William Baker of Audlem


William Baker of Audlem was an architect, surveyor and building contractor, working in Shropshire and the adjacent counties in the middle years of the 18th century.

Early life

He was the son of Richard Baker, who had moved from London to Ludlow. In 1737 he married Jane Dod of Audlem and for a time lived at Bridgnorth. In the 1740s his wife inherited Highfields House and they moved to Audlem.

Career

Baker was employed by the noted architect Francis Smith of Warwick in the 1730s. His account book for the years 1748–1759 survives, which provides information about his architectural and surveying practice. The house in which he lived at Highfields was the subject of an article in Country Life, where a portrait of the architect survives.

Architectural work

Baker was well grounded in the fashionable architecture of the early 18th century, having first worked for Francis Smith of Warwick. He is mentioned as working as a carpenter for Smith at Ditchley in Oxfordshire in 1727. He set up his own practice around 1740 and also acted as a building contractor and surveyor. Initially he developed the practice in eastern Shropshire and Staffordshire and continued to work for many of clients of Francis Smith after Smith's death in 1738. Houses by Smith which Baker continued to work on included Mawley Hall in Shropshire, Swynerton Hall in Derbyshire and Wingerworth Hall in Derbyshire. He always had a close relationship with the innovative Shrewsbury architect Thomas Farnolls Pritchard. In 1743 at Ludlow, both Prichard and Baker put forward plans for the Buttercross, but it was Baker who was selected to do the work. In 1746 Baker was paid for the plans and work at the Royal Shrewsbury Infirmary, but the plans are signed by Thomas Farnolls Pritchard. It is likely that Pritchard was working under Baker on this project. Again for the building of St John's Church, Wolverhampton it is likely that Pritchard was the supervising architect working under Baker. In 1775–1775, after Baker's death, Pritchard continued Baker's survey work at Powis Castle.

The Ludlow Buttercross and Henry Arthur Herbert

Most notably Baker gained the patronage of Henry Arthur Herbert, who became Earl of Powis in 1748 Baker would have known Henry Herbert from his Ludlow connections. Herbert was the Whig Member of Parliament and a member of Ludlow Town Council when Baker was awarded the contract to build the Ludlow Buttercross. Also in 1743 Henry Herbert relinquished his position as Member of Parliament when he inherited Powis Castle and became Lord Herbert of Chirbury. In 1735 he had been appointed Custos Rotulorum of Montgomeryshire and Lord-Lieutenant of Shropshire. and this now provided him with a power base to dispense patronage in both Montgomeryshire and Shropshire. Baker's design of the Buttercross is based on James Gibbs "A Book of Architecture". Clearly the Buttercross impressed him.
Between 1748 and 1758 he got Baker to alter his house at Oakly Park at Bromfield, just outside Ludlow. Then, between 1748 and 1754 Baker undertook repairs at Powis Castle, possibly in preparation for Herbert to move into the castle. Also in 1748, Herbert got William Baker to design and build the Town Hall at Montgomery. The new Town Hall was intended to accommodate the Court of Great Sessions when it met at Montgomery and over which Herbert presided as Custos Rotulorum. At Bishops Castle Baker submitted designs for a new Town Hall to Herbert in 1745, but it was slightly later that the Town Hall was built and to modified designs.

Richard Baker

His son Richard Baker, continued the practice after his father's death in 1771. Richard seems to have practised mainly as a building surveyor, and there are few buildings that he designed.

List of architectural works

Public building and monuments

Most of these are recorded architectural drawings and surveys, and it is not clear to what extent Baker's work was carried out.
Houses attributed on stylistic grounds.

Literature