St Mary's Church, Wreay is the

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 ...

Wreay Wreay ( ) is a village in the civil parish of St Cuthbert Without, in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. It lies on the River Petteril, and the M6 motorway, A6 trunk road and West Coast Main Line railway all skirt the village. It is ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

. It was designed by Sara Losh in about 1835 and built between 1840 and 1842. It is notable as the earliest known example in Britain of a revival of

Lombard architecture Lombard architecture refers to the architecture of the Kingdom of the Lombards, which lasted from 568 to 774 (with residual permanence in southern Italy until the 10th–11th centuries) and which was commissioned by Lombard kings and dukes. The ar ...

. It is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. Prominent in the churchyard are a mausoleum of Sara Losh's sister, Katharine, and a copy of the

Bewcastle Cross The Bewcastle Cross is an Anglo-Saxon cross which is still in its original position within the churchyard of St Cuthbert's church at Bewcastle, in the English county of Cumbria. The cross, which probably dates from the 7th or early 8th centu ...

Style and inspiration

St Mary's replaces an earlier parish church in Wreay. Losh funded the new church on condition that she was allowed to choose the design. She intended her design to follow the style of

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

s of the

early Church Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and bey ...

. But its style is in fact Lombard, which was a 7th-and 8th-century successor to early Christian architecture and predecessor of Romanesque. Lombard is an Italian style, but the church also includes French features. In the 1830s the architectural fashion for new churches was shifting from Neoclassical to

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

, but Losh chose neither. By the 1830s Britain had a very small number of buildings designed in a revival of

Norman architecture The term Norman architecture is used to categorise styles of Romanesque architecture developed by the Normans in the various lands under their dominion or influence in the 11th and 12th centuries. In particular the term is traditionally used f ...

, which is a form of northern European Romanesque, but these do not seem to have been a direct influence on Losh either. Losh seems to have been inspired by architects in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

who had begun to revive Lombard architecture in the 1820s. She designed her church at the same time as

Romanesque Revival architecture in the United Kingdom Romanesque Revival, Norman Revival or Neo-Norman styles of building in the United Kingdom were inspired by the Romanesque architecture of the 11th and 12th centuries AD. In the United Kingdom it started to appear as an architectural style in the 1 ...

was pioneered by the architects TH Wyatt with the parish church at

Wilton, Wiltshire Wilton is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Wiltshire, England. Lying about west of the city of Salisbury, and until 1889 the county town of Wiltshire, it has a rich heritage dating back to the Anglo-Saxons. The parish had ...

and John Shaw Jr. with Christ Church, Watney Street in the East End of London, but she seems to have developed her ideas independently. Losh and her sister Katherine had been on the Grand Tour. Neither was married. Katherine died in 1835 and Sara dedicated the church to her. In the churchyard is a mausoleum in which is a life-size marble statue of Katherine Losh that was sculpted by David Dunbar based on a sketch supplied by Sara. Dunbar worked locally. Losh innovated liturgically as well as architecturally. She designed the chancel with a freestanding altar, allowing the priest to face his congregation as he presided at the

Eucharist The Eucharist ( ; from , ), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an Ordinance (Christianity), ordinance in ...

. In doing so she followed early Christian practice, and broke with the Anglican tradition of standing either at the north end of the altar or, in the

High church A ''high church'' is a Christian Church whose beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, Christian liturgy, liturgy, and Christian theology, theology emphasize "ritual, priestly authority, ndsacraments," and a standard liturgy. Although ...

Anglican tradition, facing east with one's back to the congregation. The practice became common in Anglican churches after the 1960s but was a radical departure in the 1840s.

Description

The church has a rectangular nave and a semicircular

apsidal In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In Byzant ...

chancel.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti ( ; ), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator, and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brother ...

admired Losh's works in Wreay and described St Mary's church as "extraordinary architectural works" with "a church of a byzantine style and other things ... full of beauty and imaginative detail, though extremely severe and simple" and "much more original than the things done by the young architects now." Losh decorated the church with many carved details both inside and out. Many are of plants or animals: birds, insects, flowers, foliage, corn ears, and a recurring motif of pine cones. A young local stonemason, William Hindson, carved the sculptures. A plaque in the church commemorates him. The style of the sculptures prefigures that of the

Arts and Crafts movement The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...

of the 1890s and 1900s, which coincided with a small-scale revival of

Byzantine Revival architecture Neo-Byzantine architecture (also referred to as Byzantine Revival) was a revival movement, most frequently seen in religious, institutional and public buildings. It incorporates elements of the Byzantine style associated with Eastern and Or ...

. In the architecture and decorative arts of the early 1840s, St Mary's church at Wreay is pioneering and seems to be unique. File:Main Door, St Mary's Church, Wreay - geograph.org.uk - 174080.jpg, Main west door File:Wreay Church - window with insects and birds - geograph.org.uk - 561747.jpg, Stone window surround decorated with insects, birds and pinecones File:Wreay Church - window surround with shells and pine cones - geograph.org.uk - 561740.jpg, Stone window surround decorated with fossils, plants and pinecones File:Gravestone of Katharine and Sarah Losh - geograph.org.uk - 561751.jpg, Gravestone of Katharine and Sarah Losh in the churchyard

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wreay, Mary Church of England church buildings in Cumbria Grade II* listed churches in Cumbria St Cuthbert Without

Style and inspiration

Description

See also

References

Bibliography

External links