St. Mary's, Bathwick - History
For over a thousand years, a Christian church has served the community we now know as Bathwick. The earliest church is lost in the mists of history, but a plan of the present St. John’s Church, close to Cleveland Bridge, clearly indicates that the mediaeval high altar occupied the position of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel altar in that building, and it is a reassuring thought that worship still continues on that hallowed site within our modern United Benefice of Bathwick.
When the new St. Mary’s was built, the old church was demolished, but from its stones arose a mortuary chapel close by the site of the previous building, the ruins of which may still be seen today. The font from the old church is now housed in St. Mary’s, along with one or two pieces of church plate: the registers, dating from 1668, now reside in the safety of the County Records office in Taunton.
Bathwick was always a village, and much of its village character remains today. The two churches of St. Mary the Virgin and St. John the Baptist remain very much at the heart of this community, and their work and witness is very much appreciated not only by the “villagers” of Bathwick, but also by members of their respective congregations who travel from a wide area to worship here.
It is to the “elder sister” of these siblings that we welcome you now, and we trust that you will find not only a friendly welcome, but also a spiritual haven within the walls of St. Mary’s church here in Bathwick.
There is little in the outward appearance of Bathwick to suggest a thousand years of church history. Few, if any, of its houses are older than the Georgian period, and the parish church has yet to celebrate its 200th anniversary. Until towards the end of the 18th century Bathwick was in fact a tiny village, separated from the city of Bath, with which it was not incorporated until 1835, by the River Avon and a mile or so of swampy meadows.
Traces of prehistoric habitation have been found in Bathwick, and in particular a British trackway which ran a semi-circular course, avoiding the Avon flood-level, from Bathwick Hill to the ferry near the present Cleveland Bridge. Its existence at the rear of the Holborne Museum could still be defined within the past one hundred years, and it is possible that a pathway unearthed during the 1967 excavations for the parish hall to the south of St. Mary’s was also a part of this trackway. It developed into the village street with a straggling row of thatched houses.
Historical records begin with Domesday Book (1085-6). The entry in that famous survey is worth quoting fully, since it settles the question of the extreme antiquity of Bathwick’s connection with Woolley. (Bathwick was originally named “Wiche” or “Wicke”, old English for a farmstead, the prefix Bath being added later to distinguish the place from many others of the name.) The Victoria County History of Somerset translates the Domesday accounts thus:
The bishop (Geoffrey of Coutances) himself holds WICHE. Alvric held it in the time of King Edward (the Confessor) and paid geld for 4 hides. There is land for 4 ploughs. In demesne are 3 hides and 3 ploughs and 4 serfs, and there are 1 villein and 10 bordars who hold 1 hide less 11 acres. There are 2 riding-horses and 14 swine and 250 sheep. There is a mill paying 35 shillings and 50 acres of meadow and 120 acres of pasture. It is worth 7 pounds.
To this manor has been added 1 hidein the WILEGE, (WOOLLEY) which Alvric held in the time of King Edward. Geoffrey holds it of the Bishop. There are in demesne 1 hide less 3 acres and 2 ploughs and 6 serfs and there are 9 bordars who have 3 virgates with 1 plough. There are 1 riding-horse and 14 swine and 106 sheep and 33 she-goats. There are 2 mills paying 2 shillings and 20 acres of underwood. It was and is worth 60 shillings.
Mediaeval Bathwick changed little through the centuries. As late as 1781 its population was a mere 150; then there were 45 houses. a mill, an inn (the “Crown” which remains in its modernised form), and the diminutive church of St. Mary, clearly visible in a number of contemporary depictions of the area. A number of drawings of the old church before its demolition are in the possession of the local authority, and indicate that the building was approximately 64 feet in length, 17 feet in breadth, with a tiled roof, a saddle-back western tower some 34 feet high, a south porch, and contained a western gallery for the singers.
