Date/Time
Date(s) - 01/06/2025
All Day
“Small County Big Puddle – Discovering the History and Development of Rutland Water”
The programme for the day is:
10.00am – 10.30am Registration and Tea/Coffee
10.30am – 10.45am Welcome and Introduction
Chair: Stephen Barker, Chairman of Leicestershire & Rutland Gardens Trust
10.45am – 11.45am Rutland Water – The Context
The case for, and opposition to, reservoir development in Rutland needs to be seen in the context of UK regional planning policies and programmes which, in the mid-1960s, were dominated by expectations of rapid economic and population growth. The process of decision making highlighted basic conflicts between urban expansion and rural resources in a way which offered limited scope for compromise. Debate at the local level and in Parliament raised issues which are still unresolved.
Speaker: Elain Harwoood, Architectural Historian with Historic England and specialist in post-Second World War English architecture
11.45am – 12.45pm Dame Sylvia Crowe – Rutland Water Landscape Architect
Sylvia Crowe’s design for Rutland Water was a masterpiece: a project to which she was personally attached. The landscape was planned around this beautiful lake to benefit engineering, wildlife, visitors, and nearby residents in equal measure. It created a place of serenity and harmony using the three great landscape elements of landform, trees and water.
Speaker: Dr Luca Csepely-Knorr, Senior Lecturer at Manchester School of Architecture on 20th Century landscape architecture and urban design history and theory
12.45pm – 2.15pm Break for Lunch and leg stretch time
A buffet lunch will be served at 13.15pm and the bar will be open during this time
2.15pm – 3.15pm Rutland Water Wildlife
Rutland Water Nature Reserve has been regularly voted as the UK’s best nature reserve. This vast wetland is one of the best places to watch birds in the UK. Visitors can search for rare spring migrants, admire fishing ospreys in the summer, enjoy the autumn wader passage and marvel at huge flocks of winter wildfowl. With events year round, walking trails and two visitor centres, Rutland Water is an immersive wildlife experience for the whole family.
Speaker: Tim Appleton, MBE, Birdfair Founder and Manager
3.15pm 3.30pm Summing up
Chair: Stephen Barker
3.45pm- 4.45pm Embark on The Rutland Belle for an hour-long cruise during which Tea and Scones will be served and our speakers will point out relevant sites
5.00pm Departure
Elain Harwoood has been involved with English Heritage since 1984, learning most from an inspiring day release course in Building Conservation at the Architectural Association. In 1987 she joined what had been the Greater London Council Historic Buildings Division, by then absorbed into English Heritage, just as research was needed on post-war buildings, and between 1996 and 2004 was responsible for most of the organisation’s recommendations for listing buildings from the period after 1945, as well as for research programmes on earlier cinemas and flats. She completed a PhD on the building of London’s South Bank at Bristol University in 2010. Her substantial review of post war British Architecture Space, Hope and Brutalism won the 2016 Alice Davis Hitchcock prize of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain
Dr Luca Csepely-Knorr is coordinating the BA Architecture Humanities units for Manchester School of Architecture. In addition to studio teaching, she lectures on 20th-century landscape architecture and urban design history and theory. Her cross-disciplinary interest in the theory and history of urban open space design derives from her education in a variety of subjects. She has an MSc in Landscape Architecture (Corvinus University, Budapest), an MA in Art History (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest) and an MEd in Teaching Art History (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest). She is particularly interested in the impact Western thinking had on Eastern European landscape and urban design theory at the turn of the 20th century.
Tim Appleton MBE is the founder of the British Bird watching Fair held annually at Rutland. Tim worked as the Reserve Manager of Rutland Water Nature Reserve for over 40 years and was responsible for the successful Osprey reintroduction project. Now retired from this post, Tim remains responsible for running and developing Birdfair, an annual Bird Watching Fair held on the reserve every August, an event that he co-founded some thirty years ago. Over the years, Tim has helped raised significant amounts of money for conservation projects around the world.