St Andrew's, Roker (1905-7) is a
Church of England parish church
A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...
in
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It is recognised as one of the finest churches of the first half of the twentieth century and the masterpiece of
Edward Schroeder Prior
Edward Schroeder Prior (1852–1932) was an architect, instrumental in establishing the arts and crafts movement. He was one of the foremost theorists of the second generation of the movement, writing extensively on architecture, art, craftsma ...
. The design of St Andrew's drew together many of the strings of Prior's philosophy and approach to design and building. Three years before commencing St Andrew's, Prior had written that the architect's first purpose was to provide;
"a dignified distinct building dedicated to the service of the Church. Church architecture, least of all, has been able to go beyond the trivial efforts of traditional picturesqueness; least of all our building it has been monumental".
At St Andrew's, Prior achieved a monumental church free from style. His experiments in structure, concern for materials and means of building reached their apogee at St Andrew's. The church was
listed Grade I
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
in 1950.
Origins
Throughout the 19th century Sunderland's population had been rapidly expanding. By the end of the century only the area around
Roker Park
Roker Park was a football ground in Roker, Sunderland, England, which was the home of Sunderland A.F.C. from 1898 to 1997, before the club moved to the Stadium of Light. Its final capacity was around 22,500, with only a small part being seated; ...
remained undeveloped. The development of the area prompted the need for a new church. The
Roker
Roker () is a tourist resort and affluent area of Sunderland, North East England, bounded on the south by the River Wear and Monkwearmouth, on the east by the North Sea, to the west by Fulwell and on the north by Seaburn. It is administered ...
and
Fulwell New Church Committee was set up in 1903 to raise funds for the church. A local shipbuilder
John Priestman
Sir John Priestman, 1st Baronet (22 March 1855 – 5 August 1941) was a British shipbuilder and charitable benefactor.
Priestman was born in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, the son of Robert Priestman (1824–1867), a baker, and Jane Smith (c.183 ...
offered £6000 towards the construction in memorial to his mother. As conditions of the offer Priestman required the church to be completed by 31 December 1905, to retain the right to approve the arrangements of the new church and to provide the living for a vicar of his own choice.
Prior seemed fated to win the commission.
B. F. Wescott, Prior's tutor at Cambridge, had been
Bishop of Durham
The Bishop of Durham is the Anglican bishop responsible for the Diocese of Durham in the Province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler has been the Bishop of Durham ...
until his death in 1901. His successor, the Reverend
Handley Moule
Handley Carr Glyn Moule (23 December 18418 May 1920) was an evangelical Anglican theologian, writer, poet, and Bishop of Durham from 1901 to 1920.
Biography
Moule was schooled at home before entering Trinity College, Cambridge in 1860, where ...
, was an original trustee of Prior's
Henry Martyn Hall, Cambridge. The vicar of the adjacent
Monkwearmouth
Monkwearmouth is an area of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear in North East England. Monkwearmouth is located at the north side of the mouth of the River Wear. It was one of the three original settlements on the banks of the River Wear along with Bisho ...
church the Revd. D. S. Boutflower was a close friend of Prior's brother Charles.
Priestman appears to have been a religious radical, heavily influenced by the late 19th century liturgical movement that sought a return to the importance of the word and communion, rather than placing an emphasis on the mysteries of the church and sacraments. These views were reflected in his design requirements for the church. He wished the church to seat 700, and most importantly for the entire congregation to have an uninterrupted view of the altar and pulpit, with no chancel screen and good acoustics. These requirements had a major influence on Prior's design.
The design
![St Andrew, Roker - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/St_Andrew%2C_Roker_-_geograph.org.uk_-_805247.jpg)
The first plan of January 1905 envisaged a nave, side aisles to the north and south, a choir, a square-ended chancel, short transepts and porches to the north, south and east sides. The design provided for a capacity of 590. Priestman wanted 700. Prior re-worked the design adding a morning chapel and moving the south porch to the west. This arrangement provided for 688.
The hilltop exposed site by the sea and availability of stone suggested a similar structure and approach to that taken at
Holy Trinity Church, Bothenhampton in
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...
. However dressed stone was too expensive and St Andrew's was designed as a reinforced concrete building. The use of the material has a significant influence on the design, for example the nave arches are shaped to ease the pouring of concrete.
The church has a five-bayed nave 52' wide with an extraordinary single span roof with thick, deep arches that spring low from massive walls. The chancel is narrow, shallow and tapered towards the east end. The nave walls are 3'6" thick at floor level, which reduce to 2'6" at window sill height.
