Your Places or Mine
A podcast about places and buildings, with tales about history and people. From author and publisher Clive Aslet and the architectural editor of Country Life, & John Goodall
Bayeux Tapestry
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SERIES FINALE: How to Make Development Beautiful (With Nicholas Boys Smith)
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In this episode Clive unveils some new research. It’s the result of a coffee shared with his guest in today’s podcast, Nicholas Boys-Smith. Nicholas founded Create Streets, a social enterprise, think tank and urban design consultancy in 2012. The coffee shop was on a schizophrenic part of the street, half of it being Victorian terrace — brick built, repeating classical windows, a lot of variety in the modest shops and cafes as street level — the opposite side of the street having been rebuilt not so long ago in a Modern style of unornamented grey wal...
How to Bury A Medieval Monarch: The History of Worcester Cathedral
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Worcester Cathedral rises above the banks of the River Severn as one of England's great medieval buildings, its honey-coloured stone and soaring central tower dominating the city's skyline much as they have for over nine centuries. Who better to discuss its architecture and history than John Goodall?
Founded in 680 as a monastic community, the earliest fabric of the cathedral dates from a rebuilding begun in 1084 under Bishop Wulfstan, the only English-born bishop to retain his see after the Norman Conquest and later canonised as a saint. His original crypt survives intact, a...
Guardsmen and Grandeur: The History of Buckingham Palace
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Everybody in the world has heard of Buckingham Palace. The official London residence of the British monarch, it stands at the western end of St James’s Park, very near St James’s Palace. As well as being used for great occasions of State, accompanied by the daily ritual of the changing of the guard, it was also somewhere that successive kings and queens lived when they were in town. Now the decision has been made for HM the King to move out, giving Clive and John the excuse to consider its evolution as a w...
London’s Golden Orb: The History of Monument
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The Monument, rising above the streets near London Bridge, is one of the City of London's most striking historical landmarks - a soaring Doric column erected to commemorate the Great Fire of London of 1666. Begun in 1671 and completed in 1677, it stands 202 feet tall, a height chosen deliberately: the distance from its base to the spot on Pudding Lane where the fire is believed to have started.
But who designed it? The candidates are Sir Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke - Clive and John weigh their respective contributions in the light of new s...
An English Icon: The History of Warwick Castle
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As a great expert on the English castle, John has been thinking about one of the great icons of England: Warwick Castle. This extraordinary building, created over centuries, has come down to us intact, not having been slighted after the Civil War in the 17th century – something exceptional. Equally remarkable is the mythology that surrounds the place, including the medieval legends attached to Guy of Warwick, after whom one of the castle’s famous towers is named. Although Guy may never have existed, his story was revered by the Earls of Warwick as their...
The History of Greenwich, Masterpiece of the English Baroque
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Clive has taken the riverboat to Greenwich, one of the most spectacular sites of London. ‘Good Duke’ Humphrey, brother of Henry V, built a retreat here in the 15th century, which Henry VII developed into a palace. This was where Henry VIII jousted in his early years, and where his armour was made. To the early Stuarts Greenwich’s was important from its position at the mouth of the Thames: this was where foreign ambassadors landed on their way to the court: Inigo began a revolutionary building for James I’s Queen, Anne of Denmark...
A Tudor Treasure, The Gem of Lincolnshire: Doddington Hall
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Doddington Hall in Lincolnshire is one of those country houses you find only in Britain. The attics are full of old toys, military headgear, unwanted commodes and a giant figure of the White Rabbit, left over from an Alice in Wonderland-themed event. A collection of Roman antiquities, some found on the estate, is displayed in the downstairs lavatory, along with a child’s pedal-operated aeroplane with patriotic RAF roundels. From the roof, you can see Lincoln cathedral on a good day. Built around 1600, Doddington has hardly been changed outside, and in half a millen...
A House of Revolution and Reinvention: Woodlawn, Austin
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In this episode of Your Places or Mine, Clive Aslet and John Goodall cross the Atlantic to explore Woodlawn, one of Austin, Texas's most intriguing historic neighbourhoods. Nestled beneath a canopy of venerable oaks, Woodlawn tells a distinctly American story of growth, aspiration and architectural invention. From its early twentieth-century origins to its rich collection of bungalows, cottages and revival-style houses, the district offers a fascinating lens through which to view the development of a modern city that has never quite lost sight of its past.
As they wander its leafy...
A Parade of Characters and Art: the Glittering Story of Stansted Park, Sussex
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Clive and John have both been to Stansted Park, outside Chichester, though at different times. Clive remembers it from the time he helped the owner Eric Bessborough revise a book in the 1980s, whereas John’s connection is more recent. They both find it an astonishing example of an economic revival, apparently inspired by the Covid years when the public was desperate for open space. As a result, the house and park are beautifully maintained, while estate buildings have been well developed as a retail experience.
