Clandon Park’s fate

The Daily Telegraph | 25 September 2023

SIR – Constance Watson (Comment, September 23) writes eloquently in condemnation of the National Trust’s joyless plans for Clandon Park in Surrey. As the person who will propose the Restore Trust motion on Clandon at the forthcoming National Trust AGM, I’d like to comment further.

After dropping its previous undertaking to restore some of the building’s marvellous interiors, the trust justified its volte face a year ago by claiming it wouldn’t be possible to do this “meaningfully” – whatever that means. In the face of a storm of objections (not least by residents), the trust simply restates its decision and adds the absurd claim that the finished result – a charred shell – is like the “beautiful” and “awe-inspiring” experience of being in the Alps.

What has not yet been pointed out is the influence of the ideas of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (Spab), which have steered the trust away from any policy of reinstating the interiors. This reflects the hard-line theories of William Morris, which the trust resisted when it came to the restoration of Uppark House in West Sussex. These theories are by no means generally accepted, and neither Spab nor the trust has a convincing answer as to why, if reinstatement was successful and “meaningful” at Uppark, it cannot possibly be allowed at Clandon.

Roger White
Sherborne, Dorset