1843] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



107 



Alexandria. — We have already informed our readers, says the " Eccle- 

 siologist," of our (the Cambridge Camden Society) engagement to supply 

 designs and working drawings of a new church to be erected at Alexandria. 

 These have now been completed by the architect, Mr. Salvin, and will be 

 dispatched by the earliest post to their destination. As it may be interesting 

 to many, and especially to the absent members of the Camden Society, to 

 have some account of the form and plan of this church, we shall here subjoin 

 a brief description of it for their information. The entire length of the 

 church externally is 128 feet by 50 feet in breadth (exclusive of a north and 

 south porch), the plan comprises a full and spacious chancel, 40 feet by 

 18 feet internally, and a nave and aisles, 78 feet by 40 feet ; and a tower 

 with a lofty spire is to be added, if funds can be procured, in the place of 

 the south porch. The chancel is raised by three steps, and is furnished with 

 all the proper appurtenances of stalls, priest's door, credence, scdilia, and 

 piscina. The seats in the nave are ranged in four parallel rows facing the 

 east, there being a passage of 5 ft. 9 in. in the centre, and one of 2 ft. in. 

 in each aisle next to the piers. The seats are, of course, all open. The west 

 front, adapted from that of Llanercost Abbey, exhibits a beautiful facade 

 made by the nave, which is terminated by a high-pitched roof with a gable 

 cross between two large pinnacle turrets, and has below a lofty arcade 

 pierced with two lights, and the two aisles, each of which carries a separate 

 gable with a cross, and a single lancet light. To this front the north porch 

 and southern tower will add great breadth and diversity of effect. The 

 chancel, nave, and aisles will be vaulted; and the clerestory lighted by a 

 circular window in each groined compartment. The aisles are lighted by 

 single lancets between buttresses with pedimented heads and set-offs. The 

 east end will have a peculiarly beautiful effect, from a richly arcaded triplet 

 with a wheel window above, and from the lofty gables of the chancel, nave, 

 and aisles, all of which will he surmounted with crosses, and are similar in 

 design to the west end. The sides of the chancel contain three bays, each 

 of which is arcaded of three, with the central arch pierced for a lancet light. 

 Every portion of this church has been designed in strict conformity with 

 ancient models. 



Lancashire. — We have been permitted by the architect, Mr. Sharpe, of 

 Lancaster, a member of our Society, to inspect the plans and working- 

 drawings of a new church which he is now erecting at Knowsley, in Lan- 

 cashire. There are many points iu this design which deserve great com- 

 mendation, and as a whole, it may safely be pronounced a most successful 

 example of modern church building, although some of the arrangements 

 appear to us liable to serious objection. The church is of the early-English 

 style, and consists of a good chancel, nave with aisles, and tower with broach 

 spire at the west end. There will be no galleries, and the ground-floor alone 

 ■will accommodate 400 worshippers. There is a well-defined clerestory, sup- 

 ported by beautiful clustered piers and arches, and surmounted by a very fine 

 high-pitched roof, the trusses of which spring from triple-shafted corbels, 

 with floriated capitals. The walls of this church are somewhat too thin to 

 allow of the proper internal splay of the lancets, and appear to us to be too 

 much and too regularly pierced. Thus each side of the aisles and clerestory 

 exhibits an equal number of lancets, placed exactly opposite to each other. 

 We should have preferred single lights in both positions, for a church should 

 he dimly lighted ; or the clerestory might have had foliated circles (a beauti- 

 ful early-English feature, which we wonder is not more frequently intro- 

 duced), and the aisles plain two-light windows with circles in the heads. 

 There is too much sameness in so greal a number of lancet windows. The 

 nave roof might have been carried up to the belfry windows with better effect. 

 The tower is very good, and has nothing to which we can object, excepting a 

 number of small trefoil apertures which are intended to light the staircase, 

 but which should rather have been plain oblong slits in the wall. There is, 

 we suspect, but scanty ancient authority for such ornaments, unless in very 

 magnificent towers, and they appear singularly inappiopriate when placed 

 just below the point where the Ijroach meets the top of the tower, since this 

 part ought especially to convey the idea of strength and solidity. Small 

 apertures, however, of this description occur in St. Mary's tower, Stamford. 

