Piecing together the Tyntesfield orangery

The orangery at Tyntesfield, as found. ©NTPL/Andrew Butler

When the National Trust took on Tyntesfield, the high-Victorian country house near Bristol, in 2002, the orangery there was in very poor condition due to long-term lack of maintenance, with shrubs growing through the roof and rain pouring in.

Work underway at the orangery. ©NTPL/John Millar

Last year saw the start of a three-year project to restore this listed building to its full late-Victorian glory. The aim of the project is not just to restore the orangery, but also to provide training oportunities in buildings conservation and stone masonry.

Stone mason finishing off a cornice. ©NTPL/John Millar

Extra funding was obtained from the Commercial Education Trust and the Heritage Lottery Fund to allow students from City of Bath College and other groups to work on the orangery together with the expert stone masons of Nimbus Conservation.

The worn capital of one of the pilasters awaiting replacement. ©NTPL/John Millar

Over 6,000 visitors have also been able to see the ongoing work from a specially constructed viewing platform. In October 2011 the project was awarded an English Heritage Angels Award, a scheme founded by Andrew Lloyd Webber to celebrate the efforts of local people in rescuing their heritage.

A newly carved capital. ©NTPL/John Millar

Bookings are now being taken for workshops and tours in spring/summer 2012: contact Katie Laidlaw at katie.laidlaw@nationaltrust.org.uk.

Spanish art in North Somerset

Tyntesfield in its park. ©NTPL/Steve Stephens

The scaffolding that swathed Tyntesfield, in North Somerset, has now disappeared, as another phase in the conservation programme is completed. You can see a time-lapse image here – if you look closely you can also see the spire being put back on by a huge crane.

Studio of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, The Mater Dolorosa. ©Christie's

Another recent development is the installation of a painting from the studio of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1618-1682), entitled The Mater Dolorosa, or ‘mother of sorrows’. It depicts the Virgin Mary mourning the death of her son, painted with such realism that it could almost be an ordinary Spanish woman at prayer.

The Mater Dolorosa newly installed in the Hall at Tyntesfield. ©National Trust/Sally Williams

The picture was bought at auction at Christie’s in New York in 2009. It may be the picture that William Gibbs, the rebuilder of Tyntesfield, bought in Seville in 1853. His nephew Henry Hucks Gibbs said of it at the time that ’the expression of the countenance I think I have never seen surpassed.’

The Hall at Tyntesfield. Since this photograph was taken it has been rearranged to reflect its Edwardian use as a sitting room. Visitors can now sit down here to savour the ambiance. ©NTPL/Steve Stephens

We are not sure whether this newly acquired picture is the exact same one that Gibbs bought (and which was later sold from the house), but even if it isn’t, it is likely to be almost identical. It was common practice for artists and their studios to make several versions of their paintings.

Portrait of William Gibbs by Sir William Boxall, RA, 1859. ©NTPL/John Hammond

William Gibbs (1790-1875) was born in Spain, where his father was engaged in trade. This, and his profoundly religious nature, explains his predilection for seventeenth-century Spanish painting.

William himself also became a merchant, and eventually made a huge fortune exporting guano, which was increasingly being used as agricultural fertiliser, from South America. This enabled him to rebuild Tyntesfield as a large, high-Victorian Gothic country house in the 1860s.

Lest we forget

Aerial view of Tyntesfield from the west. ©NTPL/Steve Stephens

Yesterday seventy years ago the London Blitz began. Between 7 September and 2 November 1940 the city was bombed every single day or night.

The east front of Tyntesfield. ©NTPL/Andrew Butler

Remembering the tragedies of history is just as important as remembering its glories – and indeed they are inextricably linked. That was the inspiration behind the National Land Fund, which was set up in 1946 with the proceeds from the sale of surplus war materiel.

The entrance hall. ©NTPL/Nadia Mackenzie

Its aim was to purchase nationally important land and buildings as ‘a thank-offering for victory and a war-memorial which many would think finer than any work of art in stone of bronze’. However, the fund was initially little used.

The hall with the main staircase. ©NTPL/Steve Stephens

It was only the sale of Mentmore Towers and its contents in 1977 that reinvigorated the debate about funding for heritage.

The library. ©NTPL/Andreas von Einsiedel

In 1980 the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) was set up which inherited the Land Fund capital and was given a remit to acquire, maintain or preserve any land, building or structure, or any object or collection which is of outstanding scenic, historic, aesthetic, architectural, scientific, or artistic interest.

The dining room. ©NTPL/Steve Stephens

In the 30 years since then, the National Trust has received over £73 million in grants from the NHMF. Many projects would have been impossible without the NHMF’s support.

One of those projects was the acquisition of Tyntesfield, the Victorian country house and estate in North Somerset, which was purchased with almost all of its contents in 2002 – saved in memory of the sacrifices made during the Second World War.