On 20 November 1992, a fire broke out in
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history.
The original cast ...
, the largest inhabited
castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
in the world and one of
the official residences of
the British Monarch. The castle suffered extensive damage and was fully repaired within the next five years at a cost of £36.5 million, in a project led by the conservation architects
Donald Insall Associates
Donald Insall Associates is a firm of architects, designers and historic building consultants.
They have worked on contemporary and historic listed buildings, monuments and sites throughout Britain, and at UNESCO World Heritage Sites including ...
. It led to Queen
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
paying tax on her income, and to
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...
, the former monarch's other official residence, being opened to the public to help pay for the restoration work.
Timeline of the fire
Early stages
![Private Chapel at Windsor Castle (1848)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Private_Chapel_at_Windsor_Castle_%281848%29.jpg)
The fire began in the Queen's Private Chapel at 11:15am when a curtain was ignited by a spotlight pressed up against it. Agents of the
Royal Household were in the chapel at the time inspecting works of art. A fire alarm went off in the watch room of the castle fire brigade, manned by the Chief Fire Officer, Marshall Smith. The fire's location was shown by a light on a grid-map of the castle. Initially, the Brunswick Tower was lit up, but lights soon began to flash indicating that the fire had spread quickly to neighbouring rooms.
A major part of the State Apartments was soon ablaze. Building contractors working in a nearby room attempted to subdue the blaze with fire extinguishers. The curtains eventually dropped to the floor and continued to burn, while those present hurriedly began removing paintings from the chapel, until the intense heat and raining embers forced them to leave at 11:32am.
At 11:36am, Smith pressed a switch to alert the control room at
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...
fire station. He then activated the castle's public fire alarm and telephoned the
Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service
Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) is a statutory fire and rescue service covering the area of the ceremonial county of Berkshire in England. The fire service was formerly administered by Berkshire County Council, but when that was ...
on a direct line, giving the message, "Windsor Castle here; we have got a fire in the Private Chapel. Come to the Quadrangle as arranged".
The castle still had its own twenty-person fire brigade, of whom six were full-time. Equipped with a
Land Rover
Land Rover is a British brand of predominantly four-wheel drive, off-road capable vehicles, owned by multinational car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), since 2008 a subsidiary of India's Tata Motors. JLR currently builds Land Rovers ...
and pump tender, they were based in stables two miles south of the castle, and arrived on the scene at 11:41am. Appliances from the Fire and Rescue Service arrived at 11:44am. By 11:56am, 17 pumping appliances had been ordered. An operation to save furniture and works of art involving castle staff, building contractors and the Queen's son,
Prince Andrew
Prince Andrew, Duke of York, (Andrew Albert Christian Edward; born 19 February 1960) is a member of the British royal family. He is the younger brother of King Charles III and the third child and second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince ...
, had commenced in rooms adjacent to the fire.
Subsequent events
By 12:12pm, there were 20 fire engines, and by 12:20pm there were 35. Over 200 fire-fighters had come from London, Buckinghamshire, Surrey, and Oxfordshire, as well as from Berkshire. The Fire Incident Commander was David Harper, Deputy Chief Fire and Rescue Officer of the Fire and Rescue Service. The Chief Officer, Garth Scotford, was out of the country, on holiday.
By 12:20pm, the fire had spread to St George's Hall, a banqueting hall and the largest of the State Apartments. The number of fire appliances now totalled 39 with 225 fire-fighters in attendance. Hoses were directed at all levels of the building surrounding the fire. As an indication of the fire's scale, there had been just one 30-appliance fire in the whole of Greater London since 1973.
By 1:30pm, tradesmen had created fire breaks at the southern wall of the Green Drawing Room (at the end of St George's Hall on the east side of the Quadrangle) and at the northwest corner at Chester Tower, where joins the Grand Corridor. The fire-fighters had by this time started to bring the fire under control, though the roof of the State Apartments had begun to collapse.
At 3:30pm, the floors of the Brunswick Tower collapsed. Firemen had to temporarily withdraw to locate three men who were briefly lost in the smoke, and withdrew again because men were temporarily unaccounted for when part of the roof collapsed.
At 4:15pm, the fire had revived in the Brunswick Tower. As night fell, the fire was concentrated in the tower, which by 6:30pm was engulfed by flames up to high.
At 7:00pm, the roof of St George's Hall finally collapsed.
By 8:00pm, after burning for nine hours, the fire was under control. It continued to burn for another three hours.
By 11:00pm, the main fire was extinguished, and by 2:30am, the last secondary fires were extinguished. Pockets of fire remained until the early hours of the morning, some 15 hours after it began. 60 firemen with eight appliances remained on duty for several more days. The fire had spread rapidly due to the large cavities and voids in the roof.
