Ilam Cross“one of the finest Gothic Revival monuments in the country”

Acknowledgements

This guidebook was written by Rob Bowden and Rosie Wilson with material provided by Phil Mottram, the Ilam Cross Trust, and Ian Ward & Sons.

Design & production: Lifeworlds Learning Community Interest

Company Ltd. www.lifeworldslearning.co.uk

Photo creditsWe are grateful to the following (where known) for use of their photographs in this guidebook:

Rob Bowden (Listening Eye Images): front cover (all), 4 (bottom), 5, 6, 11 (top), 12 (top), 12 (right lower middle), 12 (bottom middle right), 13 (top), 13 (bottom); Richard Temperton: 9 (bottom); I. Ward & Sons Ltd: 3, 7 (bottom), 8, 11 (bottom - all), 12 (right upper middle) 12 (bottom right), 12 bottom left), 12 (bottom middle left), 13 (left), rear cover; Esther Dugdale: 14 (right), 14 (bottom); Rosie Wilson: 15 (both); Sue Prince: 10, 15 (top); Dean Boardman: 14 (left).

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8

Origins of the Cross

Damage to the Cross

12 The restoration process

ContentsIntroduction and overview

6 Features of the Cross

10 A community project

14 A new lease of life

16 Further information

We are pleased to share the history of Ilam Cross with you. The Cross has been in the centre of our Staffordshire Peak District village for as long as we can remember and now, with the help of Philip Mottram it’s been brought back to its original glory.

Our village has followed the progress of the restoration with rapt attention and watched the skills of the stone masons and sculptor with admiration.

We feel proud of our monument and hope that you will enjoy the story of the love that initiated it and the dedication that restored it.

Sue Prince OBE DLTrustee, Ilam Cross Trust

5 February 2012

The restoration of Ilam Cross was supported by grants and donations from the following organisations:

- LEADER- Pilgrim Trust- Peak District National Park Authority- Staffordshire Moorlands- Francis Coales Charitable Foundation- Leche Trust

And by kind donations from other individuals and organisations.

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Origins of the Cross

Ilam Cross was commissioned by Jesse Watts-Russell as a memorial to his wife Mary, and is officially known as the Mary Watts-Russell Memorial Cross. Jesse and Mary lived in Ilam Hall and had a lasting impact on the look and character of Ilam village.

The Watts-Russell familyJesse’s father, Jesse Russell Senior was a wealthy businessman, who had made his fortune in London as a soap maker and then later as a successful investor in the City exchanges. As ‘one of the richest men in England’ he sent his eldest son Jesse Junior to be educated at Eton and then to Oxford, a city that came to have an important link to the Ilam Cross.

The connection between the Russells and Ilam began in 1809 when Jesse Russell Senior bought the Ilam Estate for his son as a family home upon his engagement to Mary Watts.

Mary was the sole heiress of David Pike Watts, a brewer and vintner of London, who was also a fabulously rich man. In 1811, Jesse and Mary were married and when David Pike Watts died in 1816, Jesse took the additional name of Watts to ensure the survival of the Watts name through their eight children.

Jesse and Mary made Ilam their principal country home and radically changed the appearance of the village. The old Ilam Hall of the Port family was replaced by a new home in the ‘Baronial Splendour’ style, designed by John Shaw and finished in 1827. The Watts-Russells also commissioned the construction of an imposing new vicarage and the Swiss Alpine-style houses (left) that form the picturesque centre of the village and flank the Ilam Cross.

The death of MaryMary passed away in 1840 at the age of 48, plunging Jesse and her family into a period of deep grief. Jesse decided to build a memorial to his beloved wife modelled on the 13th century Eleanor Crosses. These had been commissioned by King Edward I to mark the resting places of his wife Eleanor’s body as it travelled from Harby in Nottinghamshire for burial in Westminster Abbey in London in 1290. One of the original Eleanor Crosses at Geddington, not far from Jesse’s other estate near Oundle, had a spring incorporated in its base, a feature that Jesse chose to include in the Ilam Cross.

