Busbridge
near Godalming, Surrey - St John the Baptist Church
19th century
Click on photos to enlarge.
Notes in italics from Surrey by Ian Nairn and Nikolaus Pevsner,
Revised by Bridget Cherry (1971),
Yale University Press, New Haven
and London. |
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The
church and churchyard contains several objects designed by Lutyens,
including the grave of
Gertrude Jekyll (at bottom of page) who lived at the nearby Munstead
Wood, designed by Lutyens. |
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By
Scott, probably G.G. Jun. (George Gilbert Scott, the
Younger), 1865-7, as it is a good example of the masculine style
and response to the genius loci of this rare architect. Bargate stone,
very pretty shingled central tower, gabled transept ends (an architectural
composition of lancets) without the transepts to go with them, i.e. simply
in the line of the nave walls, giving some odd cross-lighting effects
inside. |
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Inside
of the non-existent 'transept'. Then nave and chancel, looking east. The
altar frontal is by William Morris c.1870. Last picture is looking west. The
inside space firm but flavourless, and hence not a bad vehicle for the
late C19 additions done under the influence of Gertrude Jekyll. |
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First
the stained glass in E (1st row) and W
windows (2nd row) by Burne-Jones, made by
Morris & Co., 1899, with familiar blues and greens. The W window is
especially effective with its cinquefoil roundel above filled with a
delightful pattern of foliage. (The chancel S windows have Morris &
Co. glass of 1905 ... 3rd row). |
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Far
more remarkable the mysterious and moving rood and chancel screen
combined, made in iron by J. Starkie Gardner from designs by Lutyens of
1897, installed in 1899. It fills the upper parts of the knobbly Middle
Pointed chancel arch, a system of slender uprights ending in mid air in a
complex set of loops and scrolls and supporting, clear of the frame,
Christ with outstretched arms above two kneeling angels face to face - the
latter the favourite Art Nouveau composition acting as the roots of a
tree-like composition which leads to the figure of Christ above. With
exquisite calculation Lutyens arranged that the
composition is always seen against the dark chancel roof, to increase the
sense of mysterious transparency, and then adjusted the forward projection
of the figure of Christ so that it always dominates while still remaining
part of the composition. In the end perhaps the calculation is too
exquisite; a pretty religious fairy-tale, remote from reality. Perhaps
there was some blockage in Lutyens which always prevented him making the
leap from wit to true feeling. The quality of the carving is hard to see
from ground level but it is probably fairly sweet. Luxurious marble slabs
set into a small stone screen below, increasing the sense of contrast.
They must also be by Lutyens. |
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In the churchyard a war
memorial by Lutyens, 1920-2, slim and elegant, with the same
over-developed sense of volumetric relations as his Cenotaph
in Whitehall. Also by Lutyens tombs to Gertrude Jekyll, died 1932, and Sir
Herbert Jekyll, died 1932, and his wife, died 1937: three tomb slabs in
front and an intricate composition of an urn and stone balustrade behind,
oddly like Soane translated into the blunt obtuse forms of the 1930s. |
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Munstead Wood - Lutyens'
house for Gertrude Jekyll
The
Lutyens Trust - more about Edwin Lutyens
Map
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