Thursday, August 5, 2010

Inglesham, Wiltshire


More layers

I recently did a couple of posts called ‘Layers of history’ about places constructed on prehistoric sites. As more than one reader said, this whole blog is really about layers of history – and they could have gone further and said that virtually every building that’s not spick and span new is an example of historical layering, so great is our passion for altering and adapting buildings, furnishing them and leaving our stamp on them. The tiny church at Inglesham in Wiltshire is one of the most layered of them all. A largely 13th-century structure, based probably on a late-Saxon original, it contains a Saxon carving of the Madonna and Child, windows from the 14th and 15th centuries, timber screens of the 15th and 16th centuries, 17th-century pews and pulpit, and a range of wall paintings representing every century from the 13th to the 19th.

Nave and aisle: 13th-century pier, 15th-century screen, Jacobean pews

But that prosaic list tells not half the story. This isolated church – it has just a couple of houses for company down a lane that leads nowhere else – has an atmosphere of quiet and calm like few others, testimony to the care that has been lavished on its fragile fabric and furnishings, especially over the last century or so. That it has survived is largely due to William Morris, who lived at Kelmscott not far away, loved this place, and knew the Victorian rector, Oswald Birchall. Birchall wrote to Morris saying that he had no money to carry out the necessary repairs to the church, and neither had the parishioners. Morris put Birchall in touch with the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, who both supervised the restoration in the 1880s and 1890s and, in an unusual move, also raised money for it. Morris too contributed money, anonymously, to keep the work going. And so the repairs were carried out with the greatest care and respect for the building, under SPAB principles – nothing old was destroyed if it could be repaired, new work was not disguised, new additions were made to fit the old fabric (not the other way round), and so on.

As a result of Morris’s commitment, this wonderful church survives, with both its historical layers and its ancient peace. On my last visit to Inglesham I was enjoying the building in solitude when the door opened and a party of half a dozen visitors came in. Frankly, my heart sank. No more contemplative silence, I thought. How wrong could I be? Each of the visitors approached the chancel, bowed towards the altar, and made the sign of the cross, before inspecting the building in awed reverence. After a while, one of them came up to me. ‘They are from Warsaw,’ he explained, in good but accented English. ‘They have been to the Tower of London and Windsor, so I had to bring them here. To show them this unbroken link with the Middle Ages, even with the Saxons.’ An unbroken link with the layers of history. And one of the best. How true.

Chancel: Fragment of 13th-century reredos, painting of various dates

* * *

Note A commenter has pointed out that conservation work is now (20 August 2010) underway on some of the wall paintings at Inglesham. This means that there is a lot of scaffolding in the church and the opening times are restricted.

This church is in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust, which looks after churches of historical and architectural interest that are no longer needed for worship. They deserve our support.

25 comments:

Terry said...

Beautiful church and beautiful post. Thanks so much.

Erin said...

I have to say - I really enjoy the photos you take and post here. But I also feel that every time I have a look at English Buildings, I learn something new. =)

Philip Wilkinson said...

Terry, Erin: Thank you both. I always learn things when I do these posts too! Looking at buildings is an endlessly illuminating process.

Peter Ashley said...

Thankyou Wilko for both this post and for introducing me in person to this lovely church. "What?" I think you said, "Never seen Inglesham?".

Philip Wilkinson said...

Peter: Once seen, never forgotten, as I'm sure you'll agree. I have never found it easy to do the interior justice in photographs, though I hope my two efforts give some idea of the atmosphere of the place. But to do that really well takes an Edwin Smith.

Sandy said...

Oh this is just too stunning for words! You are so lucky to have such places to visit. Thank you for sharing.

bazza said...

Philip, this was a fascinating post and combined with a lovely story. Presumably it's not in use as a regular place of worship anymore?

Philip Wilkinson said...

Sandy: Thank you. We're very fortunate here. It was touching to see people from overseas appreciating the church too.

