feeling was that it was far too ambitious a project, too expensive, too
grandiose and far too disruptive.
5 In short, and despite the best efforts of the
Le Rossignols, it bore all the hallmarks of the flamboyant Muspratt. One
prominent opponent of the scheme described it as ‘a cross between an
enormous bird cage and [Casson’s] elephant house at the [London] zoo,
absolutely out of scale and totally out of keeping with the pretty village, the
pub and the Church’.
5 The meeting with Sir Hugh was hostile, he was
shouted down and the plan was abandoned. Suspicious of what might lay in
the future, the Penn and Tylers Green Society was set up, headed by leading
parishioners. Lord Howe was its President. Ironically, a Vice-President was a
descendent of William Penn the Quaker and members were John Betjeman
the future Poet Laureate, the actor Rupert Davies (of ‘Maigret’ fame), Oliver
Millar the future surveyor of the Queen’s pictures, and authors Alison Uttley
and Elizabeth Taylor.
5 A year later, the dispute at Penn was still rumbling on
and it even reached the USA when a ‘Schadenfreude-like’ article appeared in
the Toledo Blade newspaper (August 1966) in Pennsylvania’s neighbouring
State of Ohio;
Brotherly Love Soured by William Penn Issue
English Village not anxious for fame debates project to memorialize Quaker
Residents, it reported, had written to Governor Scranton of Pennsylvania
earlier in the year; ‘the majority of the residents in the village do not wish to
see this building proceed, as it will undoubtedly spoil the beauty of the village
and there is apparently no local demand for accommodation …’ laying the
blame for the whole affair firmly at the feet of Penn’s ‘determined vicar’, but
no blame ever seemed to be directed towards the Le Rossignols whose motives
were seen as entirely genuine. In the event, Muspratt’s Penn Centre never
materialized. The only part of the plan that was implemented was the
demolition of the Almshouses—declared unfit for human habitation and not
worthy of repair—and replaced by eight small but well-designed apartments
known as ‘Penn Mead’
34
flatlets, funded entirely by Robert and Emily’s gift.
Undoubtedly modern, but modest in scale, elegant in design and standing
back from the road in a dip behind the Crown public house, the use of the
local warm red brick gave it a classical appearance which blended in well with
the old-world character and charm of the ancient village. And so it is today
(Plate 18.5).
18 Penn, Buckinghamshire 1949–1976
481
grandiose and far too disruptive.
5 In short, and despite the best efforts of the
Le Rossignols, it bore all the hallmarks of the flamboyant Muspratt. One
prominent opponent of the scheme described it as ‘a cross between an
enormous bird cage and [Casson’s] elephant house at the [London] zoo,
absolutely out of scale and totally out of keeping with the pretty village, the
pub and the Church’.
5 The meeting with Sir Hugh was hostile, he was
shouted down and the plan was abandoned. Suspicious of what might lay in
the future, the Penn and Tylers Green Society was set up, headed by leading
parishioners. Lord Howe was its President. Ironically, a Vice-President was a
descendent of William Penn the Quaker and members were John Betjeman
the future Poet Laureate, the actor Rupert Davies (of ‘Maigret’ fame), Oliver
Millar the future surveyor of the Queen’s pictures, and authors Alison Uttley
and Elizabeth Taylor.
5 A year later, the dispute at Penn was still rumbling on
and it even reached the USA when a ‘Schadenfreude-like’ article appeared in
the Toledo Blade newspaper (August 1966) in Pennsylvania’s neighbouring
State of Ohio;
Brotherly Love Soured by William Penn Issue
English Village not anxious for fame debates project to memorialize Quaker
Residents, it reported, had written to Governor Scranton of Pennsylvania
earlier in the year; ‘the majority of the residents in the village do not wish to
see this building proceed, as it will undoubtedly spoil the beauty of the village
and there is apparently no local demand for accommodation …’ laying the
blame for the whole affair firmly at the feet of Penn’s ‘determined vicar’, but
no blame ever seemed to be directed towards the Le Rossignols whose motives
were seen as entirely genuine. In the event, Muspratt’s Penn Centre never
materialized. The only part of the plan that was implemented was the
demolition of the Almshouses—declared unfit for human habitation and not
worthy of repair—and replaced by eight small but well-designed apartments
known as ‘Penn Mead’
34
flatlets, funded entirely by Robert and Emily’s gift.
Undoubtedly modern, but modest in scale, elegant in design and standing
back from the road in a dip behind the Crown public house, the use of the
local warm red brick gave it a classical appearance which blended in well with
the old-world character and charm of the ancient village. And so it is today
(Plate 18.5).
18 Penn, Buckinghamshire 1949–1976
481