. From gauged brickwork to forged gates to follies, there's a lot of ground covered.

Catch-ups on all your favourite podcast apps.

While you're at it, check out our friends at @talking.conservation too, where several SPAB staff and specialists have joined hosts Stephen and Rich to talk timber, dry rot and more.

📷 Rosemary Kane, Alamy

Hashtags: #InternationalPodcastDay #IrishVernacular by @spab1877

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8 days ago

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10 days ago

This is what we believe. Old buildings aren’t relics, they’re lived-in, layered, and full of stories still being written.

Swipe through for nearly 150 years of what we stand for →

Hashtags: #HeritageCraft #Conservation #OldBuildings

Our vision is that old buildings are understood, cared for and appreciated today, and protected for future generations.

We believe buildings should be valued for their whole history - every era, every repair, every change.

Our mission is to protect old buildings for everyone.

To champion the SPAB Approach through everything we do.

We believe the truest record of the past is respected through regular maintenance and skilled, conservative repair - not restoration that erases it.

Our mission is to promote the positive contribution building conservation makes to environmental sustainability.

To encourage traditional building crafts - for the good of old buildings, and for people’s wellbeing.

We believe decisions about old buildings should take a long-term view.

Buildings - and the people who shape them - carry knowledge across generations.

This is what SPAB stands for. Join us in protecting it.

SPAB.org.uk by @spab1877

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12 days ago

Stonemason @spab1877 Fellows 2019-2024-2026 at the Megalithic Walls built by giants in 5th century BC.
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#stonemasons #tour #abruzzo #drystonewall #giant taken in Monte Pallano by @spab1877

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Wonderful to learn about historic glass with @spab1877 by @spab1877

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