Antony House, Cornwall, Historic Building Survey

Aims The aim of the project was to produce a historic building survey of the house and flanking wings, the buildings in the stable yard, the group of gardeners' buildings to the west of the house and the dovecote to the north of the house, which would provide an understanding of the development of the buildings and to some extent the surrounding landscape. It aimed to assess the significance of various elements so that the results can be used to guide future management of the structures. The key objectives of the work were to: " To create a Level 3 historic building survey of all of the external and internal spaces of the house and outbuildings, providing a base source of information from which any future actions/development can be informed. The individual rooms/spaces were referenced to the 2023 CCR (Building Conservation Condition Report). " To assess the origin, construction and development of the buildings with the particular intention of establishing their significance both as discrete individual structures and with regard their relationships as part of an historic group or landscape. Methods All recording work was undertaken according to the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA) guidance (CIfA 2020a; 2020b), English Heritage Understanding Historic Buildings: A guide to good recording practice (2016) and National Trust, Archaeology and the Historic Environment, Historic Landscape Survey Guidelines (2000). Staff also followed the CIfA Code of Conduct (2019). The Chartered Institute for Archaeologists is the professional body for archaeologists working in the UK. Desk-based assessment During the desk-based research historical databases and archives were consulted in order to obtain information about the history of the site and the structures and features that were likely to survive. Archives which were consulted included all of those specified in the project brief and any others that were found to be relevant. Documentary research focused principally on sources that were likely to provide substantive detail about the house and buildings covered by the historic building survey. The main sources consulted were as follows: " Cornwall HER (via Heritage Gateway). " National Trust HBSMR. " National Trust Vernacular Building Surveys. " National Heritage List for England online database. " Early maps, manuscripts, drawings, etc (see Section 19.1). " The Antony Archive (held at Antony House). " Documentary material held at Kresen Kernow. " Documentary material held at the National Archive. " Publications (see Section 19.2). " Newspaper articles. " Online source and resources (see Section 19.3). Fieldwork The equivalent of a Level 3 Building Survey (as defined by Historic England 2016) was produced. Recording included a room by room description with external and internal architectural features and detail annotated to copies of existing measured external elevations and floor plans supplied by the National Trust. Analysis of the fabric was undertaken on site (recorded as notes) to allow a full description to be written up later. Photographic recording involved colour photography using a digital SLR camera (with a resolution of 8 million pixels or higher). CAU follows Historic England guidance on digital image capture and file storage (2015). The photographic record comprised: " General views. " All external elevations. " All internal room spaces. " Examples of structural and architectural detail. A metric scale was included in all views, except where health and safety considerations made this impractical. Post-fieldwork All site materials were prepared for long-term storage. This included: " Finalisation of measured drawings and phase plans. " Archiving of drawings, photographs, paperwork and digital files. " Filing of digital colour photographs and limited image editing (for example, composition, lighting) where appropriate. " Creation of an archive report.