THE BATHWICK ESTATE
From the days of the Conqueror, who included it among the numerous west country properties which he granted to Geoffrey, Bishop of Coutances, in reward for his part in the Conquest, Bathwick has remained a single estate, with the peculiarity that its owners have never resided here. After the bishop’s death (1093) Bathwick became Crown land, and then passed into the possession of Wherwell Nunnery. At the Dissolution it reverted to the Crown and was bestowed by Queen Mary to the Neville family in the 16th century. Woolley, having lost its manorial connection with Bathwick by a grant of Edward VI in 1552, nevertheless retained its ecclesiastical association until a deanery re-organisation in the 1970s when it was annexed to the parish of St. Saviour, Larkhall. This loss to Bathwick was and is to be regretted. The Nevilles left their mark on the parish in the person of George Neville, who was rector from 1642 to 1684. A surprisingly outward-looking note occurs in the Parish Register of Neville’s time:
Memorandum in the year of our Lord God 1670, was collected towards a briefe for the redemption of captives out of Turkie, ye sum of four shillings and sixpence, the briefe bore date the tenth day of August, in the 22nd yeare of the King’s reigne, it was continued two years and no longer.
From the Nevilles, the estate passed to Capel, earl of Essex, and in 1726 it was purchased by the great Sir William Pulteney, a notable and wealthy politician. In 1742 he was created Earl of Bath, with the minor worthies of Wrington and Hedon, and was succeeded in his estates by his brother, General Henry Pulteney. The next owner was Frances, daughter of the general’s cousin, Daniel Pulteney, and the wife of William Johnstone, afterwards Sir William Pulteney. Their daughter, Henrietta Laura, came into the property in 1782, was created Baroness Bath in 1792 and died in 1808. From that year begins the association with the Darlington-Cleveland family. At the death of the last duke of Cleveland the estate was inherited by Captain Forester, from whence it was administered by the Bathwick Estate Company.
To the Pulteney family belongs the distinction of creating the “new town” of Bathwick. Sir William (Johnstone) Pulteney took the first step by linking the estate with Bath in the building of Pulteney Bridge, from a design by Robert Adam, in 1780. The two Scotsmen, Pulteney and Adam, were intimate friends, and Pulteney’s dream of an imposing architectural development in his Bathwick meadows inspired Adam to produce two schemes, neither of which was he destined to carry out. His plans, considerably modified, were eventually fulfilled by Thomas Baldwin and others. Sir William, who died in 1782, did not live to see the realisation of his visions, for the building of the new suburb was not commenced until 1788. Argyle Street, Laura Place, Henrietta Street and Great Pulteney street arose in rapid succession, and with the later work of Masters, John Pinch and other able architects, Georgian Bathwick emerged in all the splendour and elegance of its gleaming white freestone.
The enormous cost of raising the Bathwick fields above flood-level precluded the completion of a grand design that was to include a continuation of Great Pulteney Street to an equal length beyond Sydney Gardens, which were to be enclosed by a hexagonal extension of Sydney Place, a large group in what is now Henrietta Park to be named Frances Square, a magnificent crescent facing the river, and many other fine buildings.
It is obvious that the enormous growth of the parish rendered its small parish church entirely inadequate. Some attempt had been made to provide for the spiritual needs of the new residents by the erection in 1795 of Laura Chapel, an Episcopal establishment of which the Rev’d. Dr. Randolph became the proprietor and distinguished ornament. Two of the entrances to the Chapel. which seated 1,000, can be seen, appropriately inscribed, in Henrietta Street. The building continued in use until the late Victorian period, when it was closed by Prebendary Tugwell, became a ruin and is now superseded by a row of garages. Laura Chapel (“warm and comfortable in the winter season by fires in its recesses”) must have fulfilled a useful purpose before the erection of St. Mary’s.
The urgent need for a new church resulted in the formation of a committee about the year 1810. Two Acts of Parliament were obtained and Trustees appointed to carry out their provisions. The Earl of Darlington, afterwards Duke of Cleveland, showed himself an interested patron of the living by giving the site at the bottom of Bathwick Hill. John Pinch was entrusted with the design and by 1814 all was ready for a foundation-stone ceremony. This took place on September 1st of that year during the short-lived peace following Napoleon’s abdication. The inscription on the stone read:
GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST – ON EARTH PEACE. The most sanguinary conflict ever recorded in the annals of History had ceased, and the downfall of Napoleon, the despot of France, had taken place, when the Nations of Europe became united in the bond of Peace. At such a joyful period……the foundation stone of Bathwick New Church dedicated to St. Paul, was laid……
St. Paul! Yes, four newspapers and other contemporary accounts tell the same story. It can only be assumed that old St. Mary’s was expected to co-exist with the new building, and that another dedication would be necessary. But demolition overtook the little church at the other end of the parish by 1818 and its services “on Sundays at a quarter past 11 in the forenoon; Sacrament four times a year” were held no more.
