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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[December, 



care of those present, provisional rules were framed, and officers pro tempore 

 appointed, and it was determined that all the parochial clergy in the county 

 should he invited to join the society in its earliest stage. That the greatest 

 deference might he paid to authority. His Grace tlie Archbishop of York, and 

 His Lordship the Cishop of Kipon were requested to extend their patronage 

 to the proposed society, and the Lords Lieutenant of the three Ridings were 

 requested to accept the oflice of Presidents. The sanction of tlicse great 

 names was most kindly alforded ; and we were also permitted to number 

 among our Vice-presidents the Archdeacons of most of the archdeaconries 

 within the two dioceses, and many noblemen and gentlemen whose names 

 must give strength to our cause. Of ordinary members we have already, and 

 before any public meeting, more than 300 names on our list ; and many of 

 those who were among the first to give their names to the society, have ex- 

 pressed most strongly their opinion, evidently not newly formed, that such a 

 society was much needed. 



With regard to the objects of the society, they are stated briefly but com- 

 prehensively in the second resolution passed at the prelimioary meeting, as 

 follows : — 



"That the objects of the society be to promote the study of ecclesiastical 

 architecture, antiquities, and design, the restoration of mutilated remains, 

 and of churches or parts of churches which may have been desecrated, within 

 the county of York; and to improve, as far as may be within its province, 

 the character of ecclesiastical edifices to he erecteil in future." 



If we may he allowed to expand this resolution, we may say that whatever 

 tends to the knowledge of the principles or details of church architecture, 

 as it was practised iu the middle ages; and whatever may suggest any im- 

 provements in the general style of ecclesiastical edifices in the present day ; 

 that whatever may tend to explode the anachronisms and other solecisms in 

 church building now so common ; that whatever njay serve to extend a taste 

 for the higher branches of the art, and to inculcate reverence for it in its 

 most sacred applications: that whatever may indirectly encourage, or directly 

 effect the restoration to their pristine beauty, or to their sacred use, of any 

 ecclesiastical remains, or any part of the essential furniture of the sanctuary; 

 whatever may come under any of these heads, the Yorkshire Architectural 

 Society proposes to itself as the scope of its operations. How far it may be 

 obliged to do this indirectly only by suitable publications, and by suggesting 

 an object of study to its members, and those who may interest themselves in 

 its proceedings, and how far directly, by rendering assistance, pecuniary or 

 otherwise, to those who will gladly avail themselves of its aid in the repairs 

 or constructiun of sacred edifices which Providence has committed to their 

 charge, must of course depend on the resources which the society may have 

 at its disposal, from the number of its members, or the liberality of more 

 wealthy supporters. 



That some stimulus, of some kind or other, to cultivate a better style of 

 church huikiiug, and some riireclion of the public taste in matters even of 

 the minutest detail, and most trifling repairs, is needed, must be clear to 

 every one who will take the trouble to run over the churches, ancient or 

 modern, williin a drive of his home. 



With regard to new churches, there is scarcely a populous district in the 

 kingdom which does not possess one of the churches built in pursuance of 

 the "Million act," as it is called; a huge cumbrous erection, Gothic in its 

 details, without any principle, or if following any principle at all, probably 

 Grecian in its proportions ; in size beyond the ci,mpass of most voices, and 

 in arrangement destructive of all articulate sound. The floor is divided be- 

 tween pews and benches, making an invidious distinction between Christ's 

 poor, and the world's rich, and galleries destroy whatever there would have 

 been of ecclesiastical effect. The consequence of this complication of dis- 

 orders is a church empty, in proportion to its size at least, and therefore cold 

 and comfortless to the worshippers ; whereas the same sum would have built 

 two, or perhaps three churches, not so vast, but far more beautiful, accoiu- 

 modating a much larger aggregate of worshippers, and forming each a centre, 

 far more satisfactory, for the exertion of a larger number of pastors. And 

 this there can he no doubt would have been the happier result, had the pub- 

 lic mind been indmed, by whatever means, with those principles of eccle- 

 eiabtical taste and feeling in such matters, which it is the object of such so- 

 cieties as this to inculcate ; had those who gave their best energies to the 

 perfecting of so good a work, been prepared to think with good taste, good 

 feeling, good judgment, and what is inseparable from these, real utility upon 

 the subject. 



In speaking of new churches, we have chosen those which were in every 

 sense a public work, and the responsibility of which was so greatly divided 

 between the several parties concerned in their erection and arrangement, that 

 they arc open, with as Httle invidiousness as possible, to free criticism, and 

 that it would be impossible to lay blame any where, if blame is due, but on 

 the deficiency of the ]iulilic taste at the time, for which no individuals can 

 be accountable. Hut though some of the very best churches lately built 

 have been erected under the auspices of individuals, yet to whatever class of 

 churches we turn we still find excellence, and even propriety, the exception; 

 and are the more confirmed in the conviction that a little greater cultivation 

 of ecclesiastical taste would tend to the erection of far more beautiful 

 churcho, without any addition of expense, and sometimes even at a maieriiil 

 saving. 



In the repairs of churches, to which we would next direct the attention 

 of the Society, the same thing is equally true ; as we shall abundantly prove 

 by an enumeration of some of the more common errors into which the re- 



pairers of churches are continually falling. We will again refer to actual 

 instances though without mentioning names. 



