Architect's report

Gardens
Mansion
Wish List

The newly installed
second temporary staircase
phot: Iris Newbury

Throughout the winter period, works have continued in the mansion. Two of the windows for the saloon have been delivered and are being fitted. The partition that contained the grand entrance to the saloon from the centre of the mansion has also been constructed. We have installed a second temporary staircase to serve the first floor so that the public has two separate means of escape in an emergency. To give an easier access to the saloon, the existing stair landing at first floor has been cleared of the ladder that led up to the second in a different location.

In the south part of the mansion, works have continued at first and ground-floor – previously John Conyers’ bedroom and dressing room – we have started to construct the first section of the double wall that separated the two rooms. This will demonstrate to our visitors how the two rooms were related. In the bedroom we have replaced the plywood window hoarding with an opening steel window shutter, like the ones in the saloon. This is the first time, since the morning of the fire in 1917, that anybody has been able to look out from this room. The view is of the Priory Garden and down the entrance drive to the south.

The room had two windows and the shutter for the second window has now also been financed by the same generous donor – see wish list.

On the ground floor below (the south room), another very generous donor has been replaced by a set of steel doors – similar to the window shutters elsewhere. This enables access to the Priory Garden immediately to the south. However, before the doorway could be used, we had to bridge over the basement of the former glazed corridor which leads from the doorway to the Priory Garden and the Winter Garden. This was done with temporary steel decking. This new access from the Priory Garden into the south room was celebrated when it was used by the new chairman of Epping Forest District Council (Penny Smith) during her civic reception in the South Room on 8 October. Other funded works include the insulation of the floor to protect the room from the cold air in the cellars.

left: the first reinstated window in the saloon above: temporary steel decking in the Priory Garden leading to the south room. Photo: Peter Gamble

Whilst these works have been going on, the mansion volunteers have continued their great task of sorting artefacts and repositioning building materials throughout the building. The fact that we now have a dedicated basement workshop with storage shelves has contributed to improved levels of order. One of the benefits of this reorganisation is that it has enabled the stables to be cleared of some of the stored materials. The volunteers have also returned to digging out the debris that lies under what was the floor of Henrietta Conyers’ dressing room (and later Mrs Wythes’ bedroom), which is immediately above the vaulted ceiling to the double-height kitchen in the basement below.

A project that we should like to commence soon is the reinstatement of the stone staircase. This was smashed out in the 1950s. This may seem a far too ambitious task, but like other aspects of the restoration it becomes not such a problem if it is broken down into small stages – or should I say individual stone – that can each be separately funded.

The archaeological evidence of the original steps is all present, including the longer and more elaborate bottom step. If we can get the bottom step funded, then it may be that we can install a few of the other steps each year. For costs see wish list.