Surveyors' Reports to Dean and Chapter

SPCAA/R

Copy (transcripts) and rough copy annual reports: 1752; 1755; 1781-2; 1815; 1821; 1829-30; 1834-8; 1842-4; 1846; 1848-73; 1875-1938 [with gaps]; 1940; 1946; 1948-57; 1969; quarterly, monthly and progress reports 1972-80 [office copies]. Also copy reports from 1991-2002.

{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0\deflang2057{\fonttbl{\f0\fnil\fcharset0 MS Shell Dlg;}} \viewkind4\uc1\pard\f0\fs17 Annual, quinquennial and regular reports to the Dean and Chapter for the period 1886-1981, giving information on maintenance, routine repairs to the fabric and other buildings owned by the Dean and Chapter, and progress on individual projects. The annual report submitted to the Dean and Chapter on the appointment of a new Surveyor is a particularly detailed survey report.\par Between 1973 and 1981 the Surveyor was required to produce additional reports to the Dean and Chapter on the programme of preservation undertaken on the cathedral. These took the form of quarterly and monthly reports.\par The reports kept in the Architectural Archive are all drafts, rough copies, or typed transcripts [see "Allied materials" for location of originals].\par } Few Surveyors' reports to Chapter survive for the eighteenth century, in part reflecting the building's good condition. There is better coverage for the early nineteenth century, possibly because the cathedral required greater attention by then, but also reflecting the arrival of "new blood" in the Chapter in the shape of Canon Sydney Smith who involved himself in the maintenance of the building [M Stancliffe, "Conservation of the Fabric" in St Paul's. The Cathedral Church of London 604-2004, 2004, 296]. In addition, throughout the nineteenth century, liturgical changes, church reform and the rise to prominence of the High Church movement fostered an increasing interest in the fabric and decoration of the building. Nevertheless, it appears that the twice-yearly inspections rarely, if ever, produced two reports; nearly all the survivals of the nineteenth century are annual. Resolutions added in 1848 to those of 1753 reflect this. They provided "that in every year immediately after the Dean and Chapter's audit, there shall be laid before the Commissioners the Surveyor's Report approved by the Dean and Chapter giving a Statement of the works which are proposed to be done in and about the Cathedral in the ensuing twelve-month, and containing his estimate of the cost thereof…." [St Paul's Cathedral Library, Chapter Minutes 29 January 1848, p.152]. From the appointment of the Surveyor F.C. Penrose in 1852, the practice of binding the originals of these reports in with Chapter Minutes appears to have begun, but this was not maintained consistently and often the report was simple noted as "received" at Chapter. There are conspicuous gaps in the reports between 1939-45 [although there is a report for 1940] and again between 1957 and 1969. The earlier gap is accounted for by the outbreak of war. The focus of responsibility for the surveyor at that time was preventing the building from being destroyed by bomb damage and incendiaries. The latter period corresponds with the surveyorships of John Seeley, Baron Mottistone and Paul Paget. There is no particular reason for this gap, but their archive [uncatalogued] at the British Architectural Library may hold these reports if they were ever created. In 1971 the then current Surveyor, Bernard Feilden, undertook his Quinquennial report involving a full survey of the building. This revealed that a large project of stone replacement on the exterior was necessary. Throughout that stone replacement project until 1981, reports were produced more frequently, generally on a monthly, then, from 1975, on a quarterly basis, advising on the progress of the repair programme. There are no papers relating to W Whitfield's term as Surveyor but the archive holds copies of Martin Stancliffe's reports.

27 files

English

Open with the exception of reports 1991-2002.

SPCAA/SP/7/2/5, SPCAA/SP/7/2/6, SPCAA/SP/7/2/7, SPCAA/SP/7/2/8, SPCAA/SP/7/2/9, SPCAA/SP/7/2/10, SPCAA/SP/7/2/11, SPCAA/SP/7/2/12, SPCAA/SP/7/2/13, SPCAA/SP/7/2/14, SPCAA/SP/7/2/15, SPCAA/SP/7/2/16, SPCAA/SP/7/2/17, SPCAA/SP/7/2/18, SPCAA/SP/7/2/19, SPCAA/SP/7/2/20, SPCAA/SP/7/2/21, SPCAA/SP/7/2/22, SPCAA/SP/7/2/23, SPCAA/SP/7/2/24, SPCAA/SP/7/2/25, SPCAA/SP/7/2/26, SPCAA/SP/7/2/27