A survey of the architectural work of Sir George Gilbert Scott in Boston and the surrounding

George Gilbert Scott

and the Scott family in Boston

Sources used – GGS memoirs

Sources used – GGS manifesto

Lincolnshire Chronicle

“A public meeting was held in the Assembly

Rooms to receive the final report of the

Restoration Committee…”

Sources used – newspapers and documents

Who was George Gilbert Scott?

The greatest architect of the

Victorian Age – and one of the

greatest British architects ever

• 52 major public buildings

• 55 domestic buildings

• 67 new churches and cathedrals

• 62 major church and cathedral

restorations

• Worked on 800 buildings worldwide

Albert Memorial and

St Pancras Station

Foreign & Commonwealth Office

and Glasgow University

Great Hall Bombay University and

Christchurch Cathedral New Zealand

“From Greenland’s icy mountains to India’s coral

strand…”

Family of architects

• George Gilbert Scott 1811 – 78

• Son George Gilbert Scott Junior 1839 - 97

• Son John Oldrid Scott 1841 – 1913

• Grandson Charles Marriot Oldrid Scott 1880 -

1952

• Grandson Giles Gilbert Scott 1880 – 1960

• Grandson Adrian Gilbert Scott 1882 – 1963

• Great Grandson Richard Gilbert Scott b 1923

The Haters

• Formulaic

• Destructive (!)

• Old-fashioned

• Pastiche

• Fantasist

• Intellectually dishonest

Dan Cruikshank is a hater

Pevsner must also be considered a hater

Why is George Gilbert Scott

so hated?

• He promoted Gothic as a national style, whereas Modernism is international

• GGS was profoundly religious whereas most architects today are secular

• GGS is popular today whereas Modernism is elitist and not popular

The cult of the

numinous

The Oxford Movement

Pugin, Pusey, John Keble – main pic the GGS church at Nocton

A plea for the faithful restoration of our ancient churches pub 1850

“Every ancient church, however simple and

rustic, must then be viewed as a portion of the

material of Christian art – as one stone set

apart for the foundation of its revival.”


“…one who keeps constantly in view

the preservation of the sacred relics

of Christian art…”


“I am convinced that our English Church is par

eminence the casket of Divine truth in our

day, and the centre from which we may hope

it will be diffused…”


“The country has been, and continues to be,

actually devastated with destruction under the

name of restoration.”


“I need hardly say that the first step towards

restoring the chancel, to its legitimate uses is to

reform… the ancient choir, so that they might

return to their right position in the chancel...”


“Where details are lost… let hints be searched

for from churches of corresponding age in the

same neighbourhood.”

Connections with Boston

• GGS Designed Skirbeck Workhouse 1837

• GGS Married Caroline Oldrid in St Botolph’s (Boston Stump) 1838

• Called Boston his “third home”

• GGS Restored Boston Stump – 1845 onward

• GGS Designed Holy Trinity Church 1846 – 48

• GGS Restored St Nicholas Skirbeck 1869 – 75

• JOS Restored and extended Shodfriars Hall 1873

• GGS Jnr Restored St Leodegar Wyberton 1880

Skirbeck St John’s Workhouse

Personal and Professional Recollections

of George Gilbert Scott pub 1879

“My father’s first cousin, the daughter of his eldest uncle, William,

had married Mr Oldrid of Boston, and… had brought her son, John

Henry to Gawcott as a pupil… She had three daughters and…

my present dear wife, the youngest of these cousins…”



“In a few months we were engaged, although

without any near prospect of marriage.”

The Long Engagement – Arthur Hughes 1854



“…she had seen much to subdue and chasten her spirits, and had

become deeply religious”.

What was the religious experience that made Caroline Oldrid deeply

religious, and was this connected to the restoration of Boston Stump?

Wedding

• 5th June 1838 St. Botolphs Church, Boston, Lincolnshire

• GEORGE GILBERT SCOTT of full age bachelor Architect of St. James’s Westminster, Middlesex (Father THOMAS SCOTT)

• Married CAROLINE OLDRID full age spinster of South Place, Boston (Father JOHN OLDRID Draper)

• Witnesses were JOHN OLDRID and EUPHEMIA OLDRID

• JOHN HENRY OLDRID of Westminster conducted the service (he was later to join the staff at The Stump as Lecturer and then become Vicar of Alford – which GGS restored in 1867)



“My wife made, in most years, long sojourns

with her parents at Boston, and my hasty runs

down there were a great relief and pleasure”



”Boston… became a third home to me”

First restoration of Boston Stump

First restoration of

Boston Stump 1843 - 47• 1843 subscription commenced for repairs of the

church

• George Gilbert Scott “was consulted” and produced a report dated 25th September 1843

• Work commenced on as much of the recommendations in the report as could be afforded by the subscription:

– Roofs repaired and painted.

– Staircases and stair turrets repaired.

– Exterior stonework of the church repaired.

– Pinnacles and finials restored.

– Plastering removed from the interior.– Stone substituted for brick in the clerestory.

– New glazing installed in the windows.

