Windows that resisted king’s escape fall foul of the weather
A WINDOW Charles I tried to break through to escape imprisonment is under threat from the UK’S worsening weather, English Heritage has warned.
The Stuart king used acid on window bars in an attempt to escape Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight in 1648, but the area he failed to destroy during his ill-fated scheme is finally succumbing to the British rain.
English Heritage has warned that it is one of 13,000 windows under its care suffering increased damage as a result of extreme weather conditions caused by climate change.
A lack of carpentry skills needed to repair old frames also poses a threat to windows which have played a part in English history, the heritage charity has said. The window in Charles Darwin’s study at Down House is under threat, along with those installed in Queen Victoria’s bedroom at Osborne House.
Nicola Duncan-finn, English Heritage’s senior estates manager, said: “Changes in weather patterns, arising from climate change scenarios, will definitely affect our historic windows.
“In particular, higher temperatures, longer periods of extreme heat, combined with more rainfall in winter and heavier rain in winter and summer intensify environmental pressures.”
Ms Duncan-finn has warned that carpentry skills need to be kept alive to service deteriorating, old windows, and the rarity of traditional materials has also made repair work difficult.
She has called on the public to support the preservation of the fragile architectural features. English Heritage has launched a campaign to raise funds as it faces a £1 million repair bill for windows across its properties.
MAs Henry Crun often observed in The Goon Show, “You can’t get the wood, you know.” His words turn out to be truer than suspected. English Heritage, no longer a quango but a charity, has counted the historic windows it looks after and has come up with 13,000. Some have warped or decayed because wood with which they were mended was from quick-growing modern trees: rings in the timber are further apart and the woodiness is not top notch. The charity now seeks funds to spruce up its spruce and refurb its fir. But one historic window comes prevandalised. Charles I, in a bid to escape from Carisbrooke Castle, had nitric acid (then known as aqua fortis) smuggled in to dissolve the bars. If English Heritage is to keep its windows sound, it must in future repel kings with chemistry sets.