The Church of
England webiste [ visit link
]
tells us about the building:
"Built: 1863 - 65
Architect: Sir
George Gilbert Scott
Listing: grade 2
The Rev S R Davies, assistant priest
of Lee, inherited money and decided to build a church. Scott was chosen as
architect, and he was unlimited as to cost: £16,500 was spent. The church was
begun in 1863, and consecrated on Easter eve, 1865. It was meant to have a tower
and spire, but these were never built, owing to the nature of the
site.
The walls are of Kentish rag, with
Bath stone dressings: the detached shafts are of Mansfield stone. The style is
Scott's thirteenth-century, with some French details— 'eclecticism of a
chastened kind, and the union in some degree of the merits of the different
styles'. The glass, all by Clayton and Bell, was mostly destroyed in the War.
The reredos, by Charles Buckeridge, Scott's young and trusted assistant, was
carved, by Redfern and decorated by Bell (1873). A faculty was given on 11
September 1875 for a chancel screen by James Brooks, and a south chapel, to
which the reredos, removed from the chancel, was to be taken. A further faculty,
20 June 1899, gave leave for a new marble credence, and iron gates to the
chapel; the architect was P A Robson.
The organ gallery was erected by Sir
Charles Nicholson just before the Second World War. In 1952-3 the sanctuary was
remodelled, and the reredos cleaned and painted. The east window, and windows of
the south chapel, are by J E Nuttgens, 1954."
The church is
Grade II listed and the entry at the English Heritage website [
visit link
]
tells us:
"Parish church. 1856 by Sir George
Gilbert Scott. Cruciform church with South porch. Early English style with
paired and grouped lancets. Snecked random rubble with freestone dressings. High
pitched, tiled roof to nave, aisles and South transept. Parapet to North
transept where tower was intended. Large West portal has paired doors under
cusped, pointed arches.
INTERIOR: 5-bay nave with high
arcade on round piers with foliated capitals. 3-bay marble lined chancel. Roof
loft but no screen. Fine embroidered banner. Some stained-glass by Clayton and
Bell."
The Glasgow Sculpture website [visit
link] tells us about Sir George Gilbert Scott:
"Born in Cawcott, Bucks, the son of
the village Rector and builder, he trained with James Edmeston, 1827-31, and
formed a partnership with W B Moffatt, 1834-45.
From then he worked independently,
with his sons George and John Oldrid Scott as assistants.
Working almost exclusively in the
Gothic style, he became one of the most succesful architects of his generation,
but his unshakeable belief in the supremacy of Gothic over the Classical and
Renaissance styles for public and collegiate buildings, together with his often
conjectural 'restorations' of medieval churches, often resulted in
controversy.
The 'Battle of the Styles' which
raged between him and Lord Palmerston's government, after their rejection of his
designs for the Foreign Office (1857) in preference for an Italian Renaissance
alternative, dashed his hopes of gaining official recognition for Gothic as the
state architectural style.
The battle was almost refought in
Glasgow in the 1860s, when he was appointed to design Glasgow University
(1864-70) in his favourite Gothic style, his opponents being the Classical and
Renaissance minded Glasgow architects.
Led by Alexander 'Greek' Thomson ,
they argued that Gothic was a wholly inappropriate style for a modern Scottish
educational institution and that Scott's overworked practice could only produce
a second rate design.
However, having already set aside a
florid Renaissance design by John Baird I (1846), the University Senate stuck to
their guns and appointed Scott without further hesitation.
His finest Scottish buildings are St
Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh (1872-9) and the Albert Institute, Dundee
(1865-7); whilst his St Mary's Episcopal Church (later Cathedral), Glasgow
(1871-93) and Glasgow University (1864-71) were later completed and improved by
John Oldrid Scott.
His most famous buildings in England
are both in London, the Albert Memorial (1862-72), which incorporates his carved
portrait (by J B Philip), and the Grand Midland Station and Hotel, St Pancras
(1868-74), where his son George committed suicide in 1897.
His work outside Britain includes,
the Nikolaikirche, Hamburg (1844-60), and St John's Cathedral, Newfoundland
(1846).
Knighted in 1872, he served as RIBA
President from 1873-5.
After his death, the firm passed to
John Oldrid Scott and later to his grandson, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott
(1880-1960), the architect of Liverpool's Anglican
Cathedral."