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Friendless Churches

18 Feb, 9 tweets, 4 min read

Our story began on a roadside outside Halifax.

By the 1960s, Old St Matthew’s was elegant, forlorn and empty. Its days were numbered.

The Bishop of Wakefield called for its demolition. We knew it had to be saved. And we would fight for it tooth and nail.

#thread

Built in 1775, Old St Matthew’s was a neo-classical preaching box. In 1875, a new church was built a few hundred yards away. No longer needed, it slowly slipped into decay. A serious storm damaged the vulnerable building. After that, it was prey to thieves and vandals.

2/

A blot on the landscape. Surplus to requirements. A dangerous structure. The Bishop of Wakefield pressed for the demolition of the church.

We fought for years. Realising the Bishop would not back down, we implored that the tower alone be saved for posterity.

3/

The Bishop relented. The church was demolished. The ragged, partially demolished tower came to us. But the loss is keen: The internal gallery structure was of cast-iron. The earliest surviving example of cast-iron used in this way is St James, Toxteth, finished in 1775.

4/

St Matthew’s church was also finished in 1775. So, we lost a constructionally pioneering - beautiful - building by adventurous builder William Mallinson of Halifax. Mallinson is buried here - in the churchyard of the church he designed.

5/

@SearchingForAnn

The Friends saved the monuments, benefaction boards and a foundation stone dated 1529. These are safe within the tower. They include memorials to the Walker family - including @SearchingForAnn

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The demolition of Old St Matthew's was a pivotal moment in our history - and it was captured in these images by our founder, Ivor Bulmer Thomas.

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We don’t receive public funding in England, but we take on more places of worship every year when they close.

We’re always grateful for any support you might be able to give.

friendsoffriendlesschurches.org.uk/join-us/make-a…

(Not being presumptuous, but, thank you.)

8/

@FOSMchurchyard

Also: we must give a special shout out to @FOSMchurchyard - the wonderful group that care for the churchyard surrounding Old St Matthew’s... all 2.2 acres and approx. 11,000 burials. They do tremendous work. ♥️

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More from @friendschurches

Friendless Churches

@friendschurches

20 Feb

We’re busy repairing the windows at St Mary’s, Long Crichel, Dorset.

In the plain-glazed leaded lights, the lead cames, which hold the glass in place had perished and distorted, meaning that, in some places the glass was loose and in others, it was under great stress.

#thread

Our glazier has removed the entire windows to his workshop, and is carefully renewing all the leadwork in this beautiful rippling lead pattern. He is also replacing broken quarries (sections of glass) – some are plain, others are painted with a simple trefoil motif.

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The stained-glass windows at the church are all in good condition, but one panel featuring a heraldic lion needs some repair. Out of the window and up close, it’s astonishing to see the detail on the lion up close – usually it’s tucked up high in the transept tracery.

3/

Read 4 tweets

Friendless Churches

@friendschurches

19 Feb

Yesterday we shared the story of how we came to care for the solitary tower of Old St Matthew's in Lightcliffe, West Yorkshire.

Although the rest of the church has gone forever, stories of the people who gathered there remain. And one of those is a love story ...

#thread

St Matthew's church and tower was still new when the Walker family of Lightcliffe baptised Ann Walker there in 1803. 25 yrs later, after her brother's sudden death on his honeymoon, Ann and her sister inherited the family's estate, Crow Nest (less than a mile from St Matthew's).

At around the same time, in nearby Halifax, another heiress, Anne Lister, known locally as 'Captain Tom Lister' (and later 'Gentleman Jack'), took charge of her family home, Shibden Hall.

Ann and Anne had known each other as neighbours for some time ...

Read 7 tweets

Friendless Churches

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16 Feb

Can you hear the PANCAKE BELL?

Church bells have traditionally been rung on Shrove Tuesday at around 11 am to call people to church, where they could be shriven before the start of Lent. But by the 16th C, this shriving bell was already associated with ...

... the delicious sights, smells and tastes of pancakes hissing and sizzling on a griddle over the fire, as people used up the last of their eggs and fats before 40 days of fasting.

In 1620, popular poet and waterman John Taylor wrote about the powerful Pavlovian effects of the pancake bell:

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Friendless Churches

@friendschurches

14 Feb

Brithdir has powers of transportation.

Behind a thicket of fleshy, fuchsia rhododendrons, a rugged granite church hides. Inside, the stippled plaster walls are daubed in burnt sienna, the ceiling soars in royal azure. But the Mediterranean vibe doesn’t end there...

#thread

St Mark’s, Brithdir was built in the 1890s. Louisa Richards commissioned Henry Wilson to design the church in memory of her husband, the Rev’d Charles Tooth, founder of St Mark’s church in Florence. He had died within a few months of their marriage.

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Wilson was inspired by Tooth’s legacy in Florence, but also by “those delightfully simple churches just south of the Alps”.

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Friendless Churches

@friendschurches

13 Feb

On the evening of 13 February 1923, wireless owners in Cymru (there were just 200 with *official* receiving licenses) could tune in to hear the BBC's first ever Welsh broadcast, transmitted from one room in an old Cardiff cinema.

/thread

At 9.30 pm, their homes would have been filled with the haunting sound of 'Dafydd y Garreg Wen' ('David of the White Rock'), performed live by baritone Mostyn Thomas. It was the first Welsh language song to play on the air.

👇Programme announced in Western Mail 10 Feb 1923

In the 1970s, Mostyn Thomas recalled his nerves that night dealing with the rudimentary technology:

"I hardly had any time to practice, which made me extremely nervous, as in those days microphones weren't simple things to use.”
But they made it “by the skin of our teeth."

Read 8 tweets

Friendless Churches

@friendschurches

12 Feb

Eastwell church in Kent was once a place of great importance. Royals were regulars. Queen Victoria enjoyed being pulled across the frozen lake there in her sledge-chair. And in the churchyard, are the remains of Richard III’s illegitimate son, Richard Plantagenet…

#thread

It’s thought Richard III fathered three children out of wedlock and that this Richard was one. For years, Richard worked as a bricklayer at Eastwell Park for Sir Thomas Moyle. In his late 70s, he was seen reading a book in Latin. Only then did he reveal his secret...

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He told Sir Thomas that growing up, he didn’t know his parents. He had been brought up by a schoolmaster and was assisted by a gentleman who paid for his schooling and was interested in his well-being.

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Read 7 tweets

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