There is abundant evidence that the ancient dedication to St. Mary the Virgin was decided upon for the new church soon after the foundation-stone had been laid. To dispel any possible doubts about this matter, here is the title-page of the service form used at the consecration:
Bathwick Church: to be consecrated on Friday, February 4th, 1820, and to be dedicated to and for the service of Almighty God, as a place of divine worship, to be called and taken to be the Parish Church of Saint Mary’s, in the Parish of Bathwick.
The consecration was performed by Bishop Ryder of Gloucester, age and infirmity preventing the presence of the Bishop of Bath and Wells. Despite the “auspiciously fine day” coinciding with the local proclamation of George IV, “upwards of one thousand tickets of admission were delivered at the door”.
Before leaving 1820 and George IV, it may be mentioned that this monarch’s unhappy relations with his Queen, the ill-fated Caroline, had startling repercussions at Bathwick. On November 11th 1820, when the Queen had been vindicated by Parliament to the great joy of the populace, “a considerable mob proceeded to the house of the Rev. Mr. Gunning, of Bathwick, and committed the most violent outrages on the premises; bursting open the gates and breaking his windows, avowedly as a means of enforcing that respectable clergyman to restore her Majesty’s name on the liturgy”.
The Rev. Peter Gunning had much compensation for these troubles as Rector of a handsome new church. Over £14,000 had been spent on the fabric, and no expense was spared upon interior furnishing. The minute books of the Trustees contain all the details: the west gallery organ, by Gray of London (and reputed to have done duty as a temporary instrument in Westminster Abbey), cost nearly £800; the bells £263 4s. 8d.; an altar piece incorporating the painting of the Nativity presented by the artist Benjamin Barker and now hanging on the west wall of the gallery, £160 6s. 10d.; the clock, by Thwaites & Reed, £217 6s.; the three-decker pulpit at the west end towards which all the pews faced, £224 1s. 9d.; oil lamps for the nave (elegant Grecian things suspended from the gallery and still remembered by one or two parishioners), £160; Sacrament plate, £60; “arches” £120; velvets, £50; etc, etc. A rather dilapidated model of the church now in the sacristy shows its appearance with the original east-end apse, which preceded the building of the present chancel.
A more recent authority, Mr. Walter Ison, had much praise for the building, which he couples with another work of the Pinch family, St. Saviour’s, Larkhall, as “by far the finest of Bath’s Georgian churches”.
A GUIDED TOUR OF ST. MARY’S, BATHWICK
Upon entering the building through the south-west porch, the first object to strike the visitor is the Early English font, one of the few remaining vestiges of the old parish church. Although in a very poor state of repair now, a scheme for the re-ordering of St. Mary’s drawn up during the early 1980s envisaged its returning to regular us, in a new position towards the east end of the nave. The scheme was not carried out, and the old font, from which many generations of Bathwick Christianfolk were baptised, remains in its rather bleak home as a pedestal for flower arrangements.
Proceeding into the church, and turning left brings the visitor to the new Baptistry, occupying the lowest stage of the tower and originally set out as a (very small) Choir Vestry. Re-furnished as a memorial to a former assistant priest, the Reverend Edward Handley who died in 1904, and largely paid for by his widow, the marble floor and stained glass were installed by August 1906, with the wall-paintings following soon after. The Baptistry gates were dedicated on February 1st 1907 (the third anniversary of Mr Handley’s death), and the pink alabaster font, incorporating a most attractive figure of the Virgin and Child on September 22nd of the same year. The old font was sent to Woolley, returning some seventy years later.
Immediately outside the Baptistry, on the wall surrounding the arch, is a fresco depicting “The bringing by the Angels of all children of all nations to Holy Baptism”, by Alfred Hemmings, designed in 1906 and executed for the sum of £70. Here two is the Paschal Candle, on its monumental candlestick. This is one of a pair, presented by the Bath Knot of Friendly Brothers in 1882 as one of a number of memorials in St. Mary’s to Randle Falconer MD, a local worthy of the time. Originally they each supported a seven-light Sanctuary standard, one of which has now been restored: the other for the time being remains in an obscure cupboard in the gallery.
