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Caroline Shenton

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Wyatt’s the Difference?

30 April 2013 By Caroline Shenton

Lost buildings are always fascinating, and the old Palace of Westminster is no exception.  When I come across a building which still stands relating to it, I find it hard to resist picturing it in my mind’s eye.  There are parts of the precincts of Windsor Castle which must be very similar to the old Houses of Parliament before the fire of 1834, as both were altered by James Wyatt, during his time as Surveyor General of the King’s Works from 1796 up to his death in 1813.

But it is his great house at Ashridge in Hertfordshire, where I’m currently on a course, which has the strongest scent of old Westminster, particularly Old Palace Yard. Compare and contrast the following:

ashridge 1

Above: Ashridge in 2013

opy

Above: The Houses of Parliament from Old Palace Yard, in 1834
with Wyatt’s late 18th century frontage.

ashridge 2

Above: Ashridge, again, in 2013.

I find this quite spooky and evocative.  Do you?

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Filed Under: The 1834 Fire

About Caroline Shenton

Dr Caroline Shenton is an archivist and historian. She was formerly Director of the Parliamentary Archives in London, and before that was a senior archivist at the National Archives. Her book The Day Parliament Burned Down won the Political Book of the Year Award in 2013 and Mary Beard called it 'microhistory at its absolute best' while Dan Jones considered it 'glorious'. Its acclaimed sequel, Mr Barryís War, about the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster, was a Book of the Year in 2016 for The Daily Telegraph and BBC History Magazine and was described by Lucy Worsley as 'a real jewel, finely wrought and beautiful'. During 2017 Caroline was Political Writer in Residence at Gladstone's Library.

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About Caroline

Dr Caroline Shenton is an archivist and historian. Her book The Day Parliament Burned Down won the Political Book of the Year Award in 2013. Read More…

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