The Symposium

The Symposium allowed us to welcome artists, conservators, authors, national specialists and colleagues from across the National Trust and wider academic world. Delegates and attendees included colleagues from the Universities of Exeter, Plymouth, Bath, Oxford, and further afield, including India and the USA.

The day started with a keynote presentation from Professor Daniel Maudlin of the University of Plymouth, one of our key partners. Daniel’s presentation ‘Making Cottages in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century’ explored the world of the Cottage Orne and how A la Ronde sits in that context.

Throughout the day, papers were presented from a variety of perspectives, from academics and professionals to artists and colleagues from the National Trust.

Here, Jonathan Fisher, General Manager for the South-East Devon Portfolio, welcomes delegates. Whether convening, speaking, volunteering or participating, people came to show their support for A la Ronde and interest in learning more about its relevance in the world.

Many fascinating papers were presented during the day, including:

• The Architectural Patronage of Mrs Montagu, Queen of the Bluestockings
  Dr Rosemary Baird Andrae FSA
• The Ornamental Dairy at Croome: Ceramics, Crafting and Performance
  Tom Coombe, House and Collections Manager at National Trust Killerton
• A Summary of the Conservation Project at A la Ronde
  Daniel Cull ACR, Regional Conservator, National Trust SW
• A la Ronde’s Conservation
  Specialist Conservators from SSH Conservation
• The Feather’d Fair: Women, Femininity and Feathers in the 1790s
  Dr Lucy Powell, Leverhulme Fellow, University of Oxford
• Shells, Curtains and a Doll’s House, Conservation and Collaboration
  Nicola Walker, Senior National Conservator, National Trust
• The Material Biography of Molly Lepell
  Emily Deal, Doctoral Researcher and Digital Curator, National Trust
• If Mathematics is the Language with which God has written the Universe
  Monica-Shanta

By the end of the day all manner of ideas had been explored, including female-designed domestic spaces, material histories, and Georgian embellished decorative interiors using natural materials. Delegates were then able to understand A la Ronde in a more multi-faceted way.

Papers and presentations were all recorded on the day and will soon be made available for people to view online. Check back here over the coming weeks and months to watch them.

A significant part of the ‘A la Ronde – Conserving the Past, Creating the Future’ project, the Symposium aimed to share our work with a wide audience, to hear from connected themes, places and people, and to find synergies and commonalities between us. Our main objective, which we felt was achieved on 11^th July, was to build our connections with wider academic networks and learn from one another.

Recordings and papers will shortly be available on the Compendium. Please check back soon to learn more about the day.