1.5 million gallons (7 million litres) of water from the mains water supply, a reservoir-fed hydrant, a swimming pool, a pond, and the nearby River Thames were used to fight it.
Salvage operation
Apart from the several hundred firemen directly involved in the fire-fight,
staff and tradesmen helped the castle's fire brigade and volunteer salvage corps move furniture and works of art from the endangered apartments, including a long table and a long carpet from the
Waterloo Chamber, to the safety of the castle's riding school. It was an enormous operation: 300 clocks, a collection of miniatures, thousands of valuable books and historic manuscripts, and old Master drawings from the
Royal Library were saved. On fire officers' instructions, heavy chests and tables were left behind. All other items were placed on giant sheets of tarpaulin in the North Terrace and Quadrangle, and the police called in dozens of removal vans from a large part of the
home counties
The home counties are the counties of England that surround London. The counties are not precisely defined but Buckinghamshire and Surrey are usually included in definitions and Berkshire, Essex, Hertfordshire and Kent are also often inc ...
to transport items to other parts of the castle.
Members of the Royal Household, including the
Earl of Airlie
Earl of Airlie is a title of the peerage in Scotland created on 2 April 1639 for James Ogilvy, 7th Lord Ogilvy of Airlie, along with the title “Lord Ogilvy of Alith and Lintrathen.” The title “Lord Ogilvy of Airlie” was then created o ...
, assisted in the operation. The
Royal Collection
The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world.
Spread among 13 occupied and historic royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King Charles III and overseen by the ...
Department were especially active, including the director, Sir
Geoffrey de Bellaigue
Sir Geoffrey de Bellaigue (12 March 1931 – 4 January 2013) was Surveyor of the Queen's Works of Art from 1972 to 1996. His was the first full-time appointment to the office, and he did much to professionalise the Royal Collection department af ...
, the surveyor of pictures,
Christopher Lloyd
Christopher Allen Lloyd (born October 22, 1938) is an American actor. He has appeared in many theater productions, films, and on television since the 1960s. He is known for portraying Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown in the ''Back to the Future'' tril ...
, the deputy surveyor of the Queen's works of art, Hugh Roberts, the curator of Print Room, Mrs Roberts, and the librarian, Oliver Everett. The
Household Cavalry
The Household Cavalry (HCav) is made up of the two most senior regiments of the British Army, the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons). These regiments are divided between the Household Cavalry Regiment st ...
arrived from nearby
Combermere Barracks
Combermere Barracks, Windsor, is a British military installation from Windsor Castle.
History
The original barracks, known as Clewer Barracks, were designed to accommodate the Royal Horse Guards and were built at Clewer Park between 1796 and 1 ...
. Some 100 officers and men of the
Life Guards proved invaluable for moving bulky items. In all, 125 castle staff, 125 contractors, 100 military personnel and 20
Crown Estate
The Crown Estate is a collection of lands and holdings in the United Kingdom belonging to the British monarch as a corporation sole, making it "the sovereign's public estate", which is neither government property nor part of the monarch's priva ...
staff were involved in the salvage operation.
There had been no serious injuries and no deaths.
Dean Lansdale, a decorator in the Private Chapel, burnt his hands while removing pictures, of which he rescued three or four. He was moved to the royal surgery and then to a hospital. A royal spokesman denied reports in the media that the surveyor of the Queen's pictures had suffered a heart attack.
Five firemen were taken to hospital with minor injuries.
Extent of damage to the castle
Structural damage
The major loss was to the fabric of the castle. The false ceiling in St George's Hall and the void for coal trucks beneath the floor had allowed the fire to spread. It burned as far as the Chester Tower. Several ceilings collapsed. Apartments burnt included the Crimson Drawing Room (completely gutted), the Green Drawing Room (badly damaged, though only partially destroyed by smoke and water) and the Queen's Private Chapel (including the double-sided 19th century
Henry Willis
Henry Willis (27 April 1821 – 11 February 1901), also known as "Father" Willis, was an English organ player and builder, who is regarded as the foremost organ builder of the Victorian era. His company Henry Willis & Sons remains in busin ...
organ in the gallery between St George's Hall and Private Chapel, oak panelling, glass and the altar).
St George's Hall survived with the walls largely intact, but the ceiling had collapsed. The State Dining Room in the Prince of Wales Tower and the Grand Reception Room were also devastated. In total, 100 rooms were affected by the fire. Smaller apartments damaged or destroyed included the
Star Chamber
The Star Chamber (Latin: ''Camera stellata'') was an English court that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster, from the late to the mid-17th century (c. 1641), and was composed of Privy Counsellors and common-law judges, to supplement the judic ...
