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THE CrVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[December, 



ST. SAVIOUR'S CHURCH, LEEDS. 



We copy from the Leeds Intelligencer an account of the new church 

 recently erected in Leeds : we have, however, made one or two omis- 

 sions in the extract. The original abounds in scriptural allusions, 

 makes a vast parade of the piety and humility of the founder, and 

 contains a redundant description of the window paintings. These 

 passages are superfluous in an architectural notice, and need not be 

 reprinted. The language in which they are couched certainly tends 

 to confirm a suspicion that the founders of the new edifice liad in 

 view the propagation, not of the doctrines of the church simply, but 

 of a particular form of them, and that form too which is least accept- 

 able to the great majority of the members of the church. With this 

 opinion, whether accurate or inaccurate, we ourselves have little to 

 do except in examining how far the motives cf the founders have 

 tended to the introduction of architectural features which are not re- 

 quired by architectural propriety of the institutions of the rubric. 



St. Saviour's Church, Leeds, of which the foundation was laid on the 14th 

 of September, 1842, was consecrated on Tuesday, Oct. 28, the Feast of St. 

 Simon and St. Jude, by the Lord Bishop of Ripon. 



The style chosen is that which is acknowledged to be the most perfect 

 form of Gothic architecture — the decorated style. The plan is uniform. The 

 chancel is 42 feet long by 16 wide. The nave is 60 feet in length, by 20 feet 

 in width. In the centre are four piers, from which will spring, when the 

 church is completed, a central tower surmounted by a spire, rising to the 

 height of 280 feet. The transepts are short, in order to bring the whole of 

 the congregation as much as possible within compass of the voice of the 

 reader. There is a lofty porcli on the north side, which contains the font. 

 Besides this entrance, there is a western door, and a door to each of the 

 transepts, and the small priest's door, giving access to the chancel. The 

 chancel is separated from the rest of the church by a carved oak screen of 

 most elaborate workmanship. There is an ascent of one step from the body 

 of the church into the chancel, and the altar is reached by three more steps. 

 On the elevated part, are inserted in the wall, on the south side, the sedilia 

 and piscina, of carved stone of most chaste and elegant workmanship. The 

 details of the former are principally chosen from the Percy shrine, in Bever- 

 ley Minster. The piers of the nave, dividing it into five bays or compart- 

 ments, are plain, but exceedingly light and elegant. Above them is a clere- 

 story, with five triple windows. The roof is of plaister coved — and consists 

 of five compartments. The whole of the internal carving is not finished. 

 The stone blocks are left, which will allow the church to receive the subse- 

 quent enrichment. The same may be said of the exterior, which presents 

 at present rather a naked appearance, from the absence of pinnacles, and the 

 long corbel tables left in plain blocks. On the gables of the chancel and 

 transepts are three beautiful floriated crosses ; and the western end is sur- 

 mounted by a bell gable, with very elaborate details, which has been finished 

 as a specimen of what the whole of this kind of work throughout the church 

 will be when the design is completed. The object of the founder, it is un- 

 derstood, was, as far as the limited means allowed, to do well what was able 

 to be done, leaving the work purposely unfinished, to be completed either by 

 himself, if God should give him the means, or perhaps by another genei ation. 

 The doors are of massive oak. The pulpit is of the same material, and the 

 prayers and lessons are read from an elegant lectern, bearing upon it the 

 emblems of the Four Evangelists. The seats are of deal, stained and var- 

 nished, and are all in the form of moveable open benches. They are secured 

 in their places by large pieces of cork let into the feet of the bench, which 

 by friction prevents any pusliing of the bench from its position without the 

 application of considerable force. It is intended that all the windows shall 

 be filled with stained glass of the richest description. 



The chief merit of the church consists in its proportion and general effect, 

 which, though it is not of very large dimensions, give a grandeur to it totally 

 different from the effect produced in so many modern churches, which have 

 great pretensions to beauty, but are rather pretty models of churches than 

 noble and imposing edifices. It reflects the highest credit on the architect, 

 J. M. Derick, Esq., of Oxford. The painted glass was executed by Mr. 

 O'Connor, late of Bristol, now of London ; and the screen is the work of 

 Mr. Vincent, of London. 



Respecting the architecture of the edifice, not having seen it, nor 

 possessing any information materially more explicit than that given 

 above, we can offer no decisive criticism. One or two points may 

 however be noticed. In the first place, it is clear that the object of 

 the architect has been the construction of a building in exact imita- 

 tion of the ancient Christian model. To this feeling only can be at- 

 tributed tlie introduction of Ihepisctna and sedilia, members nowhere 

 mentioned in the rubric, as far as we are aware, used in our churches, 

 and of which most churches are deficient without any perceptible 

 difficulty in the due performance of the liturgy. And yet with this, 

 to say the least, unnecessary adherence to precedent, we have stained 

 and varnished deal imitation-oak seats and plaister ceilings, two of ihe 

 vilest disfigurements which could possibly exist in an edifice profess- 

 edly of Pointed architecture^ These sham deceptive materials, these 



tricks of architectural " shabby gentility," are strangely inconsistent 

 with the anxiety about "sedilia," "piscina," "lecterns," "floriated 

 crosses," and "moveable open benches." 