The transverse nave arches basically follow the design at Holy Trinity but the span of the roof is 42' instead of 29'. They are brought down into the church as internal buttresses. The buttresses are pierced to make side passages, the weight being transferred to paired columns of a pattern of Saxon origin, with simple cushion capitals similar to those depicted in
William Lethaby
William Richard Lethaby (18 January 1857 – 17 July 1931) was an English architect and architectural historian whose ideas were highly influential on the late Arts and Crafts and early Modern movements in architecture, and in the fields of con ...
's ''The Church of Sancta Sophia, Constantinople''.
The stone masonry is of local
Marsden limestone from a quarry three miles north of the site. Fulwell Quarry was nearer but this was highly mechanised. Prior initiated a rediscovery of masonry skills in conjunction with the quarry company. Prior,
Randall Wells
Albert Randall Wells (1877–1942) was an English Arts and Crafts movement, Arts and Crafts architect, craftsman and inventor.
He was the son of an architect, Arthur Wells of Hastings. After a practical training in joinery and founding as well a ...
and the masons explored the limits of the stone through the construction and adapted the design accordingly. The roof is covered in
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
slate.
The interior and exterior finish is of unplastered uncoursed random-rubble with only the quoins and voussoirs dressed to a flat surface. In early plans it appeared to be the intention to leave the walls as exposed concrete. The chancel was originally left with its shutter marks displayed until
MacDonald Gill
Leslie MacDonald Gill (6 October 1884 – 14 January 1947), commonly known as MacDonald Gill or Max Gill, was a noted early-twentieth-century British graphic designer, cartographer, artist and architect.
Biography
Born in Brighton, Gill was the ...
implemented Prior's suggested decorative scheme.
Exterior
A prominent square tower was located over the chancel aligned with the road leading to the sea. Prior regarded "a square-topped spireless tower was an expression of "democratic growth". The positioning of the tower over the chancel blurred the distinction between nave and chancel, clergy and parishioners. The tower has with angle turrets that rise to pinnacles above the castellated parapet. There are pairs of round headed openings on each face that open to ventilation shafts leading to either side of the altar. The bell openings have corbelled lintels. To the north east corner of the tower there is a round tower staircase that acts as a buttress. The tower forms a memorial to Priestman's mother.
The windows and their openings make a major contribution to the character of the church. Those of the nave have stone block mullions with simple feathering. They are
crossed braced with transoms with triangles above formed by simple canted stone. The small windows of the tower show a distinct Saxon influence, directly quoting
St Peter's Church, Barton-upon-Humber. The openings are spanned by two stones meeting at the apex. They project forward to form a rain hood. In the chancel the tracery is more complex with stepped 'capitals' formed by three blocks in the lower tracery each faintly suggesting the Crucifixion. The windows are glazed in Prior's Early English Glass, except for the chancel east window and the
Lady Chapel
A Lady chapel or lady chapel is a traditional British term for a chapel dedicated to "Our Lady", Mary, mother of Jesus, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church. The chapels are also known as a Mary chapel or a Marian chapel, an ...
. The iron glazing bars were made by Priestman's yard.
Externally the church appears simple and massive. The nave wall is set back from window sill level upwards allowing light further into the interior but creating a visual impression that the building is rooted in the ground and that the walls are much thicker than they are. Buttresses are continued up between the windows to near apex height. Roofed pinnacles at parapet level imply their structural continuation. The parapet itself is high and continuous around the nave and transepts suppressing the verticality of the building.
The tower, unusually located over the chancel, has four hexagonal corner towers with two small openings in each face. They were originally capped with pyramid roofs, but these have been removed due to wind damage. Each face of the tower has a broad shallow bell chamber window. The nave roof appears to be carried through the tower to a vestigial nave roof projecting from its east end.
The porches are simple lean-to structures to form entrances.
Services
Ventilation, heating and lighting were integrated into the structure. In addition to the ventilation shafts in the tower that worked on a stack effect, heating shafts were provided within the mass concrete walls connecting to a
plenum
Plenum may refer to:
* Plenum chamber, a chamber intended to contain air, gas, or liquid at positive pressure
* Plenism, or ''Horror vacui'' (physics) the concept that "nature abhors a vacuum"
* Plenum (meeting), a meeting of a deliberative assem ...
system running below the floor to a chamber below the chancel where high indirect radiators were located. A Blackman fan was capable of producing of air per hour into the church.
Furnishings
Prior called on a range of associates from the Movement creating a range of very fine fittings. The
reredos
A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images.
The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for ex ...
is a tapestry made to a design of
Edward Burne-Jones
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August, 183317 June, 1898) was a British painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, Ford Madox Brown and Holman Hun ...
, ''
The Adoration of the Magi
The Adoration of the Magi or Adoration of the Kings is the name traditionally given to the subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the Biblical Magi, three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having found Jesus by fol ...
'', and was made by
Morris & Co
Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. (1861–1875) was a furnishings and decorative arts manufacturer and retailer founded by the artist and designer William Morris with friends from the Pre-Raphaelites. With its successor Morris & Co. (1875–194 ...
