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English Leadwork
Its Art and History
Lawrence Weaver
Hardback £62.00
$124.00
Publication date 2002
288 pages
including over 400 illustrations
ISBN 978 1 873394 60 1 |
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Lawrence Weaver’s design reference work appeared in 1909,
and is now available from Donhead in this re-printed facsimile edition. It describes and
documents many examples of decorative leadwork, which being durable and attractive lends
itself in its simplicity to a multitude of forms. Whilst examining in detail the history
and workmanship to be found on fonts, statues, urns and vases, the book also includes more
modest structures such as pipes, pipeheads and rain-water cisterns. The author also
explores the use of lead in roofing, particularly for spires, steeples and domes, and
points out that it is one of the most efficient of roofing materials, giving many
excellent examples of its use on Sir Christopher Wren’s churches in London.
With over 400 illustrations, comprising black and
white photographs and drawings of all the different types of lead ornaments and
structures, this volume will be of value to craftsmen engaged in leadwork, conservation
professionals and all architects and architectural historians with an interest in this
field.
Introduction to the 2002 edition
Click here to read the new introduction by Andrew Naylor |
| Contents: |
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INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER
v
FONTS: Destroyed and Incorrectly
Described Examples – Geographical Distribution – Classification by Design –
Detailed Description of the Thirty Existing Ancient Fonts – Various Font-like Vessels
v RAIN-WATER PIPEHEADS:
Early Uses of
Down-pipes – Hampton Court – Windsor Castle – Haddon Hall – Knole Park
– Dome Alley, Winchester – Hatfield – Guildford – St John’s,
Oxford – The Character of the Early Work – The Overlapping of Styles –
Bolton Hall – Stonyhurst and Bideford – Local Schools of Leadwork –
Shrewsbury, Nottingham, and Aberdeen
v CISTERNS: Possibilities of Decorative
Treatment – The Great Tank at St Fagan’s – Methods of Making – West
Country and London Cisterns Compared – Detailed Descriptions of Examples Illustrated
v MEDIÆVAL LEADED SPIRES: The Character
of Spires – Classification – "Collar" and "Broach" –
Destroyed Cathedral Spires – Existing Leaded Spires – Scots Leadworkers –
St Nicholas, Aberdeen – Old St Paul’s – Chesterfield
v LEADED STEEPLES OF THE RENAISSANCE:
Wren’s Steeples and the Sky-line of London – A Classification – Class (a),
The Two True Spires – Class (b), The Spire-form Steeples – Some Destroyed
Steeples – Scottish Examples – The Character of Wren’s Work
v LEADED DOMES, LANTERNS, AND WALLS – A LOST
FOUNTAIN: Curves in Roof-lines, A Slow Development – The Use of Lanterns
– Wren’s Treatment of Domes and Lanterns – Class (c), Constructive
Details of their Leadwork – Archer’s Work – The National Gallery –
Nonsuch and Cheapside – The Great Foundation of Windsor
v LEAD PORTRAIT STATUES: Fairfax –
Charles II – William III – Marlborough – Prince Eugène – Queen
Charlotte – Sir John Cass – George I
v LEAD FIGURES GENERALLY: The Cross of
Cheapside – Neptune at Bristol – Karne – Melbourne, Derbyshire –
Giovanni de Bologna – Harrowden Hall – Wrest Park – Wilton – Nun
Monkton – Methods of Casting – Hampton Court – Syon – Castle Hill
– Deceitful Figures – Forgers of "Antique" Leadwork – Studley
Royal – The Water Note in Leadwork – Eighteenth-Century References to Statues
– Hardwick Hall – Glemham Hall – Enfield Old Park – Norfolk Market
Crosses –The London Apprentice
v VASES AND FLOWER-POTS: Shenstone on Urns
– Melbourne – Parham House – Hampton Court –Windsor – Wilton
– Castle Hill
v SEPULCHRAL LEADWORK: Romano-British
Coffins and Ossuaries – Mediæval Coffins and Heart Cases – Absolution Crosses
– Tomb Lettering
v VARIOUS OBJECTS AND DECORATIVE APPLICATIONS OF
LEAD: Roman Pigs and Pipes – Pilgrims’ Signs – Papal Bullæ –
Ornaments on Woodwork – Charms – Tobacco Boxes – Ventilating Quarries
v MODERN LEADWORK: Fonts – Rain-water
Heads – Cisterns – The Larger Architectural Uses – Figures on Buildings and
in Gardens – Fountains – Vases – Clock-faces – Sundials –
Gasfitting – Inscription
v BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PAPERS, BOOKS, ETC., ON LEADWORK
v INDEX. |
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Read the new introduction by Andrew Naylor |
The author: |
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Lawrence Weaver began his
working life at an architectural practice in Bristol as a sales representative selling a line of architectural fixtures and fittings. He moved
on to become the London representative of a firm of ironfounders, Lockerbie and Wilkinson,
who made cast-iron ware for the building trade. One of his first tasks was to revise and
redesign their catalogue. Part of their trade was, naturally, rainwater goods; hopper
heads, downpipes, bends and so on, plain and decorated. This appears to have stimulated
his fascination
for leadwork, and his sales rounds in early twentieth-century London must have given him a wonderful
opportunity to see many at first hand. His interest expanded to encompass all forms of
historical leadwork and he began to diligently track down and photograph examples, many of
which were used to illustrate English Leadwork: Its Art and History. |
| From the reviews: |
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The book … has so
much to offer the historian, conservator, leadworking student and anyone
with an interest and passion in one of the most neglected areas of
historic building conservation. SPAB News |
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