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Using money raised by National Lottery players, The National Lottery Heritage Fund supports projects that connect people and communities with the UK’s heritage. Vanbrugh 300 is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players, we have been able to develop a nationwide project that aims to broaden the awareness of Vanbrugh through special displays, free education programmes and lectures, throughout his tercentenary year in 2026.
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The Georgian Group's 2026 Symposium (in partnership with the Ax:son Johnson Centre for the Study of Classical Architecture) will be ‘Vanbrugh: From Stage to Stone.'
Friday 27th March, 9am - 5.30pm
Downing College, Cambridge
This international academic conference will explore the impact and legacy of Sir John Vanbrugh. The event marks the tercentenary of Vanbrugh’s death in March 1726 and forms part of the Vanbrugh300 festival for 2026, organised by The Georgian Group.
Please note that tickets for this event are now sold out. A recording will be made available following the symposium. If you would like to register your interest in the recording of the event, or be added to the waiting list for tickets, please email members@georgiangroup.org.uk
Programme:
9:00 Registration breakfast with tea & coffee (Grace Howard Room)
9.45 Introductory remarks (Howard Theatre)
Frank Salmon, CSCA & Anya Lucas, The Georgian Group
Session I Vanbrugh the Writer & Herald
Chair: Charles Saumarez Smith
10:00 Christopher Ridgway, Sir John Vanbrugh: The Letters of a “Great and Versatile
Character”
10:15 Annette Rubery, “I confess I have not at all stuck to the original”: John Vanbrugh as
translator & adaptor
10:30 David Roberts, The Playwright in Print
10.45 James Peill, Vanbrugh as Herald
11:00 Chaired discussion
Session 2 Vanbrugh the Architect & Politician
Chair: Charlotte Davis
11:45 Matthew Wood, Weighing Scales of Power? The State Apartments at Castle Howard
12:00 Susie West, Vanbrugh & the Country House Plan
12:15 Rory Fraser, John Vanbrugh: the Politician behind the Polymath
12:30 Chaired discussion
13:00 Buffet lunch (Grace Howard Room)
Session 3 Vanbrugh’s Network
Chair: Elizabeth Deans
14:00 Melanie Hayes & Andrew Tierney, Building Relations: Collaboration,
Achievement & Artisanal Agency in Vanbrugh’s Architectural Practice
14:15 Helen Lawrence-Beaton, Parallel careers & building neighbours: The relationship
between Vanbrugh & Thomas Archer
14:30 James Legard, Vanbrugh/Hawksmoor: The Graphic Anatomy of an Architectural
Partnership
14:45 Chaired discussion
15:00 Tea & cake break (Grace Howard Room)
Session 4 Vanbrugh at Stowe
Chair: Frank Salmon
15:30 Tom Nancollas, Vanbrugh’s Sleeping Parlour: Anatomy of a Lost Folly
15:45 Michael Bevington, Vanbrugh’s innovative architectural reconstructions at Stowe
16:00 Francis Terry, Vanbrugh’s Design for Stowe
16:15 Chaired discussion
16:30 Comfort break
Panel Vanbrugh’s Influence
Chair: Matthew Walker
16:45 Panel discussion with Jeremy Musson, Frances Sands & Owen Hopkins
Chaired Q&A
17:15 Closing remarks
17:30 Champagne reception (Grace Howard Room)