 The northern porch (we should have much preferred a southern one, or at 

 least a southern door should have been added, as at Woodton, Norfolk ; 

 Irnham, Lincolnshire ; and of later date, Grantchester and Chesterton 

 churches, near Cambridge,) has too large a doorway, and its roof does not 

 meet that of the aisle in a pleasing manner. The west door would be very 

 good if the mouldings were less meagre and ornamental. A tower doorway 

 of this style should be very deeply recessed, and have a great display of arch 

 moulding. The details in general are very good, and have the rare merit of 

 being at once extremely correct and varied in form. We have several grave 

 objections to make against the internal arrangements. There is no central 

 passage to the altar ; but the space which ought to have been left for this 

 purpose is occupied by seats for children. The tables of commandments, 

 creed, <ic. are placed in an arcade above the chancel arch — a modernism 

 which we consider altogether inadmissible, to say nothing of its bad effect. 

 We should lie inclined to carry the chancel arch considerably higher. The 

 organ is at the east end of the north aisle ; it should rather have been at the 

 west, and a window at the east end. The font is too nearly t'ae centre of the 

 nave ; its correct position is bythe west pier nearest to the porch. Upon the 

 whole, however, great praise is due to this design ; but we deeply regret to 

 observe that some of the internal details are to be executed in plaster. 

 We had much rather that they had not been attempted at all. Under the 

 chancel is a vaulted crypt, and above it we observe with no great satisfac- 

 tion a contrivance for warming the church with hot air. — Ecclesiologist. 



New Military Church it Windsor.— The last stone of the spire of the 

 new military church ins lai I on Friday morning. Dec. 30. The first stone of 

 this building was laid on the 4th of April last. The church is built of white 

 brick and Bath stone, and its architecture is pure Gothic : it is in the i'-rm 

 of a crucifix, having tun large transepts for the accommodation of the mili- 

 tary and the one at the west end for the children. These galleries are cal- 

 culated to contain between 400 and 500 persons. A certain portion o- the 

 church will Le set apart for the accommodation of the soldiers' wives. The 

 body of the church will be filled up with beautifully carved oaken benches, 

 by which, whilst this arrangement will afford a great number of sittings, 

 will present a light and elegant appearance at a much less cost than the 

 erecting of pews. In addition to the accommodation afforded to the military, 

 there will be about 1,000 sittings for the inhabitants of Windsor and CleWer. 

 The principal feature of this church is the beautiful tnwer and spire, the 

 tower being nearly 100 feet high, and the spire, of Bath stone, rising 48 feet, 

 surmounted by a vane. The cost of this edifice will be about £10,000, 

 nearly one-hall' of which is already subscribed, Her Majesty and Prince 

 Albert being large contributors. The building is designed by Mr. E. Blore, 

 and when complete will form a magnificent object from the Castle and sur- 

 rounding neighbourhood, being oi.e of the most beautiful designs un this 

 side of the metropolis. The whole of the plans have been carrie 1 out with 

 great accuracy by Mr. J. B. Heard. 



The Prince Albert. — A new iron built steamer of the above name, has 

 been making several trips up and down the river Thames, trying her speed, 

 which proves to be very superior, and equal to our fastest steamers ; at pre- 

 sent she has exceeded the speed of all thatshe has been able to compete with, 

 even the far famed " Railway." She is an iron built vessel, the deck beams 

 are also of deep angle iron, to which the deck planks are bolted down : her 

 length is 155 ft. between perpendiculars ; extreme breadth 19 ft. 6 in. : draught 

 of water when loaded, 4 ft. 6 in. ; length of saloon. 36 ft. . fore cabin. 36 ft. . 

 engine room, 2fi ft. The engines are of the direct action principle, constructed 

 by Messrs. Braithwaite, Milner, and Co.. and are a beautiful specimen of 

 workmanship, and occupy an ex'remely small space. The diameter of steam 

 cylinders, 40 in. ; length'of stroke, 40 in. ; nominal h.p. of the two engines. 