, as is the chancel carpet.
Ernest Gimson
Ernest William Gimson (; 21 December 1864 – 12 August 1919) was an English furniture designer and architect. Gimson was described by the art critic Nikolaus Pevsner as "the greatest of the English architect-designers". Today his reputatio ...
provided the altar rails, Bishop's chair, altar and processional crosses, candlesticks, pulpit, choir seats and lectern. The foundation stone was carved by
Eric Gill
Arthur Eric Rowton Gill, (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was an English sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Although the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Gill as ″the greatest artist-cra ...
. After Prior's death MacDonald Gill painted the dome over the chancel to Prior's sketch scheme, depicting the days of the Creation.
The
baptistry
In Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned structure surrounding the baptismal ...
contains a stone bowl font by Wells with carved hexagonal piers and a wood cover by
Robert (Mouseman) Thompson of Kilburn.
The walls of the nave are panelled in oak to 7' 8" high with boards of uneven width, fixed with hand made nails.
Henry Payne designed the glass in the two main windows in the church: the east window which depicts the Ascension and the south transept window depicting the biblical text “Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden”. In the lower lights of the south transept window, Payne drew his figures in contemporary dress and in the upper lights a group of angels are shown carrying Christ's cross.
[Catalogue for the exhibition "Christopher Whall 1849-1924: Arts & Crafts Stained Glass Worker" organised by the William Morris Gallery, London Borough of Waltham Forest from 17 November 1979 to 3 February 1980 included several Henry Payne designs for stained glass windows which were displayed at that exhibition.]
A fine peal of 10 bells was installed in 1948 as a War Memorial. These bells were cast in Croydon by
Gillett & Johnston
Gillett & Johnston was a clockmaker and bell foundry based in Croydon, England from 1844 until 1957. Between 1844 and 1950, over 14,000 tower clocks were made at the works. The company's most successful and prominent period of activity as a bel ...
. The largest, or tenor, bell weighs 22cwt 2qtrs 26 lbs, or 2550 lbs, or 1150 kg.
Construction
As at
Home Place, Kelling
Home Place, also called Voewood, is an Arts and Crafts style house in High Kelling, near Holt, Norfolk, England, designed (1903–5) by Edward Schroeder Prior. It is a Grade II* listed building. The gardens, also designed by Prior, are Grade ...
in
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
, Prior disposed of the normal method of procurement, there was no overall contract. Contracts and estimates were issued and received as the works proceeded and as was necessary. Priestman & Co, the shipbuilding concern of the church's main benefactor, were responsible for various works including all the iron work and the main doors.
Prior and
Randall Wells
Albert Randall Wells (1877–1942) was an English Arts and Crafts movement, Arts and Crafts architect, craftsman and inventor.
He was the son of an architect, Arthur Wells of Hastings. After a practical training in joinery and founding as well a ...
acted in partnership. Wells acted as resident architect sending drawings of details to Prior at regular intervals. Prior approved or altered the details as he desired. Prior was careful to give full credit to Wells.
Organ
Priestman was an accomplished organist with an organ in his private residence and seems to have ensured that the church's organ was well placed in the North Transept. Ostensibly it is a fine
Norman & Beard organ but it has been discovered to be the
Forster and Andrews
Forster and Andrews was a British organ building company between 1843 and 1924.
The company was formed by James Alderson Forster (1818–1886) and Joseph King Andrews (1820–1896), who had been employees of the London organ builder J. C. Bisho ...
organ from
St Wulfram's Church, Grantham
St Wulfram's Church, Grantham, is the Anglican parish church of Grantham in Lincolnshire, England. The church is a Grade I listed building and has the second tallest spire in Lincolnshire after Louth's parish church.
In his book ''England's ...
.
Completion
The church was finished on 17 July 1907.
Priestman Hall
To the west, the church has a very robust parish hall in the same style as the main building (though it doesn't have the upturned boat shape), called The Priestman Hall and constructed in 1928. It is separately listed as Grade II.
Lych gate
A
lych gate
A lychgate, also spelled lichgate, lycugate, lyke-gate or as two separate words lych gate, (from Old English ''lic'', corpse), also ''wych gate'', is a gateway covered with a roof found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style ch ...
was added to the south-east corner of the site as a War Memorial in 1920. With the churchyard walls, it was listed as Grade II (but the listing text states "probably 1908").
[
]
References
Sources
* Garnham, Trevor; ''St Andrew's Church, Roker: Edward Prior'', Architecture in detail, Phaidon, 1996
External links
Parish website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roker, St Andrew's Church
Church of England church buildings in Tyne and Wear
Grade I listed churches in Tyne and Wear
Churches in the City of Sunderland
E. S. Prior buildings
Sunderland