Mapping Dorset’s Victorian and Edwardian Buildings by Michael Hill

Dorset is not the first county that one would turn to in the general history of Victorian and Edwardian Architecture. This talk reveals the surprising delights of the period, a few somewhat familiar, others less so.

Through writing two books on Dorset country houses, and revising the 1972 volume in the Buildings of England series (the new edition published in 2018), Michael Hill has visited and assessed all of the key buildings of the Victorian and Edwardian period in the county. Major architects, such as J.L. Pearson, R. Norman Shaw, and A.W.N. Pugin are represented together with more locally-based practitioners. We will meet George Rackstrow Crickmay (and his son), John Hicks, and that occasional architect, Thomas Hardy. And that much-derided architect, Thomas Henry Wyatt, together with his almost equally under-appreciated, sometime partner, David Brandon, are also reassessed.

Michael Hill, who trained as an architect, was one of the fieldworkers in the national resurvey of Listed Buildings in the 1980s. He then became a conservation officer, firstly at Bath City Council, and for 10 years at Cotswold District Council, eventually leading the 6-strong team. He was one of the founder trustees of the Woodchester Mansion Trust, saving that impressive unfinished building from decay and potential loss, and co-wrote Cotswold Stone Homes (1994), and The Country Houses of Gloucestershire, vol. 3 (2001). His solo books are East Dorset Country Houses (2013), and West Dorset Country Houses (2014); these were followed by the Pevsner revision for that county (2018). He is currently working on another two-volume publication, this time dealing with Somerset country houses, the first part of which is due for publication in autumn 2027.

All attendees will be sent a recording of the talk.

This event helps raise funds for The Victorian Society - the only charity dedicated to fighting for our Victorian and Edwardian heritage. Join us today and safeguard our unique cultural heritage for future generations! For further information, click here.

The Victorian Society is an IHBC recognised CPD provider​.

Image: Bryanston House (1889-1894) by Richard Norman Shaw