Designing the CrossThe architect of Ilam Cross was John Macduff Derick (1805-1859), an Oxford architect who lost out to George Gilbert Scott (1811--1878) in a commission for the Martyrs Memorial in Oxford. It was through this competition that Derick came to the attention of Jesse Watts-Russell who had shown great interest in the Martyrs Memorial and donated considerable funds.

Watts-Russell went on to commission Derick for Ilam Cross and thus ensure that the influence of the Oxford project, and of Scott, was evident in its design. Derick’s finished design for Ilam Cross differed significantly from his Oxford design (right), most probably showing sensitivity to the location and the incorporation of Jesse’s personal taste.

The sculptorThe six angels on Ilam Cross were originally carved by Richard Westmacott, son of notable sculptor Sir Richard Westmacott, from the same Oxford circle as the architects Derick and Scott, and Sir Francis Chantrey who sculpted the memorial to David Pike Watts in Holy Cross Church. A highly skilled team, Derick and Westmacott completed Ilam Cross in just thirteen months!

In loving memoryMary commissioned a memorial to her father by the great English sculptor Francis Chantrey. It rests in Holy Cross Church, adjacent to Ilam Hall.

Jesse and Mary Watts-Russell

The best surviving example of Westmacott’s six original angels.

The Martyrs Memorial in Oxford.

The Ilam ImpOne of the more unusual features is the so-called Ilam Imp, that on closer inspection may actually be a dragon. Peering out from beneath

one of the angels the Ilam Imp has become the mascot of the Ilam Cross Trust and a much loved character in the story of the Cross.

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Features of the Cross

Ilam Cross, Ilam Hall, and the Holy Cross Church all share Gothic Revival styling - an architectural movement in which admirers of the Gothic era revived medieval design and features including elaborate carvings, castle-like features and religious iconography.

A masterpiece of its time‘An exceedingly beautiful stone cross has just been erected in the centre of the little village of Ilam, in Staffordshire, by J. W. Russell, Esq., of Ilam Hall, in memory of his late wife. In general design, this exquisite and appropriate structure may, perhaps, be said to bear some resemblance to the established Eleanor Cross, near Waltham Abbey. It is forty feet in height, terminating in a very light and graceful ornamental cross: the arrangement and execution of the tabernacle-work on the body of the monument are as tasteful and delicate as can well be conceived by those who have examined ancient specimens of this kind of carving.’

This is how the newly completed Ilam Cross was reported in the Sheffield Mercury of September 1841. The report makes clear reference to the detailed design and extraordinary craftsmenship that have earned Ilam Cross its status as “one of the finest Gothic Revival monuments in the country”. This accolade is all the more remarkable given the speed with which the monument was designed, carved and erected. Taking just thirteen months, it is a tribute not only to the skill of the craftsmen, but to the decisiveness of Jesse Watts-Russell’s vision for the cross.

A source of waterA hidden feature of Ilam Cross’s construction was the procurement of water for the basins that formed an integral part of the design. Ilam has many springs but most are below the level of the houses and, in the days of outdoor privies, were at risk of contamination. So Jesse decided to tap a pure natural spring at the foot of Bunster Hill, behind the village. A short tunnel was made, using explosives for which the drilling holes can still be seen. Water was piped across Hainley field to the spur of Bunster just outside the village, where a cistern was installed to provide the header tank. From there the pipe led down to the Cross. It was obviously an important resource for the villagers and there is a later photograph of a farm-hand using a bucket to fill a horse-drawn water cart from one of the basins.

Extravagant carvingsElaborate carving was a feature of the Gothic Revival and was particularly extravagant in the case of Ilam Cross. The angels, pinnacles, buttresses and other details of the Cross were all richly carved as was the tendency of the period and it is this that accounted for the Cross’s dramatic features and striking appearance. The six angels carved by Richard Westmacott in Caen stone are the most obvious features of the Cross, but closer examination reveals a wealth of detailed carving relating to the era and style, and some more personal signature features of the sculptor.

