Iford Manor
Grade II* listed and brimming with personality, the Cloister sits at the heart of Harold Peto’s beloved gardens just outside Bath. Peto – landscape architect, obsessive Italophile and Iford’s most famous resident – spent decades filling the place with treasures, including a well shipped in from Aquilegia, Italy. Of course he did.
Then came the summer of 2018. A prolonged heatwave caused the clay beneath half the building to contract; the structure lurched, and cracks tore through the walls. The marble columns were millimetres from giving way. Enter Corbel. Thirty steel beams, rows of slim shore props and bespoke timber formwork later, two entire elevations of a Grade II* listed cloister were suspended in mid-air. For several weeks. It held firm – and now, the Cloister has a whole new lease of life.
The finer details
Iford Manor’s iconic spaces back from the brink.Engineering may have saved the Cloister, but it was craftsmanship that brought it back to life. Stone repairs, lime plaster, decoration and sensitive reinstatement all helped return the Cloister to good health. The result isn’t a building that looks restored; now, Iford Manor just feels like itself again.
Winner of Sotheby's Historic Houses restoration of the year 2020
When a project has had so much life and care poured into it, it only feels right to see it recognised with a prize like this. A nod from Sotheby’s reflects the craftsmanship, collaboration and determination that brought one of Iford Manor’s iconic spaces back from the brink.