Upon turning to face the Chancel, an impression is gained of the generous size of St. Mary’s.
Continuing into the north aisle, notice should be taken of the Stations of the Cross, a striking modern sequence painted on slate.
Further along again lies the Shrine of Our Lady. This rather convenient structure housing the statue began life as a porch, added to ease Edwardian congestion in the days when vast congregations were the norm in Bathwick. In 1957 the doorway was finally blocked, the interior panelled and the statue removed from its previous home at the entrance to the Lady Chapel. Here also lies the Book of Remembrance wherein are inscribed the names of past worshippers at St. Mary’s; like the Books recalling the Citizens of Bath who died during the Second World War which is in Bath Abbey, it is the work of Benjamin Maslen, Organist of St. Mary’s for nearly 40 years.
A little further east again is the War Memorial, dedicated in 1929. Originally, the then rector Father Napier, had intended that this memorial should take the form of a large rood, suspended from the chancel arch; one of the churchwardens of the day however refused to countenance any such intrusion into St. Mary’s!
And so to the Organ. Originally built in 1878 by “Father” Henry Willis, and the only example of his work in the city of Bath, it contains 40 speaking stops and over 2,500 pipes. It is considered one of the most notable instruments in the Diocese of Bath and Wells. At the time of writing it is in need of major restoration, with an appeal to raise £250,000 in progress. The church enjoys an unbroken musical tradition, founded largely upon the work of Prebendary George Tugwell, Rector of St. Mary’s from 1871 until his retirement in 1904. The choir still offers an ambitious programme of music both liturgically and in concert.
Passing to the chancel, note should be taken of the Pulpit, described in an earlier guide book as “...sufficiently emphasizing the focal point of the ministry of the Word, but at the same time properly subordinated to the ministry of the Sacrament at the High Altar”. The inscription around its base reads as follows: PREACH : THE : WORD : BE : INSTANT : IN : SEASON : OUT : OF : SEASON
The Chancel, as we see it, was an addition of the 1870s, built to the design of G E Street. John Pinch is said to have designed one, the preceding apse having been a temporary measure, but no details have so far come to light. In order to gain a small amount in length, the orientation of the chancel varies from that of the nave by a few degrees south. It must be said that the design bears little regard for that of the rest of the building, but whereas the nave holds a clear debt to neighbouring Bath Abbey, the chancel can be seen as being influenced a little by the architecture of the Chapter House of Wells Cathedral.
When originally built, the chancel was decorated in accordance with Street’s own interpretation of what a mediaeval church interior would have looked like. This included a splendid frieze depicting the first two verses of the Magnificat. All was sadly obliterated in 1963 in accordance with the trends of the time, although something of what has been lost can be seen in the decoration of the organ case and façade pipework.
The most notable feature of the chancel is, quite rightly, the High Altar. The altarpiece itself is of alabaster, and includes a sculptured representation of the Entombment of Christ. Installed in 1886, it took almost forty years for a comment to appear in the Church Times describing it as a revolting arrangement of a large and ghastly figure of the dead Christ under the altar! Even today it excites contrasting opinion, and only emerges from beneath its frontals on Good Friday. The reredos consists of a gilt triptych depicting Christ reigning from the Cross, attended by Our Lady and St. John, and is flanked by wings containing some excellent 15th-century Flemish panels, believed to have come from an ancient organ-case. There are four panels, each painted on both sides, with those depicting the Last Supper, The Agony in the Garden, The Ascension and Pentecost being on view for most of the year, and the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem and The Cleansing of the Temple only being seen during Advent and Lent.
Passing the Lectern, another design of Street, and standing an impressive 6ft 8 inches high, the Lady Chapel is reached. Originally the vestry and sacristy, it was in 1896 converted into a chapel in memory of Prebendary Tugwell’s wife who had died two years previously. The alabaster-work in the sanctuary was designed by Sidney Gambier Parry, with the very detailed copper and brass screen being the work of Singer, of Frome. The Blessed Sacrament is reserved in this chapel, and visitors are encouraged to spend a moment in prayer here, and perhaps to light a candle.