This Cross and Fountain, erected by her husband,

perpetuate the memory of One who lives in the hearts of

so many in this village and neighbourhood.MARY WATTS-RUSSELL

MDCCCXL.

Free for all these crystal waters flow, Her gentle eyes could weep for others’ woe;

Dried is that fount; but long may this endure, To be a Well of Comfort to the Poor.

A boy collecting water from one of the basins at the foot of the Ilam Cross.

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Damage to the Cross

Though celebrated as a fine example of the Gothic Revival, some of the choices made in the construction of Ilam Cross proved detrimental to its long term health. Over the years the condition of the Cross deteriorated dramatically until its very future was under threat.

The state of the stoneAmong the many causes of deterioration to the Cross was the choice of the stone used in its construction. The first four courses of stone and the basins for the spring water were made of a local Triassic material, most probably from a nearby quarry at Stanton. The same stone was used for other local landmarks including Ilam Hall, the Vicarage, and St Bertram’s Bridge, and has stood the test of time well. Unfortunately the same can not be said for

the main structure of the Cross that was made using a variety of fine Cotswold stone, perhaps extracted from near the famous Doulting quarry in Somerset. A form of oolitic limestone, this has proven to be far more vulnerable to the effects of weathering, a fate shared by the French Caen stone (also an oolitic limestone) used to carve the six angels.

The natural vulnerablity to weathering in an exposed upland environment was compounded by air pollutants from the surrounding industrial towns and cities. These combined with moisture in the atmosphere to form an acidic solution that was highly corrosive to the soft limestone features of the Cross.

Loss of detailThough weathering and pollution did not damage the structure of the Cross, they caused significant damage to the decoration and finery of the monument, such that much detail was completely lost.

The angels suffered serious decay with a number losing their limbs and one completely losing its head (left). Their demise was accelerated by their exposed siting and their over-carved features that provided increased opportunity for water ingress and frost damage.

Stop the decay!Ilam Cross continued to decay in the decades following the Great Wind, but its demise did not go unnoticed. Its symbolic connection to the Martyrs’ Memorial; the artistic influence of Scott, Chantrey and the Westmacotts; and its stylistic reference to the Eleanor Crosses made Ilam Cross a monument of national significance as well as an important and sentimental feature of local history.

Growing recognition of this, together with the threat of further damage would eventually combine to initiate a response and campaign to stop the decay.

The Great WindBy far the most signficant damage to Ilam Cross was caused by a freak storm on 14th February 1962. The entire top section , already weakened by the gradual loss of six elegant flying buttresses, was blown to the ground by what came to be known locally as the Great Wind.

In response, the now late Mr Wendell Holmes tried to raise funds to restore the top section, but in the financial climate of the times, he was only able to afford a simplified cross, made of Stanton stone in the ‘municipal cemetery’ style. The new top (below) was only ever intended as a temporary measure. Mr Holmes knew that the replacement disfigured the original design and detracted from Scott and Derick’s close attention to authentic Gothic forms.

The Cross after the Great Wind and before its 1960’s replacement top was added.

The 1960s replacement top, was not in keeping with the original designs.

The headless angel showed the severe weathering to the soft Caen limestone.

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A community project

The fight to save Ilam Cross began in 1998 when deep concerns were raised about its continued deterioration. It was interest from historian Phil Mottram that acted as a catalyst to bring members of the community together to save the Cross.

Recognising the needThe first step in the campaign was to get the Cross and its deterioration recognised. The Peak District National Park Authority (PDNPA) included the Cross on the Peak District’s Buildings at Risk Register by 2001 and it was listed on the English Heritage Buildings at Risk Register. However none of the parties interested in Ilam Cross including PDNPA, Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, Ilam Parish Council, English Heritage (EH) and the National Trust, were in a position to adopt the cross, due to its poor condition and the cost of future maintenance.

