All Souls Langham Place: Pray for the BBC

 

 

"Pray for the BBC: Corporation staff offered sanctuary in church next to New Broadcasting House"

All Souls, Langham Place is probably most famous as "The church next to the BBC". Designed by John Nash, and opened in 1824, its spire and rotunda-like base act as a knuckle, linking the disjointed axes of Regent Street and Langham Place, part of George IV's development of a grand route to his new Regent's Park. The body of the church therefore sits at a bit of an awkward angle to the tour-de-force. Spires are ultimately a gothic creation, but they remained popular throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th Centuries. Everyone from Wren and Hawksmoor to Soane and Dance tried collections of elements, such as colonnades, mini porticoes or massive columns, to produce the effect of a gothic spire but in the classical taste. At All Souls, Nash's solution was a cone surrounded with two tiers of columns arranged in rings.

The church's prominence at then s-shaped junction has over the past 190 years been challenged by increasing building heights, and the creation of Broadcasting House in the 1930s and New Broadcasting House in the 2000s.

Next time you are are at Oxford Circus, look North at its spire and columns.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/pray-for-the-bbc-corporation-staff-offered-sanctuary-in-church-next-to-new-broadcasting-house-8313151.html

St Mary & All Saints, Fotheringhay

Fotheringhay's magnificent perpendicular parish church stands on the banks of the Nene, like a ship about to set sail from the hills of Northamptonshire through the fens, with its octagonal lantern and flying buttresses. It is in fact just a relic of the days when Fotheringhay was a royal manor. The mighty but long demolished castle was a stronghold of the Yorkists, birthplace of Richard III, and most famously the site of the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. 

The church as we see it today is the surviving nave of a much larger collegiate foundation. It was built mostly in the 1430s by Edward III and is remarkably all as one piece, something rare in English ecclesiastical architecture. The bright and elegant perpendicular tracery abruptly ends in a flat wall where once the building continued to form the chancel. To the south were the associated buildings for the college of canons, and today this is visible from the blocked arches in the South East corner of the church. The entire ensemble was intended as a great monument to the House of York. Despite being constructed of beautiful local limestone, it was originally rendered and painted white which would have given it an even more striking appearance.

The church has a wonderful collection of gargoyles along the outside of the clerestory including one of a squatting man exposing his bum!

After the Dissolution, its college was closed and demolished. Eventually the chancel collapsed and Elizabeth I had memorials to her ancestors moved into the nave. The castle experienced a steady decline through the 17th Century and today only the mound exists. The village, which has other remains of mediaeval buildings, went from Royal Town to sleepy hamlet, with less than 200 inhabitants today.

http://www.oundledeanery.org.uk/parishes/fotheringhay

The Fan Vault in the West Tower

St Stephen Walbrook

St Stephen Walbrook, by Sir Christopher Wren is, from the outside, not the most beautiful of London's City Churches, but the interior is stunning. It has the largest dome of a City church, other than St Paul's. Its central altar was designed by Henry Moore. This Youtube video details its history...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cssie1QYag

Radicalism Thwarted by Health & Safety? Newington Green Unitarian Chapel

Stoke Newington has a long history of religious dissent and radicalism. It has been noted as a centre for Congregationalism, Quakerism, Judaism, and more recently lesbianism! Abney Park Cemetery, for example, was designed as a model of an ecumenical burial ground. Newington Green is home to London's oldest surviving nonconformist place of worship, a Unitarian Church. Former attendees include early feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and republican Dr Richard Price.

Political, as well as religious dissent have long been hallmarks of this simple stuccoed chapel, and its radicalism continues. The church applied to hold Civil partnerships, making it London's first religious building legally allowed to do so. But whilst religious marriage can be held in any religious building, venues for Civil partnerships must have a health and safety audit. The early 18th Century chapel has only one fire escape, so apparently cannot get a licence for Civil Partnerships.  Revd. Andy Pakula said of the decision “I guess gay people must generate more heat than straight ones. It’s a list of pretty trivial things to wait the best part of a year for”.

