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Building Design
The building was designed by and carried out under the 'superintendence' of the late Sir George Gilbert Scott, and executed by the late Mr. Bridges, a Cirencester builder, in the style of Gothic Revival.
The foundation stone was laid in 1847 on land which had been owned by the 4th Earl Bathurst, who had made a gift of it for the Church, along with an adjacent field, the rent from which was to form part of the Ministers' stipend, for some time. The Rev. William Powell, whose dream it was to build the Church, was meditating on Psalm 132 verse 6 when he found what he thought to be the perfect site, "Lo! We heard of it at Ephrathah; we found it in the fields of the wood" and that's where Powell found the site for Holy Trinity (in the wood) some of which still remains to this day. It is for this reason that the Psalm was often included in the Dedication Festival.
During the construction of the Church one workman unfortunately lost his life when some scaffolding fell and hit him on the head. The water table is not too far below the surface and this is probably why there is a well just to the rear of the Church path, most likely dug to keep the water at a manageable level during the work. The stone used for the outside of the fabric came from a quarry in the London Road, while the inside is of Bath stone, and the roof timbers are of Bremen Oak. The church structure was planned to be built in random coarse stone, with a tower having straight buttresses; bell openings with plate tracery and a spire. Scott recommended the use of rubble stone to be used; the Forest marble came from the Oxfordshire border, and is Great Oolitic. Inside, the church has great appeal, highlighted by triple lancets, very narrow and brilliant in the east above a coloured and gilded reredos, which was also designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott.
Stone carvings
The stone carving and the Reredos are elaborate and were carved by Mr. E. Geflowski a Polish man. He was baptized into the Church in 1884 by Canon Powell and went on to become famous for the reredos at All Souls College Oxford, and also the reredos at the restored Parish Church. There is a letter in the Church records showing that he made the carvings (about 1000 of them) for a mere £56! Each pier and capital in the nave is different. For instance, we are told that at the time of the building there lived at Watermoor House an Admiral Talbot who had a pew on the north side of the nave. The sculptor, in carving the nearest capital, introduced a stone Noah's Ark into the foliage, in an allusion to the Admiral's nautical profession. In fact on the pier nearest to the pulpit can be seen Noah's Ark built into the eastern side showing a dove being released and on the west side of the pier is another Ark showing the dove returning. The dove often being used to represent the Holy Spirit descending to earth and ascending into heaven.
Noah's Ark
Watermoor House had been built in c.1835 by the famous Savannah architect William Jay for Joseph Randolph Mullings (MP for Cirencester 1848-59) but in 1850 it was let to the Admiral. Noah's Ark also appears in the east rose window of the north chancel aisle though it is felt that this has no connection with the Ark on the pier near the pulpit.
The Bells
Messrs. J Taylor and Company, of Loughborough, installed the bells piecemeal over several years, the earliest being placed in 1887 and weighing 20cwt and the latest in 1901 4.2cwt. It was often difficult for the ringers down below where four of the ropes were too close to each other for careful ringing. This was later corrected to a design by a Mr. Peter Holden, the present captain of the Bellringers, in 1989. The ropes now hang in a better circle solving this problem. This was much later in the history of the Church and the bells are covered in more detail in a later article.
Four years
The Church took four years to build and at the time of its Consecration had neither spire nor a complete south aisle. The spire, which cost £500, and is some 150Ft (45m) in height, was added in 1852 at the sole expense of the Hon. William Lennox Bathurst; while the south aisle, which reached only three quarters of the building, was extended to its whole length in November 1860 at a cost of £900, funded by public subscription.
Iron Gates
The fine iron gates were constructed to a design by a Mr. Christopher Bishop (architect) who based it on the vesica in the reredos, which surrounds Christ. The working design and ironwork was carried out by Mr. Michael Roberts - Art Ironworker of Miserden, and added much later on. More on these and the removal of the path steps in a later edition.
If Canon Powell could know (and perhaps he does) how Holy Trinity Church has developed, I feel sure he would rejoice as his successors have done. And no doubt some of the children from the Yellow and Blue Schools, who walked over the newly laid foundations, became "the living stones" of this lively Church, and it is a matter for thankfulness that there has been no lack of enthusiastic successors to them.
Part 3
In the next part of this series I will be looking at the Consecration of the Church. It will probably be difficult to cover all the memorable events that have taken place at Holy Trinity Church Watermoor, but I will attempt to cover as much as I can in bringing you, the reader, up to date with most of the history of this lovely Church.
Many thanks to Tony Clack for this contribution
See
Part 1 : The Beginnings of the Idea
Part 2 : The Construction
Part 3 : The Consecration
Part 4 : The Church Layout and Additions
Part 5 : The Church Windows
Part 6 : Sights, Sounds & Timing - the Bells
Part 7 : Further Assets & the Curate Register |