Above the entrance to the chapel is an interesting memorial to Father John Rowe, Rector of St. Mary’s from 1963 until his untimely death in 1970. Originally outside the west window of the Baptistry, vandals removed it, and it was eventually recovered from the nearby canal, and re-housed in this rather safer location.
It is worth noting that the very busy Church Centre attached to St. Mary’s, was originally conceived as vestry accommodation and nothing more. The older part of the present Church Hall was built as a Choir Vestry, and was only extended into its existing dimensions in 1967, with additional kitchen, lavatory and office accommodation being provided at the same time. More recently, in 1998, the present reception office was fashioned out of what was originally the choir robbing room, and disabled facilities were provided at the same time.
No guide to St. Mary’s would be complete without reference to Bathwick St. Mary Primary School, whose life and work is intimately connected with its parent church.
Text by Benjamin Maslen, edited by Colin Hunt
When the new St. Mary’s was built, the old church was demolished, but from its stones arose a mortuary chapel close by the site of the previous building, the ruins of which may still be seen today. The font from the old church is now housed in St. Mary’s, along with one or two pieces of church plate: the registers, dating from 1668, now reside in the safety of the County Records office in Taunton.
Bathwick was always a village, and much of its village character remains today. The two churches of St. Mary the Virgin and St. John the Baptist remain very much at the heart of this community, and their work and witness is very much appreciated not only by the “villagers” of Bathwick, but also by members of their respective congregations who travel from a wide area to worship here.
It is to the “elder sister” of these siblings that we welcome you now, and we trust that you will find not only a friendly welcome, but also a spiritual haven within the walls of St. Mary’s church here in Bathwick.
There is little in the outward appearance of Bathwick to suggest a thousand years of church history. Few, if any, of its houses are older than the Georgian period, and the parish church has yet to celebrate its 200th anniversary. Until towards the end of the 18th century Bathwick was in fact a tiny village, separated from the city of Bath, with which it was not incorporated until 1835, by the River Avon and a mile or so of swampy meadows.
Traces of prehistoric habitation have been found in Bathwick, and in particular a British trackway which ran a semi-circular course, avoiding the Avon flood-level, from Bathwick Hill to the ferry near the present Cleveland Bridge. Its existence at the rear of the Holborne Museum could still be defined within the past one hundred years, and it is possible that a pathway unearthed during the 1967 excavations for the parish hall to the south of St. Mary’s was also a part of this trackway. It developed into the village street with a straggling row of thatched houses.
Historical records begin with Domesday Book (1085-6). The entry in that famous survey is worth quoting fully, since it settles the question of the extreme antiquity of Bathwick’s connection with Woolley. (Bathwick was originally named “Wiche” or “Wicke”, old English for a farmstead, the prefix Bath being added later to distinguish the place from many others of the name.) The Victoria County History of Somerset translates the Domesday accounts thus:
The bishop (Geoffrey of Coutances) himself holds WICHE. Alvric held it in the time of King Edward (the Confessor) and paid geld for 4 hides. There is land for 4 ploughs. In demesne are 3 hides and 3 ploughs and 4 serfs, and there are 1 villein and 10 bordars who hold 1 hide less 11 acres. There are 2 riding-horses and 14 swine and 250 sheep. There is a mill paying 35 shillings and 50 acres of meadow and 120 acres of pasture. It is worth 7 pounds.
To this manor has been added 1 hidein the WILEGE, (WOOLLEY) which Alvric held in the time of King Edward. Geoffrey holds it of the Bishop. There are in demesne 1 hide less 3 acres and 2 ploughs and 6 serfs and there are 9 bordars who have 3 virgates with 1 plough. There are 1 riding-horse and 14 swine and 106 sheep and 33 she-goats. There are 2 mills paying 2 shillings and 20 acres of underwood. It was and is worth 60 shillings.
Mediaeval Bathwick changed little through the centuries. As late as 1781 its population was a mere 150; then there were 45 houses. a mill, an inn (the “Crown” which remains in its modernised form), and the diminutive church of St. Mary, clearly visible in a number of contemporary depictions of the area. A number of drawings of the old church before its demolition are in the possession of the local authority, and indicate that the building was approximately 64 feet in length, 17 feet in breadth, with a tiled roof, a saddle-back western tower some 34 feet high, a south porch, and contained a western gallery for the singers.