Once the church meets the requirements, it will potentially reach another landmark in its long and illustrious history.

http://www.new-unity.org/

http://www.eastlondonlines.co.uk/2012/11/church-denied-same-sex-civil-partnership-licence/

A Bell Ringer Gets in Trouble

A woman in Bathampton, Somerset had to be rescued after getting tangled in the bell ropes at St Nicholas' Church. See the link for the full story...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/nov/06/church-bell-ringer-rescued

All Saints & St Peter, Aldwincle

The broach spire of St Peter's, Aldwincle

The small village of Aldwincle in North Northamptonshire, by some quirk of history, has two parishes and therefore two parish churches. One, St Peters, stands in the centre of the village and is noted for its broach spire, one of the "most perfect" examples. St Peters exhibits a range of gothic features from the 12th to the 15th century, and is very much the typical parish church. it is surrounded by a graveyard, overlooking cottages, with an interior dominated by its Victorian restoration. Think plush carpets and cross-stitch hassocks.

The nave and chancel

Mediaeval Stained Glass and a Green Man

The early C20th rood screen

At the East end of the village, as one heads to the broad valley of the Nene, is the second church, All Saints. The first features one notices is the great perpendicular tower, a stark contrast to St Peter's spire. The church was declared redundant in the 1970s, and since then has been preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust, seemingly in a state of partial decay. Fragments of wall paintings and old plasterwork against areas of exposed stone. The roof, dated to the 17th century, is raw and simple. An extravagant perpendicular chantry chapel sits to the South-East, facing the Manor House. To the North is the birthplace of the village's most famous former resident; the post John Dryden who's father was the rector of All Saints.

All Saints Church from the South

The Nave, showing remains of wall painting and the 17th century roof timbers

The Perpendicular South Chapel

http://www.visitchurches.org.uk/Ourchurches/Completelistofchurches/All-Saints-Church-Aldwincle-Northamptonshire/

8,500 Poppies laid at Hull's Holy Trinity church in 'Trench' tribute for Remembrance Day

More than 8,500 poppies have been laid out in a church to mark Remembrance Day.

http://www.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/8-500-poppies-laid-Hull-s-Holy-Trinity-church/story-17209027-detail/story.html

St Mary's, Saffron Walden

Saffron Walden church is one of the finest in Essex. Like many other towns in East Anglia, it's wealth peaked in the 15th century as a wool town, exporting cloth to the continent. In those days, wool was big business. There was no cotton, and no polyester. Wool was essential. And English wool had a reputation for being the finest.

In earlier periods, Wool had made Northamptonshire wealthy, and later it brought prosperity to The Cotswolds. The richest church architecture of each period is often closely linked to the region's dominance in the wool trade.

The townsfolk of Saffron Walden built a church which reflected this wealth. Mostly perpendicular, it has a high embattled tower, with a recessed spire. The body of the church is broad and high with wide aisles and a grand clerestory.

 

To this day, the spire and the clerestory tower over the Mediaeval, Georgian and Victorian buildings of the town, which is famed for its beauty.

http://www.stmaryssaffronwalden.org/

East Bergolt Bell Cage

Just been reading an interesting blog post at English Buildings about East Begholt's unusual bell cage...

http://englishbuildings.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/east-bergholt-suffolk.html

Hare & Hounds, Kilpeck Church

Kilpeck Church in Herefordshire is a beautifully preserved romanesque church with fantastic carving. The building consists of three cells: nave, chancel and apse. The whole building is of pink sandstone. It is famous for its collection of carved corbels, each with human and animal figures, such as the charming hare and hound. They have a soft, cartoon-like quality and deep piercing eyes. Of particular not is the doorway. The church's survival is probably thanks in part to its remoteness, in the wild borderlands of England and Wales. The churchyard is right up against a farm yard, and shows the closeness of religious and manorial sites in many ancient settlements.