Finding the ownerA major obstacle to saving the Cross was the uncertainty of its ownership. The Rt Hon Robert Hanbury MP bought the Watts-Russell estate in 1875, but on his death in 1903, a poorly drafted will led to a long court case. The estate was put into a trust and

gradually sold off until in 1952 the Hanbury files were wound up and later destroyed, making it impossible to prove ownership of the Cross. Establishing ownership was essential to raising funds for the Cross. The Ilam Cross Trust was formed in 2003 to raise funds but ownership remained the stumbling block. This was overcome by the PDNPA serving a repairs notice in 2003 and then, following non-compliance, a Compulsory Purchase Order (left)

under section 47 of the Planning Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas Act 1990. The PDNPA did this on the understanding that the Ilam Cross Trust would purchase the Cross from them, which they did in 2009.

Coming togetherNow in possession of the Cross, the Ilam Cross Trust were able to pull together support for the repair and restoration. Because of years of neglect, significant funds were required. After much effort and negotiation, the Ilam Cross Trust were successful in securing grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund, English Heritage, Peak District National Park Authority, Staffordshire Moorlands, The Pilgrim Trust, the Leche Trust, the Francis Coales Foundation and LEADER as well as a range of smaller donations from charities, foundations and individuals.

Local businesses and organisations, the village school, and many individuals all got behind the project. The Cross became a focal point for various community events to raise funds for the repairs and ongoing maintenance. Even the Ilam Imp got involved by starting its own twitter!

From a dream to realityWith funding in place, the Trust could finally embark on turning the decade-long dream of restoring the Cross into a reality. They sourced and worked closely with Brown Matthews architects to oversee the specifications, permissions and consents needed for the work. They also procured a team of specialist stonemasons, I.Ward & Sons to handle the repairs and restoration work. In late 2010, the Cross was shrouded in scaffold and the restoration team could begin to assess the damage, plan their repairs, and discover forgotten details.Ilam’s champion

Phil Mottram, an Ilam historian for over thirty years, has been tireless in raising local and national awareness of Ilam Cross. He led the struggle to secure the repair and restoration of the Cross and gained the support of local villagers, businesses and organisations. Phil also enlisted help from national experts on heritage monuments including Dr Julian Litten, Marjorie Trusted of the V&A Sculpture Department and Jo Darke, Founder of the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association.

“It took someone from outside to help us recognise and value this astonishing thing.”

The Friends of Ilam Cross and project stonemasons raised awareness of the restoration at the Manifold (above) and Dovedale Shows during 2011.

The restoration required careful planning, regular site visits and hours of skilled craftsmenship. Each decision was carefully discussed with close attention to the original and to conditions set down by English Heritage.

Cleaning and repairThe new parts of the Cross may draw the eye, but the original details have also been the focus of extensive cleaning and repair. Each part had to be carefully assessed to ascertain how much cleaning it needed and avoid further damage. Special mortar mixes were used to repair damaged sections and secure replacement parts.

Carving anewReplacement parts were carved in the stonemasons Somerset workshop using mouldings, drawings and historic photographs to guide the reproduction work. The stone chosen was a coarser more resilient form of Cotswold stone and elements of the original design were reinterpreted to make the new parts hardier to future weathering.

The two replacement angels were the exception to this and were carved from the same Caen stone as the originals. Each took specialist figure carver Derick Carr around six months to complete with every detail being measured and checked against the originals.

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The restoration process

An elegant jigsawAs the replacement components were finished they were carefully transported to Ilam from the studio in Somerset. Each piece was carefully positioned and secured with final adjustments being made on site.

The two replacement angels required particular care when being added to the Cross. Each weighing around 45 kg, they were carefully cradled in a protective casement before being hoisted inch by inch up the scaffold (above). Safely aloft, their bases were then cut to fit their mount, before the nerve-wracking moment of introducing them into their alcoves (right).

What’s on top?One of the most challenging parts of the restoration was reaching agreement on the top section of the Cross. The Ilam Cross Trust was determined that the upper section should be reinstated in the style of the original, but this was not initially supported by English Heritage.

Thanks to wise counsel from the West Midlands Division of English Heritage an agreement was made for the 1960s top stage to be removed. This cleared the way for a new top section to be added. With the original long gone, the design for the new top had to be painstakingly interpreted from historical photographs and written accounts of the original. Adaptations were also accepted that would make the new top more resilient to weather than the original.

