We went to see St. Twrog’s, a recent acquisition of the Friends of Friendless Churches, after Christmas, but it was shut.  Today it was open and well worth a visit: a completely unspoilt, late Georgian interior – box pews, pulpit and reading desk and two wall monuments with beautiful, simple lettering:-

I’m very sad to hear news of the death of Alec Cobbe, quite a remarkable figure: a man of taste; trained as a conservator at the Tate; then worked at Birmingham and the Hamilton Kerr; took over Hatchlands as a tenant of the National Trust to show his collection of musical instruments.

I went to Hatchlands in September to see his Titian exhibition.  No photographs.

But most impressive is his rehang at Castle Howard, including the display of casts in the visitors’ entrance in the West Wing:-

Reading Rowan Moore’s review of the renovated Theatr Clwyd in last Sunday’s Observer encouraged us to call in for what was meant to be a late lunch, but was more like tea.  It’s an impressive, very civic theatre, but in a park on the edge of Mold overlooking the Clwydian Hills.

It’s been renovated by Haworth Tompkins who are good at retaining the character of existing buildings/institutions, but making them more upbeat, as they have at the London Library and Warburg Institute.

The restaurant which is huge was booked out…

Theatr Clwyd – Architecture Today https://architecturetoday.co.uk/theatr-clwyd-haworth-tompkins/

Bishop’s House in Woodstock is described as a ‘gauche’ imitation of the Vanbrugh/Hawksmoor style, but looks not bad to me, quite like some of the outbuildings at King’s Weston:-

I had previously planned to walk from Hanborough Station to Blenheim to get a better feel for the layout of Woodstock Park, which must have included bits of steep and varied topography in Vanbrugh’s day. 

Today, I managed it:

I was looking for breakfast at Downing College when I came across William Wilkins.  I’m not sure I had seen him before: the scholarly grandson of a Norwich builder, son of another William Wilkins who designed the Master’s Lodge at Caius, he travelled widely in Greece and Asia Minor between 1801 and 1804.  Downing was nearly his first commission on his return.

I assume it’s a version of the E.H. Bailey bust in the Fitzwilliam, but is more powerful:-

For those who missed the service of commemoration for Vanbrugh’s tercentenary, you can watch it on YouTube. 

I particularly recommend the magnificent address by Richard Chartres, the former Bishop of London, who managed to perfectly convey Vanbrugh’s roots in the City of London and the character of English nationalism at the time, as he described it, ‘of the rise of Great Britain from a second-rate, peripheral, European power to an intercontinental hegemon’:-

https://youtube.com/live/GJLc47jMY_A?si=tm0a78UQAvA-lqB1

And he unveiled an excellent plaque too:-

John Goodall, the architectural editor of Country Life, has done an exemplary podcast about Vanbrugh (see below), including thoughts about the restoration of Castle Howard:-

https://share.google/jON6pTmvonxJRSJav

The tercentenary of Vanbrugh’s death is today. There is a service of thanksgiving this afternoon in St. Stephen’s Walbrook where he was buried and where a commemorative monument will be unveiled.

Roz Barr and Will Gompertz are expected to be on the Today programme this morning at 8.50.