a survey of the architectural work of sir george gilbert scott in boston and the surrounding
TRANSCRIPT
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.”
A plea for the faithful restoration of our ancient churches pub 1850
“…one who keeps constantly in view
the preservation of the sacred relics
of Christian art…”
A plea for the faithful restoration of our ancient churches pub 1850
“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…”
A plea for the faithful restoration of our ancient churches pub 1850
“The country has been, and continues to be,
actually devastated with destruction under the
name of restoration.”
A plea for the faithful restoration of our ancient churches pub 1850
“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...”
A plea for the faithful restoration of our ancient churches pub 1850
“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…”
Personal and Professional Recollections
of George Gilbert Scott pub 1879
“In a few months we were engaged, although
without any near prospect of marriage.”
The Long Engagement – Arthur Hughes 1854
Personal and Professional Recollections
of George Gilbert Scott pub 1879
“…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)
Personal and Professional Recollections
of George Gilbert Scott pub 1879
“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”
Personal and Professional Recollections
of George Gilbert Scott pub 1879
”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?
A plea for the faithful restoration of our ancient churches pub 1850
“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”