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One of the most famous Catholic schools in Britain, Ampleforth College in Yorkshire this year celebrates the centenary of its chapel, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. Scott has emerged in recent years as a colossus of 20th-century architecture, bestriding it alike with his religious buildings – notably the Anglican cathedral in Liverpool – and his secular designs, such as Battersea Power Station and the familiar red telephone kiosk.
John describes the remarkable history of Ampleforth Abbey, established as a Benedictine community in 1802, and the foundation of the college, the next year. Scott’s chapel was preceded by a High Victorian one designed by Joseph Hansom, inventor of the Hansom cab. This soon proved inadequate but it was the First World War provided the main spur to enlargement – the new chapel would be a monument to the Fallen. Scott’s design features a 122ft tower, and combines a 1922 Romanesque-style retrochoir with a later, simpler 1961 nave and transepts. A triumph of 20th century architecture, it provides exceptional insights into the social and spiritual values of its time. The altar (John claims) is unique!

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Few houses better convey the opulence of Edwardian country house life than Manderston in the Scottish Borders. Built in the first years of the 20th century, it is an exquisite work of the scholarly architect John Kinross – which has always been kept up to the high standards set by Kinross’s client, the racehorse owner Sir James Miller. Clive reveals a particular affection for Kinross because he knew his son, also called John Kinross, when the latter was an old but sprightly man with many memories to share – as well as because Manderston was the subject of one of his first sets of country-house articles for Country Life.
Sir James had married Eveline, a daughter of Lord Scarsdale of Kedleston Hall, in Derbyshire, a masterpiece by Robert Adam which finds its reflection in Manderston. But if the architectural style is Adamesque, the decoration by Charles Mellier and Company often strikes a French note. Entirely of its time, however, is the staircase, whose balustrade is plated with silver. There was a marble dairy to keep the milk cool in the Scottish Baronial home farm. Given Sir James’s interest in horses, it is no surprise that the stables are splendid. But this was also the age of the first motor cars, much feared by some as an agent of change – which indeed it was.
Not that Manderston itself has changed very much: it still perfectly conveys the domestic priorities of the Edwardian age, when country houses more comfortable than ever before.

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The fascinating city of Norwich, capital of Norfolk, was one of the richest town in England during the Middle Ages. The cathedral dates from the early Norman period, as does the Castle which has recently been magnificently redisplayed. As Britain’s preeminent historian of the architecture of the Middle Ages, John has of course been to see it, and provides a superb commentary. Clive does his best to keep up by describing a Victoria roller-skating rink which now houses a gallery of Asian textiles and craft.
Norwich is still remarkable for the density of its churches, from mighty St Peter Mancroft overlooking the market square to St Julian’s, where the anchoress Julian of Norwich was immured (her Revelations of Divine Love are the first works in English literature attributed to a woman). The painters of the Norwich School of watercolourists – once revered and collected, their works are now akin, in terms of popularity in the market, to the brown furniture they would have sat on – can be studied in the Castle museum.