Book (and talk):

A plea for the faithful restoration

of our ancient churches

• George Gilbert Scott’s philosophy

• Ground breaking in terms of

conservation and preservation of

ancient buildings

• A case study based on St Botolphs?

Second restoration of Boston

Stump 1851-53

Second restoration of

Boston Stump 1851-53

• “Mr Scott’s report suggested many repairs and restorations… deferred until a more convenient time”.

• 20th March 1851 a meeting of parishioners formed a committee to raise money for “further repairs and restorations”.

• When the money was raised the task was placed under the management of GG Place as architect and George Gilbert Scott as Consulting Architect.

• Fitting up the entire nave with convenient seats.

• Removal of the west gallery.

• Relocation of the organ in the north west corner.

• East window stained glass.

• Chancel stalls cleaned and refitted and provided with canopies.

• Ringing floor removed and vaulting installed further up.

• Church floor lowered and relaid, and heating installed.

Holy Trinity Church Boston

1846 - 48

History in 1948 by Rev CJC Marchant

St Nicholas Skirbeck 1869 - 75

Shodfriars Hall (JOS) 1874

Shodfriars and St Pancras

Shodfriars interior

– then and now

St Leodegar Wyberton 1879 - 81

• Underpinned

floor

• Put in clerestory

windows

• Note the Apse –

18th century

All Saints Nocton 1860 - 63

St Paul’s Fulney, Spalding 1877- 80

The mystery

of the pews

The mystery of the pews

• When considering the restoration of St

Botolphs in the mid-nineteenth century there

is a mystery

• The church is filled with Victorian pews but

we do not know exactly where they came

from

• We know they date from the second

restoration.

• But we do not know who designed them or

who commissioned them.

The Pevsner authorised version

But Pevsner is not infallible and he sometimes gets things wrong

Lincolnshire Chronicle 24 Feb 1854

“A new font has also

been designed by Mr

Place, of great size,

octagonal, and raised

on a lofty base of

steps…”

An example of how myths and erroneous assumptions can arise

The font in the Stump was NOT

by place, it was by Pugin!

If the font has been wrongly

ascribed to GG Place, is it

possible the pews have been

wrongly ascribed to GG Place?

• The pews are not stock benches that have been produced in a factory

• They are all unique with carved bench-ends decorated with tracery

• Where did they come from?

Key question:

Were there TWO restorations in the

mid-Victorian period

or

ONE restoration separated by a

period of renewed fund-

raising? NEED DATES

Document

dated 20th

March 1851

for the

subscription

that raised

money for the

second

restoration

Included in the committee is the Rev John Henry

Oldrid, cousin and brother-in-law of George Gilbert

Scott and part of the clergy of the Stump.

Final accounts for the

second restoration, dated

1854

Included in the final accounts is a payment to William Cooper – the same

builder used by GGS in the first restoration

Lincolnshire Chronicle 24 Feb 1854

“On the 3rd May 1851 George Gordon Place Esq of Nottingham was

unanimously appointed the architect, to conduct the works. At the

same time George Gilbert Scott Esq was also requested to act as

consulting architect. On the 25th July 1851 Mr William Mansfield

Cooper of Derby was accepted as the contractor to execute the

works… and on the 18th August following, Mr Cooper signified that

he was prepared to commence the works on Monday the 25th of that month.”

Why does it matter where the

pews came from?


“Where any of the ancient seats or other woodwork

remain, they ought to be carefully preserved and

repaired… If none remain, it is better to follow some

suitable patterns from neighbouring churches, that to

make new designs or copy those of another district.”

St Nicholas Walcot 14th centurySt Andrew Pickworth 14th

century

Medieval benchends in Lincolnshire

Also see similar examples in nearby Threekingham church

In 1851 George Gilbert

Scott was busy with the

Great Exhibition (Crystal

Palace). One of the most

“conspicuous” items in

the Crystal Palace, in the

main nave, was a model

of the church GGS had

designed for Hamburg.

He is also concerned in 1851 with the

foundation of a school for carvers who would

work from medieval examples. Due to GGS

energies this was founded at Cannon Row

Westminster.

Ruskin lectured to this school. “Our carvers

taught their art from the best ancient

models”. “No movement ever made in our

day, had equalled this in its effects both

upon workmen and students.” But funds

failed and debts mounted up.

The Prince Consort (Prince Albert) became

Patron of the school and the Home Secretary

Mr Clutton assisted in new funding.

However the school only continued until 1855

when all attention and funding was switched

by the government to the new museum

complex being founded in South Kensington

and the school was merged with the later

Victoria & Albert Museum.

Did the Boston Stump pews

come from George Gilbert

Scott’s carving school?

If yes, their value is immense – as

works of art, as historical artifacts, as

some of the earliest examples of

buildings conservation

Isaiah 44:28:

“Jerusalem shall be

rebuilt and the

temple its

foundation stone”

A survey of the architectural work of Sir George Gilbert Scott in Boston and the surrounding

Documents

Transcript of A survey of the architectural work of Sir George Gilbert Scott in Boston and the surrounding