THE BATHWICK ESTATE
From the days of the Conqueror, who included it among the numerous west country properties which he granted to Geoffrey, Bishop of Coutances, in reward for his part in the Conquest, Bathwick has remained a single estate, with the peculiarity that its owners have never resided here. After the bishop’s death (1093) Bathwick became Crown land, and then passed into the possession of Wherwell Nunnery. At the Dissolution it reverted to the Crown and was bestowed by Queen Mary to the Neville family in the 16th century. Woolley, having lost its manorial connection with Bathwick by a grant of Edward VI in 1552, nevertheless retained its ecclesiastical association until a deanery re-organisation in the 1970s when it was annexed to the parish of St. Saviour, Larkhall. This loss to Bathwick was and is to be regretted. The Nevilles left their mark on the parish in the person of George Neville, who was rector from 1642 to 1684. A surprisingly outward-looking note occurs in the Parish Register of Neville’s time:
Memorandum in the year of our Lord God 1670, was collected towards a briefe for the redemption of captives out of Turkie, ye sum of four shillings and sixpence, the briefe bore date the tenth day of August, in the 22nd yeare of the King’s reigne, it was continued two years and no longer.
From the Nevilles, the estate passed to Capel, earl of Essex, and in 1726 it was purchased by the great Sir William Pulteney, a notable and wealthy politician. In 1742 he was created Earl of Bath, with the minor worthies of Wrington and Hedon, and was succeeded in his estates by his brother, General Henry Pulteney. The next owner was Frances, daughter of the general’s cousin, Daniel Pulteney, and the wife of William Johnstone, afterwards Sir William Pulteney. Their daughter, Henrietta Laura, came into the property in 1782, was created Baroness Bath in 1792 and died in 1808. From that year begins the association with the Darlington-Cleveland family. At the death of the last duke of Cleveland the estate was inherited by Captain Forester, from whence it was administered by the Bathwick Estate Company.
To the Pulteney family belongs the distinction of creating the “new town” of Bathwick. Sir William (Johnstone) Pulteney took the first step by linking the estate with Bath in the building of Pulteney Bridge, from a design by Robert Adam, in 1780. The two Scotsmen, Pulteney and Adam, were intimate friends, and Pulteney’s dream of an imposing architectural development in his Bathwick meadows inspired Adam to produce two schemes, neither of which was he destined to carry out. His plans, considerably modified, were eventually fulfilled by Thomas Baldwin and others. Sir William, who died in 1782, did not live to see the realisation of his visions, for the building of the new suburb was not commenced until 1788. Argyle Street, Laura Place, Henrietta Street and Great Pulteney street arose in rapid succession, and with the later work of Masters, John Pinch and other able architects, Georgian Bathwick emerged in all the splendour and elegance of its gleaming white freestone.
The enormous cost of raising the Bathwick fields above flood-level precluded the completion of a grand design that was to include a continuation of Great Pulteney Street to an equal length beyond Sydney Gardens, which were to be enclosed by a hexagonal extension of Sydney Place, a large group in what is now Henrietta Park to be named Frances Square, a magnificent crescent facing the river, and many other fine buildings.
It is obvious that the enormous growth of the parish rendered its small parish church entirely inadequate. Some attempt had been made to provide for the spiritual needs of the new residents by the erection in 1795 of Laura Chapel, an Episcopal establishment of which the Rev’d. Dr. Randolph became the proprietor and distinguished ornament. Two of the entrances to the Chapel. which seated 1,000, can be seen, appropriately inscribed, in Henrietta Street. The building continued in use until the late Victorian period, when it was closed by Prebendary Tugwell, became a ruin and is now superseded by a row of garages. Laura Chapel (“warm and comfortable in the winter season by fires in its recesses”) must have fulfilled a useful purpose before the erection of St. Mary’s.