Stansted has a long and colourful histor...
Dons and Divinity: The Marvellous History of Cambridge
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John has been to Cambridge to see the castle, the mound of which still survives. Although a graduate of Peterhouse and now a Visiting Professor of Architecture, associated with the Ax:son Johnson Centre for the Study of Classical Architecture at Downing College, Clive comes new to this early history but many stories of more recent times. Together the pair mull over the development of this remarkable city, famous for one of the most beautiful ensembles of buildings in England.
The castle reminds those who might have forgotten – or never knew – how importa...
The Story of the American Country House: Developing an Idea
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Clive is writing a book for Yale University Press on the Story of the American Country House. John indulges him by discussing an introductory overview of the subject, with which Clive has been engaged since Yale published his The American Country House in 1990. Here is a rich and colourful theme, celebrating a sometimes spectacular architectural tradition shaped by remarkable individuals.
There are numerous reasons people in Colonial American and the developing United States wanted houses outside the city. Rural simplicity expressed a godlier life; country air was good for the health; the dra...
The Story of Stowe House: A School of Marble and Memory
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When the German Prince Puckler Muskau visited England in 1826, he told his divorced wife that it would take her ‘at least 420 years to see all the parks of England, of which there are undoubtedly at least 100,000, for they swarm in every direction.’ One of the most splendid was that at Stowe in Buckinghamshire. The garden was accompanied by an equally important country house, if not palace. John has just been there and describes this extraordinary creation, the product of many generations.
What we see today is largely a product of the 18th-ce...
Perhaps The Finest Street In Europe - The History of The Strand
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‘Let’s all go down the Strand!’ ran a popular music hall song. But what sort of street were they singing about? The future Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli called it ‘perhaps the finest street in Europe’ in 1847. Which is quite a claim to live up to. Certainly the Strand, one of London’s most famous and important thoroughfares, has had a long and colourful history, with much shape-shifting over the centuries. John and Clive reveal the secrets of a street where splendour lived next door to vice.
Lying between the City of London and the Ci...
Last of The Laskett? A Great British Garden Under Threat (EMERGENCY BROADCAST)
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The Laskett in Herefordshire is one of the most remarkable gardens to have been created in the 20th century but now it’s future is threatened. Sir Roy Strong, scholar, museum director and the author of over 70 erudite books, and his theatre-designer wife Julia Trevelyan Oman created it as a bolt hole from London, beginning in 1973 – a bleak time of industrial unrest and inflation. It grew to become the largest formal garden made in the UK since the Second World War. This intensely personal arcadia was a place of memory, where plants, statuary and gar...
Story of Ampleforth Chapel, Yorkshire, Masterpiece of an Architectural Giant of the 20th Century, Sir Giles Scott
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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 wa...
John Kinross' Manderston: A Symbol of Edwardian England
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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...
The History of Norwich: Conquest, Castle and Cathedral
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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 densit...
Archer's Masterpiece: The Building and Rebuilding of St. John's Smith Square
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Northumberland's Treasure: The History of Alnwick Castle
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Alnwick Castle in Northumberland is one of the most spectacular castles in England, an immense fortification that guarded the border with Scotland for centuries. The Percy family who built it had almost king-like power over their territory – and were not above rebelling against the king himself: the impetuous Harry Hotspur was killed fighting against Henry IV at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403, while his wily father feigned illness. John describes the history and setting of this formidable building, its battlements still lined with statuary figures of warriors (probably 18th-century) to repel enemies.
In...
Plinths, Columns and Controversy: The History of Trafalgar Square
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Trafalgar Square has long been regarded as the centre of London. It wasn’t always. John describes its medieval configuration when it was still countryside – hence the name of James Gibbs’s church St Martin in the Fields. This was where Richard II kept his hawks in the royal mews. A square was proposed by the Prince Regent’s architect John Nash but not in the form we have it today. The proximity of a barracks kept public order.
What about the monument that dominates Trafalgar Square today, Nelson’s column? Clive has the...
Detmar Blow: Disciple of Ruskin, Champion of the Arts and Crafts Movement
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Detmar Blow was one of the brightest stars of the Arts and Crafts Movement – but his story is also dark and mysterious. A pupil of the Kensington School of Art, where he met Lutyens – a lifelong friend – he won a travelling scholarship to draw cathedrals in France. At Abbeville, he had a chance encounter with the great Victorian sage aesthete John Ruskin, then in the decline of his old age. Blow escorted Ruskin to the Alps and imbibed his radical philosophy. On his return to England, he did not complete his architectural apprenticeship but became...
