William Morris and the "Anti-Scrape"

Abstract

By the mid-19th century, the restoration of medieval churches had gained great popularity in Britain. It was done with ecclesiastical and ecclesiological enthusiasm. But, it was also a profitable business for a few famous architects. At the end of the 18th century, some members of the Society of Antiquaries had protested against inadequate restoration, and afterwards an early foundation for preservation theory was laid by John Milner, Edward A. Freeman and some others. In the mid-19th century, John Ruskin revolutionalized the theory of preservation. Ruskin completely denied the identity between original and replica. For him, an ancient building was not a historical record but history itself. In comparison with this extreme view, what Milner and Freeman had thought was not preservation but a kind of restoration. William Morris undoubtedly followed Ruskin. But, it is also a fact that, before reading Ruskin, Morris had showed his own appreciation of the undistorted history which could be found in the fabrics of old buildings. In 1877, Morris founded the S.P.A.B. (Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings) and started the "Anti-Scrape" movement, after gaining insight into social and political action through involvement with the Eastern Question Society. The S.P.A.B. is still active and playing an important roll in the British preservation movement. The "Anti-Scrape" was also significant in the development of Morris' philosophy. It was also a central idea in his first lecture, "The Lesser Arts" given in December 1877. The whole philosophy and art theory of Morris took definite shape from then on. Morris' activities in the "Anti-Scrape" have been regarded as an rather incidental part of his life, probably because he has been considered a founder of "Modern Design." But, those activities were much more important even for the whole history of design as well as for his own later public life.