Bazza: I should have said that this church is one of many in the care of the wonderful Churches Conservation Trust, who look after churches of historical and architectural interest that are no longer required for regular worship. The CCT churches do remain consecrated, though, and services are occasionally held in many of them. I'll add a link to the CCT to the end of the post.

Thud said...

Yet another reason as to why I think I can never leave England.

Philip Wilkinson said...

Thud: Exactly. Whatever the beauties of other places, whatever the adventures that take one abroad or the emotional ties that draw us away for a while, there's nothing like England.

STAG said...

Its surprising that this church is not mentioned in Cox and Ford's book "Parish Churches".
But I suppose there are so many....

Philip Wilkinson said...

STAG: It is surprising, but I suppose that's because, although it's fascinating, this church isn't a 'typical example' of the architecture of any one period - although if I remember rightly, Cox and Ford do talk about the growth of the parish church and Inglesham is a very good example of that on a small scale. More surprising still is that this building isn't included in Simon Jenkins's England's Thousand Best Churches. But all these lists are a matter of taste and, as you rightly say, there are so many churches.

Teacats said...

Really LOVE your blog! I do hope that you get a chance to visit St. James-The-Less Church in Dorney -- across the fields from Eton and along the Thames. I lived in the village and went to the Licensed Victuallers in the early 70s. The church is tied to the manor house -- and the village has some truly fascinating and quite dashing history!

Jan

Philip Wilkinson said...

Jan: Thank you so much. I'll add Dorney to my long list of places to see. It sounds like a good place to call on my way home from a trip to London.

Anonymous said...

This reminds me a bit of St. Hubert's at Idsworth near Rowlands Castle, Hants. A little church from 1053 out in the middle of a field. It had wall paintings from the 1300's. Well worth a visit.
Gene

Philip Wilkinson said...

Anon: Thank you. I'll add Idsworth to my list of churches to visit.

Judith Yarrow said...

A mutual friend told me about your blog about Inglesham church as I'm painting small churches around my area - Chipping Norton. So I visited a week ago - it's a gem. I sat in a pew and painted, but people reading your blog should know that the inside of the church is full of scaffold and only open during the week as conservationists are working on the wall paintings.I'm not sure when they finish - get the feeling they're there for a while.

Philip Wilkinson said...

Judith: Thank you very much for your comment and the information about the conservation work. I didn't know about the scaffolding, which must have appeared quite recently, as I was at Inglesham not long before I did this post. I will add a note to the end of the post.

Anonymous said...

Your pictures are great, I can really smell the place from them.

Philip Wilkinson said...

Anon: Thank you. Actually I found it quite hard to photograph this church, and I'm really pleased that my pictures convey some of the atmosphere of the place.

Rod said...

Thank you for your post about this interesting building. As part of trying to write wikipedia articles on all CCT churches I have recently started one on Inglesham at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_John_the_Baptist_Church,_Inglesham . It would be great if those with expert or local knowledge could edit it to correct any errors I have made or to expand the article.

Helen Peacocke said...

What a find - I incorporated a visit to Inglesham into a dog walk that incorporated the river. The fragile beauty of this lovely little church has haunted me ever since dog and I opened it's main door and entered this amazing church. Your erudite blog has provided me with the information I needed - thank you for that.
Helen and Border collie Pythius-Peacocke.

JudyBG said...

You did a wonderful job of capturing Inglesham in words--as you say, even the best picture cannot quite do it justice. It breathes age and serenity, and the silvery patina of the wood is unlike anywhere else. One of our favourite churches, along with Duntisbourne Rouse and St. Oswald's Widford. And one of the reasons my husband and I keep returning to the Cotswolds when we go back to England. And why we never can convince ourselves to go anywhere BUT England!

Anonymous said...

A small pedantic point but it was the Society for the Protection rather than Preservation of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) that Morris founded. A subtle and deliberate difference.

Philip Venning

Philip Wilkinson said...

Thanks you. You are of course quite right. That was a slip of the finger (or of the brain rather), which I've now corrected in the post.