, Octagon Room, Brunswick Tower (covered in 12 feet (3.5 m) of debris), Cornwall Tower, Prince of Wales Tower, Chester Tower, Holbein Room and the Great Kitchen, which lost its plaster coving and most of the medieval timber. The external wall above the bay window of the Crimson Drawing Room (between the Prince of Wales and Chester Towers) was seriously calcified.
Contents
![George III and the Prince of Wales Reviewing Troops (1798)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/George_III_and_the_Prince_of_Wales_Reviewing_Troops_%281798%29.jpg)
The most seriously damaged rooms had largely been emptied of their valuable contents the previous day, and some paintings were on loan to a travelling exhibition.
Items from the Royal Collection lost include the Sir
William Beechey
Sir William Beechey (12 December 175328 January 1839) was an English portraitist during the golden age of British painting.
Early life
Beechey was born at Burford, Oxfordshire, on 12 December 1753, the son of William Beechey, a solicitor, an ...
equestrian portrait ''
George III and the Prince of Wales Reviewing Troops
''George III and the Prince of Wales Reviewing Troops'' was an oil on canvas painting by William Beechey, showing George III and his sons George, Prince of Wales and Frederick, Duke of York at an imagined review in Hyde Park. George rides Adon ...
'', which at 13 feet (4 m) by 16 feet (5 m) was too large to remove; an long 1820s
sideboard
A sideboard, also called a buffet, is an item of furniture traditionally used in the dining room for serving food, for displaying serving dishes, and for storage. It usually consists of a set of cabinets, or cupboards, and one or more drawers ...
by Morel and Seddon; several items of porcelain; several chandeliers; the Willis organ; and the 1851
Great Exhibition
The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary The Crystal Palace, structure in which it was held), was an International Exhib ...
Axminster carpet
A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layer of pile attached to a backing. The pile was traditionally made from wool, but since the 20th century synthetic fibers such as polypropylene, nylon, or polyester have ...
was partly burnt.
Peter Brooke, then Secretary of State for National Heritage, called the fire a national disaster.
Tourism
Tourists were allowed into the precincts within three days. The Queen was back in residence a fortnight later. The Gallery and
Queen Mary's Dolls' House
Queen Mary's Dolls' House is a dollhouse built in the early 1920s, completed in 1924, for Queen Mary, the wife of King George V. It was designed by architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, with contributions from many notable artists and craftsmen of the ...
reopened in December.
The State Apartments reopened in 1993 after rewiring was completed, with all major rooms open by Easter, when only St George's Hall and the Grand Reception Room stayed closed. Thus eleven of fifteen principal rooms of the State Apartments were open, and two were still undergoing long-term restoration, with two more having been destroyed.
Restoration project
Funding
It was initially feared that it would cost £60 million to restore the castle, though the final cost was £36.5 million (equivalent to £ million in ), and that drying out the castle would take 10 years.
Occupied
royal palaces like Windsor Castle are too valuable to insure,
and items in the
Royal Collection
The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world.
Spread among 13 occupied and historic royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King Charles III and overseen by the ...
are not insured against loss. An independent trust for private donations towards the cost of the restoration was announced on 16 February 1993 by the Queen's bank,
Coutts
Coutts & Co. is a London-headquartered private bank and wealth manager. Founded in 1692, it is the eighth oldest bank in the world. Today, Coutts forms part of NatWest Group's wealth management division. In the Channel Islands and the Isle of ...
. On 29 April 1993 it was announced that 70% of the cost would be met by charging the public for entry into the castle precincts and £8 for admission to
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...
for the next five years.
The Queen contributed £2 million of her own money, and she agreed to start paying
income tax
An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...
from 1993 onwards, making her the first British monarch to do so since the 1930s.
Planning
![Windsor Castle St Georges Hall Design](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/Windsor_Castle_St_Georges_Hall_Design.jpg)
On 7 June 1994, details of the restoration project were announced. The architectural firm
Donald Insall Associates
Donald Insall Associates is a firm of architects, designers and historic building consultants.
They have worked on contemporary and historic listed buildings, monuments and sites throughout Britain, and at UNESCO World Heritage Sites including ...
was appointed by the Royal Household to take overall charge of the restoration, with Sidell Gibson dealing with the reconstruction of St George's Hall and the design of the new Lantern Lobby and Private Chapel. Over half the damaged and destroyed rooms, including the State and Octagon dining rooms, were to be restored as original. There were to be new designs for the St George's Hall ceiling (with steel reinforcing beams in the roof) and East Screen, as well as the Queen's Private Chapel and the Stuart and Holbein Rooms. However, only the Queen's Private Chapel and several modern rooms were to be restored in a modern style.