THE HISTORY OF WINDSOR CASTLE (PART 2) – FROM CHARLES II TO CHARLES III
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This week John takes Clive through Windsor Castle, a creation not just of the Middle Ages (subject of part 1 of this series) but of successive monarchs since the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. George III, a King who had been trained in architecture, made it into a family home, before being confined here during his years of madness. Typically, his eldest son George IV had bigger ideas, employing Jeffry Wyatt to revamp the castle after 1824. This included a remodelling of St George’s Hall and making the Waterloo Chamber to accommodate the famous Water...
The Crisis of Liverpool Street Station (EMERGENCY BROADCAST!)
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This week John and Clive are frothing with disapproval at Network Rail’s plan to upgrade Liverpool Street Station. It is proposed that this will be funded by a development which will impose an out-of-scale tower at the entrance to the station, which will deprive the concourse of natural light and destroy the surroundings. What a pity. Liverpool Street was brilliantly reimagined in the late 1980s, to make a virtually new station so much in the spirit of the old that many people assume that it is largely Victorian. If only there was someon...
Flushed with Pride: The History of the Lavatory
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This week John and Clive present their long-awaited podcast on one of the most essential but least discussed rooms in any dwelling – the lavatory. Or (because no object in English or any other language is subject to so many euphemisms and circumlocutions) the necessary, the little house, the smallest room, the going place, the jakes, the john, the pissing place, the bog, the toilet…the list goes on. Although it fulfils a universal need, the loo has taken many forms over the centuries, being subject not only to technological innovation but social change. Today’s...
Sin, Sculpture and Scandal: What is the Truth about Sir Francis Dashwood's West Wycombe Park?
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Sir Francis Dashwood, who used to dress as a Franciscan monk and allegedly took part in orgies in the ruins of Medmenham Abbey, was one of the most notorious libertines of the 18th century. Is this a correct depiction of his character? John thinks not. Instead, he acquired his dubious reputation as a result of slurs cast by his political enemies, which Sir Francis, who didn’t care what anyone else thought about him, chose to ignore. His refusal to stoop to the level of his opponents has meant that some of the mud ha...
The History of Exeter Cathedral: From Norman to Now
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In this episode of Your Places or Mine, Clive Aslet and John Goodall head west to Exeter Cathedral, one of England’s most distinctive medieval churches. From its extraordinary uninterrupted Gothic vault — the longest of its kind in the world — to its weathered towers and richly layered history, they explore how this cathedral grew, adapted and survived centuries of change. Along the way, they swap stories about bishops, builders and bold design choices, uncovering why Exeter feels so different from other English cathedrals — and why its quiet brilliance deserves closer attention.
The Bank of England: Soane, Baker and the Most Controversial Building of the 20th Century
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2025 celebrates the rebuilding of the Bank of England by Sir Herbert Baker – if celebrate is the right word. It remains one of the most controversial projects in 20th century architecture. Baker’s name has been irredeemably blackened for his presumption in destroying the Bank of England created by Sir John Soane a century before. Clive and John revive the debate, describing the history of this great symbol of British finance and might, asking whether Baker has had a fair press.
While Soane’s vanished interiors were a masterpiece, the financial operations of the Britis...
Chim-Chiminee: The History of the Chimney
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This is the time of year when thoughts turn to mince pies, Christmas shopping, mulled wine – and chimneys, whether it is to settle around a roaring hearth or hope that Father Christmas pays a visit. So John and Clive are turning their attention to the development of this architectural form, beginning with the appearance of walled fireplaces in the Norman period. Chimneys reached a zenith of fantasy under the Tudors, when astounding feats of decoration were achieved by means of the novel building material of brick. The invention of more efficient grates in the G...
Vanbrugh at 300: Celebrating The Life and Times of Sir John Vanbrugh (With Charles Saumarez Smith)
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In today's episode of Your Places or Mine, John is joined by the inimitable Charles Saumarez Smith who divulges all he knows about the architect Sir John Vanbrugh in anticipation of the 300th anniversary of his death. Discover the remarkable life and legacy of Sir John Vanbrugh — playwright, architect, and one of the most unconventional figures of the English Baroque. From his daring comedies to his groundbreaking designs like Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard, John and Charles explore how Vanbrugh’s bold imagination reshaped both the stage and the skyline. Join us as we u...
Journalists and Gentlemen: How the Georgian Group Saved London
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The founding of the Georgian Group in 1937 was a milestone in the movement to save beautiful architecture. With an anniversary around the corner, Clive and John discuss how the Group emerged from the parent organisation, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, and why it was needed. They reveal the extraordinary extent to the destruction inflicted on Georgian London after the First World War. Not even town palaces, Georgian square or the works of the Adam Brothers, notably the Adelphi, were spared.
