Deep dive index
The deep dive emails explore a single building. Who built it, and why? How did people respond to it? What does the future hold for it? My most recent deep...
Field Notes: Saltash visit + news (10 July 2025)
Come for a wander around Saltash, the gateway to Cornwall. Plus a round up of local news of C20 buildings.
Field Notes: Save the Royal, police, Seal's home for sale (2 July 2025)
An urgent campaign to save a survivor of Plymouth's blitz, a round-up of police station news and word that Mervyn Seal's self-built home is for sale. Or is it?
Field Notes: Elsewheres, Lys Kernow + Plymouth's 1930s survivors (27 June 2025)
An exhibition about an interwar Exeter estate, and two interwar survivors in Plymouth now at risk. Plus which deep dives you can read for free.
The Amulet, Shepton Mallet (1975)
In 1971, Shepton Mallet's town centre was dying. One man, with a vision and a fawn, stepped in to rebuild it. And in the process created one of the most unique 1970s buildings in the country. I take a deep dive into the Babysham brutalist-inspired Amulet.
Field Notes: Plymouth rising (12 June 2025)
The centre of Plymouth seems to be re-emerging, with multiple announcements changing the future of it. Plus a note about Midland House (Plymouth) and a round up of local news.
Field Notes: Buddle Lane estate, Exeter (4 Jun 2025)
Sometimes, everyday twentieth century housing needs to be rebuilt. But delays modernising some 1920s Homes for Heroes has real life consequences. I look at the Buddle Lane estate in Exeter which really shouldn't have any Laing Easiform builds left.
Field Notes: 28 May 2025
Wartime west country modernism, Seaside Heritage Network updates and a round-up of local news.
Field Notes: Lys Kernow, Redruth + news (21 May 2025)
Exploring examples of C20 modernism in Redruth, Cornwall. Plus an unexpected Hepworth and a roundup of local news.
Lys Kernow (New County Hall), Truro (1966)
A very Cornish brutalism sits just outside Truro. I take a look at the ambitious work of a County Architect who had a vision of the future.
Field Notes: Truro + news 30 April 2025
Come for a walk around Truro, Cornwall, with me to see some of the modern architecture there. Brutalist church buildings. Deco shops. Midcentury houses. Plus Tregannick house is for sale.
Field Notes: 25 April 2025
As one 1930s pool is demolished, I ask if it's really as Deco as people remember. I also round up news of other interwar pools and lidos in the west country as outdoor swimming season hots up.
Field Notes: 16 April + BONUS Burgh Island!
Exmouth scouting trip, bonus Burgh Island content, the Riviera Hotel in Weymouth and other west county C20 news and events.
Burgh's on film
All the drama films and TV filmed at Burgh Island, from 1919 to 2025.
Burgh Island Hotel, Bigbury-on-Sea (1929)
The story of Burgh Island Hotel is the story of Art Deco itself. Then I started to dig, and discovered something that didn't fit.
Field Notes: 2 April 2025
Visiting Mervyn Seal's Exeter housing estate, unlocking my deep dive on Totnes' Civic Hall, Plymouth (again), and a round up of local C20-related news.
Field Notes: 26 March 2025
Two theatres, built just 22 miles and 1 year apart, face very different futures. Plus leisure centres and the suggestion we can defeat Putin with <checks notes> rebuilding Plymouth city centre?
Field Notes: 19 March 2025
What's to become of those postwar behemoths of the high streets, the department store? Also woman at C&A, and a round up of news items.
Field Notes: 12 March 2025
Finding unexpected standing stones in a multi-storey carpark, and other rather utilitarian structures.
Civic Hall, Totnes (1960)
Exploring the history of G A Jellicoe's Civic Hall for Totnes. Includes a fire, post-punks and pilotis
Field Notes: 26 February 2025
Finding a 1930s gem falling into decay, plus a round up of events and news related to west country modernism.
Field Notes: 14 February 2025
Totnes' implausible brute, the Brutalist and a brutal wave that cut short a research session.
Rennes House, Exeter (1968)
“We used to call it the Mary Mungo and Midge flats.” Taking a look at Rennes House, Exeter’s only council high rise tower block. It’s coming down in 2025, nearly sixty years after it went up.
Field notes: 24 January 2025
I do like Deco beside the seaside. Plus Bath's Deco fire station, Cornwall's brutal county hall budget and a Hepworth that someone chucked in a drawer for half a century.
Field notes: 10 January 2025
Just how many tower blocks are there in the West Country anyway? Research tangents are already distracting me as I head through the snow to the local archives.
West Country Modernism: an introduction
Imagine a small girl running up the newly laid concrete path to a semi-detached house. One of her older sisters is close behind her, and further back her...