Designs were submitted to a Restoration Committee, whose chairman was
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from El ...
and deputy chairman was
Charles, Prince of Wales
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...
. Members included the
David Ogilvy, 13th Earl of Airlie
David George Coke Patrick Ogilvy, 8th (or 13th) Earl of Airlie, (born 17 May 1926) is a Scottish peer.
Background and education
Airlie is the eldest son of David Ogilvy, 12th Earl of Airlie and Lady Alexandra Coke. His younger brother was Sir ...
(
Lord Chamberlain
The Lord Chamberlain of the Household is the most senior officer of the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, supervising the departments which support and provide advice to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom while also acting as the main cha ...
), Sir
(Permanent Secretary of the
Department of National Heritage
, type = Department
, logo = Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport logo.svg
, logo_width =
, logo_caption =
, seal =
, seal_width =
, seal_caption =
, picture = Gove ...
),
Norman St John-Stevas, Lord St John of Fawsley (Chairman of the
Royal Fine Art Commission
The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) was an executive non-departmental public body of the UK government, established in 1999. It was funded by both the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for C ...
), Sir
Jocelyn Stevens
Sir Jocelyn Edward Greville Stevens, (14 February 1932 – 9 October 2014) was the publisher of ''Queen'' magazine and a London newspaper executive.
Education and career
Stevens attended Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge, and Sandhurs ...
(Chairman of
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
),
Frank Duffy (President of the
Royal Institute of British Architects
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...
) and three senior palace officials.
The fire, catastrophic though it was, presented the opportunity for some major new architectural work. Although criticised by some people who thought it lacked imagination, the architects believed that, given the history of the building and the surviving fabric, the new work had to be
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
.
Execution
![Ceiling of St George's Hall, Windsor Castle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Ceiling_of_St_George%27s_Hall%2C_Windsor_Castle.jpg)
The state dining room gilded
sideboard
A sideboard, also called a buffet, is an item of furniture traditionally used in the dining room for serving food, for displaying serving dishes, and for storage. It usually consists of a set of cabinets, or cupboards, and one or more drawers ...
, 19 feet long and made out of rare rosewood and oak, was originally designed by
Augustus Pugin
Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin ( ; 1 March 181214 September 1852) was an English architect, designer, artist and critic with French and, ultimately, Swiss origins. He is principally remembered for his pioneering role in the Gothic Revival st ...
in the 19th century. It had to be replicated by
N.E.J. Stevenson using only some photographs and descriptions.
New designs for St George's Hall and the Queen's Private Chapel were approved by the Queen on 24 January 1995. Designed by architect Giles Downes, the new roof for St George's Hall is an example of a
hammer-beam ceiling
A hammerbeam roof is a decorative, open timber roof truss typical of English Gothic architecture and has been called "...the most spectacular endeavour of the English Medieval carpenter". They are traditionally timber framed, using short beams pr ...
. The new chapel and adjoining cloisters were realigned to form a processional route from the private apartments, through an octagonal vestibule, into St George's Hall. Downes's new roof is the largest
green-oak structure built since the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
and is decorated with brightly coloured shields celebrating the heraldic element of the
Order of the Garter
The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George C ...
; the design attempts to create an illusion of additional height through the Gothic woodwork along the ceiling.
Commentators have noted that Downes's work does much to compensate for the originally flawed dimensions of the hall.
The Lantern Lobby has oak columns forming a vaulted ceiling, imitating an
arum lily
''Zantedeschia'' is a genus of eight species of herbaceous, perennial, flowering plants in the family Araceae, native to southern Africa from South Africa north to Malawi. The genus has been introduced on all continents except Antarctica. Com ...
.
The first stage of the structural restoration was completed in May 1996. Fitting out, originally planned to finish by spring 1998, occurred on 17 November 1997.
The Queen held a reception in the newly restored hall for the architects and building contractors involved in the project.
References
External links
A day that shook the world: Windsor Castle fire (2010)at ''The Independent''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Windsor Castle fire, 1992
Building and structure fires in England
Disasters in Berkshire
Royal residences in the United Kingdom
1992 Fires
1992 disasters in the United Kingdom
1992 in England
1992 fires in the United Kingdom
1990s in Berkshire
November 1992 events in the United Kingdom
Residential building fires
Events involving British royalty
Rebuilt buildings and structures in the United Kingdom