In a district of this county, the chiu'chcs of which amply repay attention, 

 there arc two towns about ten miles apart, to which aiul to the several vil- 

 lages between which we will make an imaginary tnur of observation. 



The first church is a magnificent cross chuich, with a hjfty spire, supported 

 by flying buttresses, and must have been, when in its best state, among the 

 most beautiful ecclesiastical structures in the kingdom. At present, the 

 lower part of the great east window is blocked up by the i>ainted canvas 

 containing the creed, the Lord's prayer, and the ten commandments; the 

 west window being equally spoiled bj a gallery erected before it. The font, 

 a very fine one, is not used for Holy Baptism, but only as a receptacle for a 

 fair yellow wash-hand bason, which has usurped its use; the pewing is very 

 irregular, and destructive of all eftect ; yet this is the least harbarised of all 

 the churches we are visiting, and is indeed far less so than most others 

 throughout the kingdom. 



The next church is very small, and most unpretending, though containing 

 some good monuments. It has a pretty screen between the nave and the 

 chancel, which was very graceful in efl'cct so long as it retained its original 

 hue, hut it is spoiled by white paint, and all its eftect is destroyed by the 

 emidous vicinity of the tall open panelling of a squire's pew. 



The next church consists of a nave and two aisles, with a spire. The 

 wooden roof has been lowered to so painful an excess, that the upper part of 

 the east window is cut off by the new ceiling ; the same window has also 

 suffered the loss of a whole couipartment, which is wantonly blocked up. 

 Over the south door of the chancel is a stone with an inscription offensively 

 commemorating a lord of tlie manor, who was probably art and part in some 

 of these improvements. 



The fourth church consists of a nave and clerestory, aisles and chancel, 

 with a tower and spire. The roof of the nave is lowered, hut it is still a 

 pretty good oak roof. The tower arch is blocked up, and a gallery extends 

 across it. The seats arc arranged in the most originally fantastic manner 

 possible, bending towards each other, like two marks of parenthesis, extend- 

 ing along the opposite sides of the nave. The font has lately served the 

 purpose of a plasterer's bucket. 



A little chapel, once very pretty, next occurs, but its effect is quite de- 

 stroyed, both internally and externally, by a low square brick tower erected 

 upon it, three sides of which have no other support than wooden props and 

 beams. Perhaps by this time it has fallen, for the beams were very visibly 

 and even alarmingly declining two years ago. If the tower has fallen with, 

 out further damage, and has been replaced by a bell gable, which would cost 

 a third part as much, the chapel is again a pretty ecclesiastical looking 

 object. 



Sixth and last, is the most beautifid edifice of all, a cross church, with a 

 central tower, and s]ilendid in all its parts, except where it has been barba- 

 rized at considerable expense by late improvers. The altar screen is of 

 Grecian design. The roofs are lowered throughout the whole church, and 

 those of the nave and south transepts are plastered. The west window is 

 utterly spoiled, the nave is cut off from the transepts by galleries. The beau- 

 tiful font is furnished, as almost all fonts are in these days, with a small 

 basin for the water at Holy Baptism. The repairs on the exterior wotdd 

 have demanded so considerable an outlay, had they been leally and wholly 

 in keeping, that they could hardly be meutioned among things that would 

 require only greater knowledge to have rendered them appropriate, hut still 

 they might have been less dissightly, to say the least, than they are, at the 

 same cost. 



In all these cases, such trifling matters as the glazing of windows and the 

 like have been omitted, not as unimportant, but because they would have 

 recurred so often as to be tedious. 



It is not necessary to prove our point to give the names of the several 

 churches we h,ive visited, for every neighbourhood will furnish iiarallel cases, 

 as each member of the Society may prove for himself on inspection. 



Now, what we said of the " Million Churches," and of the divided respon- 

 sibility of all persons concerned in the fabric, we repeat of such repairs. Had 

 there been Architectural Societies in existence, or had the ecclesiastical taste 

 been cultivated in any adequate degree, these things woidd have been diffe- 

 rent. More money would have been expended in fact, because devotional 

 feeling would have been more stimulated in that direction; but this we will 

 not assume : we will oidy assert that the same money woidd have been ex- 

 pended to very much better purpose. 



To undo gradually and ultimately such evils as are here mentioned, and at 

 the very least to prevent their so frequent repetition, is among the objects 

 of this society, as well as to imjirove the character of churches newly erected. 

 The field of usefulness (for surely such an object will be admitted to he use- 

 ful) is co-extensive with the county, and every Yorkshireman will tVel that 

 it ought to be fairly cultivated. The means of effecting any good results 

 may seem more limited, but the difficulty will vanish before a little con- 

 sideration. 



The first tangible operation of the society will probably be to obtain accu- 

 rate information concerning the character and state of the churches of York- 

 shire, and to collect and record whatever there may he curious and instruc- 

 tive in their arcbiteclural details; forming at the same time, as we maybe 

 able, a collection of casts and drawings, not from Yorkshire exclusively, but 

 from any interesting soincc which may he open to us. Such a collection 

 may seem only a museum of curious fragments, and the more extended pub- 