 110 horses, with 32 revolutions per minute ; diameter of paddle-wheels, 

 17 ft. 6 in. ; breadth, 9ft.; space occupied by engines. 10 ft. 8 in. in the 

 breadth, and 6 ft. 6 in. in the length of vessel. The engines are constructed 

 with two piston rods to allowthe piston in the centre to be hollowed cut. that 

 the cover may be dished in a similar manner, to allowthe connecting rod 

 and cross-head to descend partially into the cylinder, that the length uf con- 

 necting rod may be as long as possible, which is equal to three times the 

 radius of crank,' or five feet; the air-pump and feed-pump are worked from 

 either end of the cross-head ; the boilers are tubular, on Spiller's construc- 

 tion. The time occupied in the passage from Blackwall to Gravesend, the 

 day we were on board, was 1 hour 13 minutes, with a slack tide, but against 

 the wind, and 1 hour 5 minutes returning. 



Temperador. — This steam vessel is the first of a pair built for the Post- 

 office service in the Brazils, which business is performed by a private com- 

 pany. She was built by Messrs Fletcher. Son. and Fearnall, from the de- 

 signs of Messrs. Ritturden and Carr. (Mr. Ritturden is the surveyor of 

 shipping to the honourable the East India Company.) She is a very superior 

 specimen of Thames building, and her arrangements and cabin fittings are in 

 a stvle uf extreme neatness and comfort. The length between perpendiculars, 

 151 ft. and over all 169 ft. Gin. ; breadth, extreme to a 3 in plank. 24ft. ; 

 depth in hold- 14 ft. ; burthen, old measurement, 418 tons ; her draught of 

 water, loaded, is 9ft. 3 in. forward, and 10ft. 2in. att. She has two engines, 

 of the collective power of 140 horses, constructed by Messrs. Miller, Raven- 

 hill, and Co. They are finished in a superior manner, and work most 

 satisfactorily : the speed of the vessel in the river, with every thing on board, 

 and the coal boxes full, was 10* statute miles per hour. The vessel left Lon- 

 don on the 5th ultimo for South America, and performed the distance from 

 Blackwall to Falmouth Harbour in 42 hours, consuming from 9 to 9i cwt. 

 of coal per hour, with the steam up to 5| inches, and the barometer standing 

 at 271 inches ; the engineer reports that he had plenty of steam, and the firing 

 very easy. 



The Bentinck — This fine steam vessel, which has been for some time 

 building as a compamion to the H'mdostan, was launched on the 2 

 January, from the yard of Mr. Wilson, at Liverpool ; she is proposed to be 

 nearly a fac-simile of the Hindustan, and was moored in the Trafalgar Dock, 

 to be completed, and to receive her engines, which are being constructed by 

 Fawcett and Co. 



The Royal Mail Steam Ship " Hieernia."— Another superb ship has 

 been added to the fine fleet of steamers belonging to Cunard's hue. running 

 between Liverpool and Halifax. She 'was built at Greenock, by Messrs. 

 Steele and Co. ; burthen 1350 tons, length between perpendiculars 218 feet, 

 and depth of hold 24 feet. Her engines were constructed by Mr. Robert 

 Napier of Glasgow, and are of the nominal power, the piston travelling 

 220 feet per minute, of 550 horses collectively, the diameter of cylinders is 

 77J inches, and length of stroke 7 feet 6 inches, the paddle wheels 30 feet 

 4 inches diameter. 



Electric Telegraph.— Mr. Cook, the joint patentee with Professor 

 Wheatstone. of |the voltaic telegraph, has been commissioned to lay down a 

 line from the Padding. n station ot the Great Western Railway to \1 mdsor 

 Castle, and carry it thence to the Parliament houses and Buckingham Palace. 

 The effect of this will be, that on important occasions, when the sovereign 

 may be at Windsor, any intelligence if extraordinary interest can lie trans- 

 mitted to her Majesty iii a second— nay, in less time. The voltaic electricity 

 which governs the motion of the telegraph, travels at the rate of two hundred 

 anil eighty -eight thousand miles a second. This has been proved by the deli- 

 cate instrument invented by Professor Wheatstone. The new and m st sin- 

 gular arrangement will lie of great value in connection with the publics 

 When cabinet councils sit on momentous questions, her Majest] can be ac- 

 quainted with the result of their deliberations as instantaneously as if she 



