Book chapters, government reports and other published plans
Book chapters
Sharp, T. (1937). 'The North East - Hills and Hells', in C. Williams-Ellis
(ed.), Britain and the Beast. Readers' Union Ltd.: London, pp. 141-159.
It is interesting that Sharp should have been asked to contribute to this volume
(and agreed) as he had had a major falling out with Williams-Ellis a few years
earlier. His chapter is essentially a rant about the state of the towns and
countryside of north-east England, opening by comparing the industrial
north-east to the scene after an orgy (the orgy having been industrialism). He
divided this into three sections concerning the towns of Tyneside and Teesside,
the coalfield and the countryside. His greatest invective was reserved for the
coalfield; the worst aspect not being housing conditions per se but the
rudimentary infrastructure such as the unmade roads and the primitive and
semi-public sanitation. He concluded that it 'almost makes one believe that men
have lost the ability not only to create what is good but actually to recognize
what is evil' (p 149). The chapter also included a digression on the city of
Durham, interesting in the context of his subsequent work on Cathedral City.
Sharp's principal purpose was to sound the alarm. His principal target was the
County Council's relief road proposals. Sharp used this opportunity to publicize
his ground-level route (first prepared in 1934 (Stansfield 1974) as an
alternative to the officially approved, elevated road.
Sharp, T. (1948) 'Plan for Smallholdings in the Catshill Area', in West Midland
Group (ed.), Conurbation: A Planning Survey of Birmingham and the Black Country
by the West Midland Group. Architectural Press: London, pp. 242-249.
A short report on grouping small holdings together that harked back to some of Sharp's
writings in Town and Countryside. Included a worked example of how this might be
achieved with two alternative layouts.
Sharp, T. (1953). 'The English Village', in T. Sharp, F. Gibberd and W. G.
Holford, Design in Town and Village. HMSO: London, pp. 1-19.
This essay is part
of a collection, together with Gibberd writing on design in residential areas
and Holford on design in city centres. It is effectively the government manual
which had been intended many years earlier and which, for Sharp, had become
Anatomy of the Village. As a shorter work than Anatomy of the Village, it was
perhaps even more effective in capturing what for Sharp were the essential
qualities of the English village. Like the earlier work it was well illustrated
with photographs and village plans. The plans included more examples than
Anatomy of the Village of how existing villages might be extended. It also
included a plan of Comb and a photograph of a model of Kielder from Sharp's
Forestry Commission work. The section on his forestry villages' work discussed
how the new landscape form of the forest prompted a new and different
architectural response from the local vernacular building and specifically the
use of enlivening colourwash. Towards the end of the essay there are some
interesting reflections on the design process, which are critical of then
prevalent architectural master-planning. For Sharp, the planning villages
demanded working at a large scale and allowing the plan to evolve.
Betjeman, J. (ed.) (1958) Collins Guide to English Parish Churches. London: Collins.
Includes a one page prose-poem by Sharp introducing the Northumberland gazetteer.
Official reports with a significant Sharp contribution and reports where Sharp not directly acknowledged as author.
The South West Lancashire Joint Town Planning Advisory Committee. (1930) The
Future Development of South-West Lancashire. London: Hodder & Stoughton.
Sharp's
first major plan, one of the significant regional plans of the period, and the
cause of his first major fall out within the profession. As was the tradition,
authorship was assigned to the Joint Committee's Honorary Surveyor who had had
virtually no hand in its preparation, which enraged Sharp. Though the clear
voice of Sharp was not evident there were signs of his developing pro-urban,
anti-open development views emerging.
Great Britain (1942). Report of the Committee on Land Utilisation in Rural Areas
(the 'Scott Report') London: HMSO (Cmd. 6378).
Sharp was one of the two joint
secretaries to the Committee. One of the great war time reports on future
planning. At the heart of the report was the assumption that the countryside was
a precious asset that should be protected.
Central Housing Advisory Committee. (1944) Design of Dwellings (The 'Dudley
Report'). London: HMSO.
The main report, by the Design of Dwellings
Sub-Committee, focused on technical and standards issues in housing to be
provided, albeit with some more generalised discussion of forms of housing, such
as terraces. Appended to the main report was a report of a study group of the
Ministry of Town and Country Planning on Site Planning and Layout in Relation to
Housing, apparently led by Sharp. It saw housing development as part of a wider
process of comprehensive planning. A central concept was neighbourhood planning,
regarded as a recent concept of the previous decade or so. There was also a
major section on built form. Layouts of either over-contrived 'naturalness' or
geometric rigidity were equally dismissed. A lot of alternative possibilities
were discussed, although there was a general preference for a rectangular (but
not gridiron) patterning. The use of Radburn plans and cul-de-sacs was
considered as was 'one-sided development' and a number of other plan forms. In
terms of architectural form strong arguments in favour of terraces and against
semi-detached, citing various quotations from bodies presenting evidence, were
made.
Schuster, S. G. (1950) Report of the Committee on Qualifications of Planners.
London: Ministry of Town and Country Planning (Cmd. 8059).
Sharp's contribution
was by way of submission of evidence. Though this was given due consideration a
different view of what planners should be prevailed. Sharp argued for design to
be considered central to the process of planning whereas the Committee concluded
that planning is primarily a social and economic activity.
