St Philip's, Caerdeon, Gwynedd: the first church of 2021 to be saved.

Since closing in 2014, we've been working to take this church into our care. In 2019, we appealed to our supporters to help us fund the most urgent works.

You did it. St St Philip's is protected.

#thread
Tucked between Barmouth and Bontddu, St Philip’s is a church of extraordinary individuality and importance. It has been described as rustic Mediterranean, Alpine, of French Basque influence. Curiously, it’s just a stone’s throw from St Mark’s, Brithdir – another exotic church.
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St Philip's rubble-slate construction dates to 1861. It includes a loggia with stone benches and pairs of round-headed, Romanesque windows, and a bellcote-cum-chimney, which shelters four bells that are rung by large wheel found in a shelter to the north of the church.

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Inside, St Philip’s is quite simple. The walls are white-washed. The pews are plain. Decoration is saved for the sanctuary, where the mosaics and marbles give a Byzantine feel. The stained glass was added later – most notably, the Crucifixion (1892) by Kempe in the east window
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The church was designed by Rev’d John Louis Petit. Whilst not a household name like his contemporary John Ruskin, Petit was one of the leading architectural writers of his age and one of the few who resisted the ‘copy Gothic’ that was so fashionable in the 19th century.

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Petit charted the building of St Philip’s in watercolour. We are incredibly lucky that these are saved @NLWales. Work began shortly before 22 July 1861, and was more or less complete by 27 August 1862. The church took a little over a year to build.

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St Philip’s is Petit’s only surviving building. It is utterly unique. In 2018 – four years after it closed for worship, and its future hung in the balance – Cadw upgraded its status to Grade I.

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Thanks to generous donations we re-roofed St Philip’s in 2020. It’s now watertight. But there is much more to be done. This is only the beginning, but we are so happy to have been able to give this church a future.

You can read more here: friendsoffriendlesschurches.org.uk/caerdeon/

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Finally:
All these wonderful photos are by @fotofacade.

I’m sorry this thread took about 2hrs to full upload - my internet just would not cooperate. Argh.
... And I’m sorry about all the typos...

Tomorrow will be better!

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More from @friendschurches

25 Feb
Long Crichel is a small and rather sleepy village in the Cranborne Chase.
So shockwaves must have rippled through the lanes in 1945 when a group of artists, critics, authors and gay rights activists moved in to the Long Crichel House… right next to the church.
#thread #LGBTHM21 Image
Long Crichel House had been the church rectory until 1945 when it was sold to music critic and novelist, Eddy Sackville-West; his partner, music critic, Desmond Shawe-Taylor and Edward Eardley Knollys of the Bloomsbury Set. Soon, literary critic, Raymond Mortimer joined them.

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The new owners of Long Crichel House had a wide circle of creative and influential friends who would meet here. The house – and village - became a retreat for like-minded people, including writers, composers, poets, artists and actors.

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22 Feb
The artist John Piper was enchanted by the Welsh landscape - the coast, the craggy hills, ruined castles, ancient churches.

Piper was a founding member of the Friends. And whilst he travelled and painted throughout the UK, he had a very special love for Pembrokeshire.

#thread
John and his wife, Myfanwy, first discovered Pembrokeshire in the 1930s. In 1962, they bought a ruined cottage at Garn Fawr. The following year, John contributed photographs to the South-West Wales Shell Guide.

2/
Throughout the 1970s and 80s, he found great inspiration in Pembrokeshire's churches.

In 1985, he made this gouache and ink sketch of the interior of our church, St David's, Manordeifi.

3/
Read 5 tweets
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.

2/
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
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 Image
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). Image
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
18 Feb
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 Image
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.

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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/ Image
Read 9 tweets
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:
Read 5 tweets

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