An academic from Cambridge University, dressed in tweed

Today is the centenary of the death of a distinguished Victorian architect who designed some of our greatest ecclesiastical buildings (and a notable body of secular work). He specialised in the Decorated style of English gothic, which he helped to revive. His work is often sneered at by contemporary architects as the “gilt gingerbread school of architecture”.

The architect worked at several places locally, and was responsible for a great deal of fine work. This afternoon a lecture was held at a church on the other side of the county (right by the county border). The lecture started at three o’clock and so I nearly didn’t go (Sunday lunch finished late and I knew I would have to rush to get there on time). In the end I decided to forgo my usual post-lunch cup of tea, and got in the car to drive the thirty-seven miles to the lecture.



The drive took me nearly an hour, and I arrived slightly late. The church (above) looked sensational in the lush autumnal sunshine. Note the Decorated south porch, which has a corresponding double on the north side. Most of the church is 14th century, but the architect thoroughly restored it and rebuilt the chancel (on the right). He also heightened the crocketed spire (Pevsner draws attention to the six tiers of extremely subtle lucarnes). I parked my car and walked up to the door - I could hear the lecture had already started, and so had to nerve myself to walk in (knowing the great latch would make a noise, the door would probably creak open, and everyone would look in my direction).



There were about eighty people at the lecture, inevitably most of them elderly (young architectural students would disdain to attend such an event). The lecturer was an academic from Cambridge University, dressed in tweed and giving his address from the pulpit. I saw a vacant seat just inside the door and quietly sat down. I need to say something about the light in the church. All the windows were filled with stained glass (in itself this is quite unusual) but the building was not dark. It was flooded by a glistening white light that was like a luminous mist - unfortunately this light has made many of my photographs slightly impressionistic.

The lecturer was in full flow: “…he belonged to a tradition of old fashioned pre-evangelical Anglicanism known as High And Dry… he spent his career restoring chancels which had fallen into disrepair owing to changes in the liturgy… he was a very shy man and had a stammer and didn’t like public events… as a student at Cambridge he went around the local churches sketching and drawing… he was part of a network that included Scott, Kempe and GE Street… he designed cathedrals in Australia, India and California…”



The High Altar in the sanctuary (please excuse my slightly lopsided photograph). The architect rebuilt the chancel and sanctuary on the original medieval foundations. Chancels had fallen into disrepair following the Reformation when Holy Communion was only celebrated a few times a year. The Oxford Movement in the early 19th century reversed this puritanical practice, and so chancels came back into vogue. Notice the elaborate reredos around the 15th century German painting of the Ascension. On the altar the madonna lilies seemed to glow in the afternoon sunlight. I wish the east window had come out clearer - it was a wonder. The lecturer paid particular attention to the stained glass: “Kempe helped him with the glass… you can tell they are Kempe windows, just look at the wings of the angels which are peacock feathers, the peacock being an emblem of immortality… Victorian stained glass is at huge risk at the moment…”



Painted vaulting in the chancel (gilded angels in the nave). The organ was also in the chancel, and the lecturer told us about a monograph on organ cases published by a friend of the architect (organ case designs can be very elaborate - they would warrant a spread in World of Interiors). There was a small dispute when one of the audience claimed that the organ case in the church was based on the one at Old Radnor - the lecturer utterly demolished this argument.



The font cover was a hyper-elaborate Victorian gothic wooden spire that opened up to reveal this carved and painted interior (figures of St Agnes, St Michael and St Nicholas). As well as a network of like-minded designers, the architect depended upon influential patrons. The lecturer told us Lord Halifax was a great patron of Decorated gothic revival.



The architect’s work was in every corner of the church, even these cupboards in the vestry were designed by him.



At the end of the lecture you could go around the church looking at all the details (because of the 15th century painting the building is normally kept locked). Here you can see the lecturer standing on the chancel step with people coming up to him to ask questions. They are very brave as Cambridge academics can bite (metaphorically speaking) and put their claws into you.

More on the Decorated period in English architecture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flamboyant_Gothic