National Trust – Erddig: Dereliction to Distinction

The last squire of Erddig, Philip Yorke III, gifted the property to the National Trust in 1977. To celebrate the centenary anniversary, I worked with the team to develop various interpretive interventions across the site. Philip Yorke was in two minds about giving the house to the Trust; should he keep hold of the
crumbling estate with all of its collection, or give it to the Trust for more people to enjoy.

The aim was to reflect this internal conflict across the project, to give visitors the overwhelming sense of what it would be like to make such a decision. The collage style used, reflected the ‘waste not, want not’ nature of Philip himself. Graphics needed to be sympathetic to the area so inspiration was drawn from the surroundings to produce items such as vinyls applied to the glasshouse, wire-hung photographs, textured brickwork vinyl and printed fabric among the scullery laundry.