Other published plans
Sharp, T. (1946). A Plan for Todmorden. Todmorden: Borough Council.
A short and
functional report. Sharp's preface identifies housing conditions as the main
physical problem but an equally profound issue he identifies is the decline in
the local economy. Finding sites for new housing is considered problematic given
the topography of Todmorden, lying at the junction of three narrow valleys which
quickly rise to high moorlands. His recommendations on some of his usual
preoccupations of roads and the central area are limited. Given the topography
he sees no scope for a bypass so proposed a phased improvement of roads where
they meet in the centre, which, in his view, gave scope also for a better public
space along with the rebuilding of some public facilities.
Sharp, T. (1948) A Plan for Taunton. Taunton: Taunton Corporation.
Sharp characterised Taunton as not spectacular, but as mostly pleasant; at heart
a country town both visually and functionally. As such he viewed its future as
primarily as a service centre with some modest growth in population. He remarked
that whilst there were a good number of buildings of architectural or historic
interest the physical attractiveness of the town derived more from a good stock
of humbler buildings - essentially decent, fairly ordinary Georgian. Road
proposals were a significant feature of his plan. A particular issue in Taunton
was east-west routes leading to Devon which demanded external bypasses. However,
he also suggested inner 'substitute roads' to relieve central congestion. Whilst
reasonably substantial, these were intended to minimise impact on the town's
architectural character. The concluding section on architectural design
emphasised the importance of conservation (distinguished from preservation), the
desirability of some selective demolition and the necessity of new buildings to
exhibit good architectural manners.
Sharp, T. (1949). Georgian City: A Plan for the Preservation and Improvement of
Chichester, Brighton: Southern Publishing Corporation.
Sharp had high regard for
Chichester, describing it alongside Lichfield and Wells as the epitome of the
English 'cathedral-city'. Its even greater quality, however, was his favoured
urban form of high quality Georgian architecture incrementally evolved on an
older street plan - 'the least spoiled example now remaining in England of a
naturally-grown as distinct from a deliberately planned renaissance town'
(p16-17). Sharp's proposals were principally geared around restricting unplanned
urban expansion, improving traffic circulation and sustaining the character of
the walled city. The square plan of the Roman walled city produced what was for
Sharp a rather formulaic inner ring road set just outside the city walls.
However, it did allow him to savage then current proposals for incremental
street widening, through setbacks in redevelopment, being then promoted by the
County Council for the main historic road axes in the city - perhaps his most
enduring contribution to the planning of Chichester (see forthcoming work by
Larkham). He also opposed the demolition of properties to the west of South
Street for the 'opening out' of the cathedral. Proposed interventions in the
historic core were modest, including a little opening out around the central
cross, some low-level infill by the north walls and provision for surface
car-parking.
Sharp, T. (1949). Newer Sarum: A Plan for Salisbury, London: Architectural
Press.
This is the least well known of the Sharp reconstruction plans published
by Architectural Press. As a planned town essentially on a grid, Salisbury did
not present the complex picturesque effects which so excited Sharp in Durham and
Oxford. However, though Sharp may have felt the lack of a dramatic core,
observing, for example, that the Cathedral Close was unsatisfactorily large, he
was not unappreciative of the merits of the wider town, terming it the 'most
medieval' of all English cities' (p. 10), due to the survival of many small
buildings of earlier periods. Buildings of architectural quality were mapped and
it was proposed that nearly all of those in the city centre be retained.
However, after some agonising he suggested that many of the historic buildings
in the eastern chequers would need to be sacrificed because they 'are outworn at
last and are now too old and too primitive to have any further usefulness' (p.
11). Sharp was less sure of himself with his road proposals than usual. His
suggested southern relief road was acknowledged to have an unfortunate impact on
the historic character of Salisbury and he suggested that it should only proceed
if his proposed northern relief road proved inadequate.
Sharp, T. (1950). Stockport Town Centre Replanned, Stockport: Stockport
Corporation.
A short functional reconstruction plan for the town centre. Major
interventions were proposed but not a clean sweep - it was seen as desirable to
maintain something of the historical pattern of the town. The crossing of
north-south and east-west arterial roads was seen as a major planning issue as
was the dramatic topography; although the latter had potential to be used as
public gardens topped by a law courts. The report was fairly well illustrated,
albeit with black and white reproductions of colour plans.
Sharp, T. (1950). Minehead: The Development of Its Amenities, Minehead: Minehead
Urban District Council.
Not a full reconstruction plan, but a report focused on
the amenities of the coast and sea front. Sharp's objective was to improve
Minehead as a comparatively quiet but well-equipped holiday resort. Report
included various proposals for improving traffic, parking and visitor amenities.
It stressed the picturesque qualities of old Minehead, much of which could be
used as holiday accommodation.
Sharp, T. (1967). Feasibility study of possible new town development in
North-East Berkshire, Oxford: Royal County of Berkshire.
One of Sharp's
infrequent later commissions, his task was essentially a strategic site finding
exercise; of finding a site for 40/50,000 inhabitants - though he strongly
argued in the introduction that such a development should be largely
self-sufficient in terms of employment opportunities. Sharp considered seven
sites. He concluded that a site at Wantage-Grove would be best. It would also
resolve planning issues created by the expansion of housing estates in Grove,
unrelated to the nearby older town of Wantage.