These images show different elements of the cleaning, repair and replacement work behind the restoration of Ilam Cross.

The restoration work was completed in October 2011 and marked by local ceremonies involving villagers, the school and many of those involved in the restoration. The event marked the end of one chapter, but was also the start of another.

Cross jumping In a repeat of times past, a cross-jumping ceremony was organised at Ilam’s village school before the new summit cross was placed atop the monument. All 72 children jumped over the new gold-plated cross (left) and then there was a procession through the village to hand it over to the stonemasons to fix in place (right).

Topping-out Before the scaffold came down, villagers were invited to climb up and see the restoration work up-close. This allowed people to appreciate the time and skill that had been invested in bringing new life to their local landmark. Members of the Ilam Cross Trust and the restoration team completed the topping-out proceedings with a champagne toast to the successful restoration and to the future of the Cross.

Next steps With restoration complete, the Ilam Cross Trust are already turning their attention to the next chapter in the

story of the Cross. They will need to raise an ongoing £2000 a year to maintain and insure the Cross and ensure its survival for the next 170 years! The Friends of Ilam Cross has been formed as a way for those who value the historical and artistic significance of the Cross to contribute to this work. The Friends are also central to establishing greater awareness of the Cross within the local area.

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A new lease of life Remembering the old The 1960’s temporary replacement, funded by Mr Holmes, and one of the original damaged stone angels are being preserved in the village.

They will provide a reminder of the Cross’s history and are important artefacts in their own right.

A learning opportunity The restoration of the Cross provided a great learning opportunity for the children at Ilam CE (VA) Primary School. The scaffold and hoarding was visible from the playground for a whole year, and children became quite used to the ‘giant sock’ as they called it. For one class in particular the Cross provided a stimulus to learning about the importance of history to our everyday lives. They researched Ilam’s history, recent and distant, and worked together to produce a guide for families and visiting schools. They also wrote and filmed short comedy sketches on their favourite local history, including the history of the Cross.

Laura Mottram, Sue Prince and Phil Mottram celebrate the topping-out.

“It is important to preserve the Cross. Our society is losing its heritage and things that are beautifully made have no value any more.”

A new generationThroughout the restoration process, the Trust have been keen to involve younger members of the community and create a sense of local pride and ownership of Ilam Cross. The Trust has itself welcomed two younger members, helping to build an important link between the past and the future. The involvement of the school children and the presence of the Friends of Ilam Cross at local community events has also helped to secure interest from young and old alike.

Above: Two children play Jesse and Mary Watts-Russell in a drama about the history of Ilam Cross.

Left: A poster by Ilam School children, inspired by the restoration of the Cross.

“Everyone went up to the playground and lined up to jump over the new cross while we rang the big school bell. Later on we watched Jacob the stonemason take it up the scaffolding to the top”

Sarah, aged 10

A section of the Bonad wallhanging, created as a community artwork, showing Ilam Cross as part of the village history.

Further information

Ilam CrossFor information about Ilam Cross visit the Ilam Cross page on the village website at www.ilam.org.uk

To become a Friend of Ilam Cross visit Ilam village website at www.ilam.org.uk

To follow the Ilam Imp on Twitter annd catch up on life in the village, visit www.twitter.com/ilam_imp

Educational materials for teachers, families and children are available at the National Trust Visitor Centre and www.ilam.org.uk

Visit Holy Cross Church, Ilam to see the David Pike-Watts Memorial by Sir Francis Chantrey that Jesse and Mary Watts-Russel had built to commemorate Mary’s father.

Local areaFor information on the history of Ilam visit the village website at www.ilam.org.uk or go to the Ilam Hall Visitor Centre for walks, leaflets and guides on Ilam and the surrounding area. Ilam Park Estate, National Trust

For pupil-written guide to Ilam available from school during term-time fromIlam CE (VA) Primary School - http://www.ilam.staffs.sch.uk/

Residential stays for groups.Dovedale House

Accommodation, local activities and information.Ilam Hall YHA