Parchment and wash-leather were once manufactured in Wilby — animal skins cleaned, stretched, scraped and dried until they became the surface on which legal documents, parish records and manuscripts were written. What interests me as an architect is the principle: parchment is a raw material transformed by patient process into something that endures for centuries. Building works the same way. The Church of St Mary the Virgin, Grade II* listed, dates from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, its nave lit by a clerestory — an unusual feature for a village church that suggests the builders understood light as a material in its own right. A four-bay south arcade of the early fourteenth century carries double hollow and chamfered arches on octagonal piers. The village sits near Wellingborough.
Award-winning Architects in Wilby
Material Performance, Long-term Thinking
The Deerings, a certified Passivhaus home in Hertfordshire, won the RIBA East Award in 2018 — a house where every material was selected for how it would perform over decades, not just how it would look on completion day. I founded Gresford Architects in London in 2006, and we now work from Oxford with clients across the country. I am an ARB-registered and RIBA Chartered architect, a member of SPAB — the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings — the Passivhaus Trust and The Green Register. I was a finalist for Sustainability Architect of the Year at the Building Design Awards in 2018, and in 2025 I was invited to judge the British Homes Awards. Our projects have been published in Dezeen, Grand Designs Magazine and The Modern House Journal.
Architectural Services Near Wellingborough
Renovations in Wilby engage with a building stock that includes medieval stone fabric and later construction shaped by the village's proximity to the Nene valley. The church's clerestory — windows set high in the nave wall above the arcade — demonstrates a medieval understanding that the quality of light inside a building matters as much as the solidity of the walls. North Northamptonshire Council handles planning for the parish. Through my membership of SPAB, I approach these buildings with the understanding that solid stone walls manage moisture through their mass and their lime mortar — and that any renovation must work with that behaviour.
Sustainable Design connects every project we take on, and in Wilby the parchment trade is a reminder that the most enduring materials are those prepared with care and understanding — not the most expensive or the most fashionable. PassivHaus Design sets our benchmark for new construction, delivering certified comfort with minimal energy demand. New Build Design in Wilby should respect the stone character of the village. For sites in the countryside around the parish, Paragraph 84 of the National Planning Policy Framework provides a route to architecturally outstanding homes — but the design must demonstrate the same patience with material that turned a raw hide into a surface that could carry meaning for centuries.
Extension Design in Wilby should respond to the proportions and materials of the village's stone buildings. The relationship between the houses, the lanes and the surrounding landscape contributes to a settlement with a quiet, settled character. Whether the brief is a ground-floor extension connecting the house to the garden, a garden room, or additional space above, the design should make the whole building feel more resolved.
EnerPHit, the Passivhaus Institute's certified retrofit standard, addresses the thermal performance of older homes without compromising their character. The cottages in Wilby present the familiar challenge of solid-walled construction: thick walls with no insulation, draughty junctions, and a building envelope that predates any concept of thermal efficiency. Vapour-open insulation, careful airtightness detailing, and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery can transform them — warmer, quieter, dramatically cheaper to run — while the stone facades continue to weather as they always have.
Wilby's parchment makers turned raw hides into surfaces that have lasted for centuries. If you are considering a project here, we would welcome the conversation.