A local paper states that 260 clergymen in white surplices attended 

 at the consecration. The following is from the Standard: — "The 

 church itself was to have been named "The Church of the Holy 

 Cross ;■' but the Bishop refused his consent. It was built in the 

 form of a cross. The chancel, in which thej Communion Service is 

 separated from the rest of the church by " a carved oak screen of 

 the most elaborate workmanship;" the people being thus shut out 

 from one part of the service. " The altar is raised on three steps." 

 "In the wall on the south side are the sedilia and piscina, of carved 

 stone, of the most chaste and elegant workmanship." The windows 

 alone are to cost 7,000l,, a sum which would have sufficed to build 

 apother church ! " 



IRON AND M^OOD STEAMERS. 



Within the last few days some interesting experiments have been made 

 on the Thames, tending to elucidate the question of the comparative merits 

 of iron and wood steam-vessels. 



We lately noticed the experimental trips of the iron steam-ship Vigilante, 

 built at lilackwall by Miller, Ravenhill and Co., for the Spanish govern- 

 ment, and intended to be employed as a auarda casta. Since then a wood 

 steam-vessel, of the same dimensions, and designed as a sister ship, called 

 the Alerla, has been launched from the yard of Mr. Wigram, and fitted by 

 Miller, liavenhill and Co., with a pair of oscillating engines of 120-horse 

 power. The Vigilante having been sent to Cadiz, the Alerta, in the recent 

 trials, could not be laid alongside of her, but she was pitted against the 

 Madrid, a fine new iron steam-ship, built and fitted with beam-engines of 

 140-horse power, by Miller, Uavenhill and Co., for the Peninsular and 

 Oriental Steam Navigation Company. The latter performed, in still water, 

 at the rate of nearly thirteen miles an hour ; the Alerta, though a beautiful 

 vessel, and made up with great care, was considerably slower; in fact, 

 slower by fully a mile and a-half in an hour. But the most interesting 

 fact developed by these experiments is, that the speed of the iron sister 

 ship, the Vigilante, having the same quality aud amount of engine power, 

 and intended for the same service, is from two and a-half to three miles an 

 hour greater than that of the Alerta. This is mainly attributable to the 

 diflerence of material, iron and wood; but in part also, doubtless, to the 

 superior form and proportions of the Vigilante, which is one of the noblest 

 ships of her class that ever left the Thames. Supposing it possible to 

 augment the power of the Alerta, without addition of weight, so as to give 

 her the same speed as the A'igilante had when tried under similar circum- 

 stances in the river, it would require an addition of at least one hundred 

 and fifty horse nominal power. This shows, at all events, the great supe- 

 riority of iron over wood for river vessels of right form and proportions. 

 With regard to sea-going vessels up to a certain tonnage, it is the opinion 

 of practical men that iron cau be made in all respects as seaworthy as 

 wood, aud we think so too ; but as we have said before, we have our 

 doubts as regards heavily. armed ships of the largest class. 



The Madrid, as our readers have been already informed, will be placed 

 by the great and interprising company to which she belongs upon the sta- 

 tion between Ceylon and Hong-Kong, for which she is admirably adapted. 

 She is a splendid vessel in every sense of the word — in form, strength, 

 fittings, aud embellishments. Her burden is 441 tons builders' tonnage, 

 o. M.; her length over all is 170 feet; between the perpendiculars. 160 

 feet; breadth at the paddle-boxes, 24 feet; extreme breadth, 2S feet; 

 depth of hold, 15 feet ; draught of water, 10 feet. Perhaps it may be re- 

 gretted that her power is not greater ; we think she should have had 160 

 instead of 140 ; nevertheless, we are persuaded, after a close inspection, 

 that she will perform the work her owners intend her for, and add to the 

 well-earned reputation of her contractors. 



In speaking of this vessel it is only an act of justice to remark, in con- 

 clusion, that it is an additional proof, after the many others afforded by the 

 Meteor, the Prince of Wales, the Ondine, the Elberfeld, Vigilante, ice, of 

 the correct perception as to form, and the good taste and mature judgment 

 of Blr. Pasco, who designed the whole of these noble vessels, and who is 

 one of those who are silently but materially contributing to the improve- 

 ment of naval architecture. This is a class of men who make no parade 

 of their services, but yet are valuable promoters of science, and render the 

 most important services to their country and the world. — Railway Director, 



