Britain gallery: Clap-board house

The 'clap-board' house is not as common a sight in Britain as it used to be, so it was nice to

see these old houses in Rye still sporting their wooden rendering. Open any book of old

photographs of Britain's towns and cities and you'll find such houses, but usually in a section

on those that have been pulled down long ago as being 'slums' or simply for redevelopment,

a vast amount of which happened after the war. Unfortunately, an awful lot of our more

valuable heritage went with them, leaving many towns deprived of their charm. Clapboard

housing went the way of anything that could be 'improved' in the name of 'progress'

(including much that would otherwise have later been listed) under the bulldozers of rampant

developers and short-sighted, or even scurrilous, town planners. Yet it wasn't always the

result of bomb damage and subsequent clearance - most towns and many cities never felt

the impact of the Luftwaffe. But all seem to have felt the dead hand of the developer, such

that it is now often difficult to tell one town from another. Rye is, however, an exception.

Never having been a target for anybody except the smuggling fraternity, it's kept its

old-world charm and is all the more agreeable for it.

The 'clap-board' house is not as common a sight in Britain as it used to be, so it was nice to see

these old houses in Rye still sporting their wooden rendering. Open any book of old photographs of

Britain's towns and cities and you'll find such houses, but usually in a section on those that have

been pulled down long ago as being 'slums' or simply for redevelopment, a vast amount of which

happened after the war. Unfortunately, an awful lot of our more valuable heritage went with them,

leaving many towns deprived of their charm. Clapboard housing went the way of anything that

could be 'improved' in the name of 'progress' (including much that would otherwise have later been

listed) under the bulldozers of rampant developers and short-sighted, or even scurrilous, town

planners. Yet it wasn't always the result of bomb damage and subsequent clearance - most towns

and many cities never felt the impact of the Luftwaffe. But all seem to have felt the dead hand of

the developer, such that it is now often difficult to tell one town from another. Rye is, however, an

exception. Never having been a target for anybody except the smuggling fraternity, it's kept its

old-world charm and is all the more agreeable for it.