Whereas SPAB’s interests were principally medieval and rural...
The Tale of Parliament Part 2 - The House of Lords
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Last week’s Your Places of Mine celebrated the rebuilding of the House of Commons after the original interior was bombed during one of the last raids of the Blitz. This week, Clive and John consider the Palace of Westminster, otherwise known as the Houses of Parliament, as a whole. After the old Palace had been all but destroyed by fire in 1834, Charles Barry won the competition to rebuild it, producing a building that may have shortened his life but is surely one of the herculean achievements of the Victorian age. With the help...
The Tale of Parliament Part 1 - The House of Commons
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On May 10, 1941, an incendiary bomb destroyed the seat of British democracy, the chamber of the House of Commons. This was not the first time fire had struck the Palace of Westminster: most of it had already been rebuilt after a disastrous fire of 1834, caused not by enemy action but the burning of obsolete tally sticks – a medieval system of accounting which symbolised the antiquated nature of the place. Seventy-five years ago the House of Commons reopened, and John has joined the celebrations that are marking the anniversary.
This could have been an op...
Albi Cathedral: The Greatest Brick Building in the World
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This week John and Clive are bowled over by Albi Cathedral, a towering, outwardly austere edifice of rosy brick which is ‘quite unlike any other medieval structure that you will see – a work of abstract modernism made in the 13th century’. They discuss the background to its construction, in particular the merciless crusade against the Albigensian Heresy which takes its name from the city. Externally the cathedral appears to be as much a fortress as a religious building, expressing the authority and power of the Roman Catholic Church. It was a big influence on some l...
Magnates and Mansions: American Millionaires who Loved the British Country House
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Phipps, Carnegie and Old Westbury Gardens
In its turn of the 20th-century heyday, Long Island could boast no fewer than 900 country houses. Since then, most have disappeared, leaving Old Westbury Gardens in a unique position – the only house to have survived complete with its collections, garden and archive. Clive has just been there and shares its wonder with John, asking why the American country house is such a different beast form its counterparts in the UK.
The story of Old Westbury Gardens is romantic. Jay Phipps, son of And...
A Spymaster's Lair: The Unmissable Splendour of Hatfield House
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Clive has just been to an event at Hatfield House, the palace to the North of London which
stands as a monument to the political gene of the Cecil family. John is more than equal to discussing this great country house and its treasures, which the present Marquess and Marchioness of Salisbury are subtly making even more special.
In the 16th-century, Robert Cecil inherited it from his father Lord Burghley, whom he followed as Queen Elizabeth’s chief minister. It was Cecil who did more than anyone to negotiate the succe...
Cathedral on Fire: The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of Notre-Dame
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In 2019 a devastating fire consumed the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, one of the towering symbols of French identity, and it seemed that one of the greatest cultural monuments in Europe had, literally, gone up in smoke. But after only two short years, it has now been restored and John has been to see – and celebrate – the result.
The old Notre Dame had evolved over many centuries and lived through dramatic times. Sacked during the Revolution, it was returned to glory for Napoleon’s coronation. John not only discusses these aspects o...
The Story of the Bayeux Tapestry: A Threaded Tale of Heroes and Conquerors
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An extraordinary cultural loan is about to take place: soon, while its home in France is being improved, the Bayeux Tapestry will be displayed in the British Museum for two years. This will give members of the British public, along with visitors to London from overseas, the chance to get up close to one of the founding documents of England’s story. One of the foremost medievalists in the country, John is in a prime position to lead the discussion with Clive on this unparallelled work of art.
The survival of the...
War Memorials Of WW1: The Secret Meaning of The Stone
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In advance of Remembrance Sunday on November 11, Clive has been visiting the Commonwealth War Graves in France. The Imperial War Graves Commission, as it was called when established in 1917, was the brain child of Fabian Ware, a civil servant turned newspaper editor who commanded a Red Cross dressing station during the First World War and was therefore saw the horror at first hand. Ware realised that the hundreds of thousands of young men who died for Britain deserved proper burial and commemoration. The losses were on a scale unknown in previous wars, and th...
The History of Salisbury Cathedral: How Did They Move a Medieval Marvel?
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Which cathedral is closest to the English heart? Impossible to say but it may be Salisbury, the subject of this week’s Your Places or Mine. On September 28 a special service will be held to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the dedication of the altars at Salisbury’s east end in 1225.
To many people, Salisbury Cathedral approaches architectural perfection more nearly than any of the other cathedrals in England. It is the most harmonious; the spire is the tallest (404 feet); and still see it surrounded by water meadows that are a survival...