Some Links:

http://hoary.org/snaps/engl/kilp.html

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/england/kilpeck-church.htm

Kirton Church, Lincolnshire... Got any spare cash?!

This beautiful Grade I listed church in Kirton, just south of Boston, Lincolnshire, needs some cash! It's £40,000 short to pay for roof repairs. Can you help? It has a beautiful perpendicular clerestory

The news story:
http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/Lincolnshire-church-facing-closure-pound-40k-roof/story-17094159-detail/story.html

Listed Building Description:
http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-192089-church-of-st-peter-and-st-paul-kirton-li

A cottage in Buckinghamshire...

A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to visit this pair of old estate cottages hidden deep in a wood in Buckinghamshire. It's collapsing. There are trees growing through the roof. It has no services. It's amazingly beautiful, but also quite scary. The rear facade was built to look like a wealden house.

The Thatched Church at Markby, Lincolnshire

One hundred years apart... spot the differences. (I think there are five)

Scratch Dials / Mass Dials

A little known feature of many of England's mediaeval parish churches is Scratch Dials or Mass Dials. They were essentially small sundials built into the South wall of churches, presumably to indicate the times of church services back in the days when most people were illiterate. Most of them have lost their indicating stick, so no longer work, and others have been moved to other walls, are upside down, or have been relocated to the North walls of churches.

The Sundial Society is compiling a list of all known scratch dials, so if you know of one, let them know!

http://www.sundialsoc.org.uk/massdials.htm

St Peter's, Northampton

Northampton is seldom considered a very beautiful town. Its architectural heritage has been mostly either lost of bastardised. But the town is blessed with a few isolated gems which are up there with the finest buildings in the country. The Sessions House, 78 Derngate, The Guildhall. The town centre's four remaining ancient churches, All Saints, St Giles, Holy Sepulchre and St Peters, each have their own place in the superlative lists of English churches.

The church of St Peter is today in a neglected outpost of the town, between the station and the town centre. It is on Marefair, a road that once hosted a market (fair) for female horses (mares). It sits high on a mound overlooking the inner ring road. It was once so different. The station is the site of Northampton Castle, a major royal palace and fortress in the Middle Ages. Nearby St Peters served the town (and supposedly once a Saxon Palace). The town centre has since shifted eastwards, and the area around St Peters, known as the Boroughs, became the location of slum housing and small industrial buildings.

The church has beautiful Norman carving inside and out. Like many cottages in the area, it makes use of the contrasting local limestone and ironstone in horizontal bands. A single, long, roof covers the nave and chancel and below it is an arcades clerestory. It was rather enthusiastically "restored" in both the 17th and 19th centuries, yet there is still so much to see. The tower has moved east, the east front has moved west, but the norman body survives.

Centuries of social decline in the area left the church forgotten and neglected. Once it was surrounded by urban grain, little houses and factories. Today, it has Marefair on one side and nothingness on the other. It was eventually declared redundant, but this move may be what has saved it. It was taken over by the Churches Conservation Trust.

The CCT have restored the GG Scott paintings in the chancel, sorted out the damp problem, restored the fabric, and importantly open the church on a regular basis. The area to the south of St Peters, along by the overlooked River Nene, is soon to be redeveloped (supposedly) as part of the Northampton Business Improvement District. Let's hope that this investment can be used to improve the church's setting and reinvigorate the ancient heart of the town.

For more information about the church go to http://www.visitchurches.org.uk/Ourchurches/Completelistofchurches/St-Peters-Church-Northampton-Northamptonshire/

For The Friends of Northampton Castle go to http://www.northamptoncastle.com/

Pere Lachaise Cemetery

I know they aren't really churches, but Pere Lachaise is like a city of miniature chapels. Unfortunately, most visitors head straight for Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison. Here are some photographs from a visit in mid December, a couple of years ago.

The two things that struck me are how incredibly urban it felt (especially compared to most English cemeteries), and the brightness of the flowers contrasting the grey trees, grey stone, and grey sky.

For more information go to www.pere-lachaise.com