PRIVETT PERSON

 

Yesterday morning I squeezed in a couple of hours refining Holy Trinity, Privett. This will be the next Blomfield church to gain a site context link. Not sure exactly when though.

Tomorrow I fly to Heathrow for a family Xmas. Time with my children and grandchildren will obviously take precedence over the BIM pencil. Most days I just dive into my work and forget to take a snapshot for a "before and after" analysis. Yesterday I remembered to do a save as before reloading.

There is some tracery to add to the tower window, but before getting to that I found myself elaborating the buttresses and the west doorway. Also a little row of blind recesses above a slight setback of the top section.

 

The main event Wednesday morning was getting my prostate cancer injections before I travelled for Christmas. The switchover to NHS care awaits in April. Hopefully not too stressful.

They were just setting up a Christmas display at the hospital. No qualms about what to call it here in a country with. "Sharia compliant" law. No gradual slide into "happy holidays" I don't have any anxiety about EID & Diwali being called by name and celebrated in the tradional way. Similarly nobody in Dubai seems to feel excluded or offended when you wish them happy Christmas.

Just saying.

 

My flight to UK was half empty. Always a blessing. It was also delayed by the weather in Dubai. Lots of steady rain, low visibility, flooding. Good time to fly out perhaps.

Friday was a crisp, sunny winter's day in Basingstoke. Brings back childhood memories. I went to "carols" in my grandson's school playground. Several classes chose a Xmas Rap. What is the world coming to. Later on the rest of my immediate family flew in from Singapore and Florida. We ordered Nandos and watched grandchildren get reacquainted.

A great start to my Xmas holiday.

 

Starting to explore the context for Holy Trinity, Privett.  Built by Gin magnate, William Nicholson who developed the nearby Basing Park estate. Classic Victorian benefactor story. The church is over-grand for its location and is now classified as redundant. Still a beautiful building in a fine location. Blomfield at the height of his powers really.

Don’t know a lot about Basing Park, Sydney Smirke was involved at some point apparently and the house was rebuilt in the 1960s. The Martineau family held the estate at some point, Hugeunots, also involved in brewing among other interests, and prominent in Birmingham. So lots of hints at a complex history but I haven’t yet unraveled the story.  Village, Manor House and church plus the rise of the merchant/manufacturer class.

 Wonderful stuff.