The urgent need for a new church resulted in the formation of a committee about the year 1810. Two Acts of Parliament were obtained and Trustees appointed to carry out their provisions. The Earl of Darlington, afterwards Duke of Cleveland, showed himself an interested patron of the living by giving the site at the bottom of Bathwick Hill. John Pinch was entrusted with the design and by 1814 all was ready for a foundation-stone ceremony. This took place on September 1st of that year during the short-lived peace following Napoleon’s abdication. The inscription on the stone read:
GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST – ON EARTH PEACE. The most sanguinary conflict ever recorded in the annals of History had ceased, and the downfall of Napoleon, the despot of France, had taken place, when the Nations of Europe became united in the bond of Peace. At such a joyful period……the foundation stone of Bathwick New Church dedicated to St. Paul, was laid……
St. Paul! Yes, four newspapers and other contemporary accounts tell the same story. It can only be assumed that old St. Mary’s was expected to co-exist with the new building, and that another dedication would be necessary. But demolition overtook the little church at the other end of the parish by 1818 and its services “on Sundays at a quarter past 11 in the forenoon; Sacrament four times a year” were held no more.
There is abundant evidence that the ancient dedication to St. Mary the Virgin was decided upon for the new church soon after the foundation-stone had been laid. To dispel any possible doubts about this matter, here is the title-page of the service form used at the consecration:
Bathwick Church: to be consecrated on Friday, February 4th, 1820, and to be dedicated to and for the service of Almighty God, as a place of divine worship, to be called and taken to be the Parish Church of Saint Mary’s, in the Parish of Bathwick.
The consecration was performed by Bishop Ryder of Gloucester, age and infirmity preventing the presence of the Bishop of Bath and Wells. Despite the “auspiciously fine day” coinciding with the local proclamation of George IV, “upwards of one thousand tickets of admission were delivered at the door”.
Before leaving 1820 and George IV, it may be mentioned that this monarch’s unhappy relations with his Queen, the ill-fated Caroline, had startling repercussions at Bathwick. On November 11th 1820, when the Queen had been vindicated by Parliament to the great joy of the populace, “a considerable mob proceeded to the house of the Rev. Mr. Gunning, of Bathwick, and committed the most violent outrages on the premises; bursting open the gates and breaking his windows, avowedly as a means of enforcing that respectable clergyman to restore her Majesty’s name on the liturgy”.
The Rev. Peter Gunning had much compensation for these troubles as Rector of a handsome new church. Over £14,000 had been spent on the fabric, and no expense was spared upon interior furnishing. The minute books of the Trustees contain all the details: the west gallery organ, by Gray of London (and reputed to have done duty as a temporary instrument in Westminster Abbey), cost nearly £800; the bells £263 4s. 8d.; an altar piece incorporating the painting of the Nativity presented by the artist Benjamin Barker and now hanging on the west wall of the gallery, £160 6s. 10d.; the clock, by Thwaites & Reed, £217 6s.; the three-decker pulpit at the west end towards which all the pews faced, £224 1s. 9d.; oil lamps for the nave (elegant Grecian things suspended from the gallery and still remembered by one or two parishioners), £160; Sacrament plate, £60; “arches” £120; velvets, £50; etc, etc. A rather dilapidated model of the church now in the sacristy shows its appearance with the original east-end apse, which preceded the building of the present chancel.
A more recent authority, Mr. Walter Ison, had much praise for the building, which he couples with another work of the Pinch family, St. Saviour’s, Larkhall, as “by far the finest of Bath’s Georgian churches”.
A GUIDED TOUR OF ST. MARY’S, BATHWICK
Upon entering the building through the south-west porch, the first object to strike the visitor is the Early English font, one of the few remaining vestiges of the old parish church. Although in a very poor state of repair now, a scheme for the re-ordering of St. Mary’s drawn up during the early 1980s envisaged its returning to regular us, in a new position towards the east end of the nave. The scheme was not carried out, and the old font, from which many generations of Bathwick Christianfolk were baptised, remains in its rather bleak home as a pedestal for flower arrangements.
Proceeding into the church, and turning left brings the visitor to the new Baptistry, occupying the lowest stage of the tower and originally set out as a (very small) Choir Vestry. Re-furnished as a memorial to a former assistant priest, the Reverend Edward Handley who died in 1904, and largely paid for by his widow, the marble floor and stained glass were installed by August 1906, with the wall-paintings following soon after. The Baptistry gates were dedicated on February 1st 1907 (the third anniversary of Mr Handley’s death), and the pink alabaster font, incorporating a most attractive figure of the Virgin and Child on September 22nd of the same year. The old font was sent to Woolley, returning some seventy years later.
Immediately outside the Baptistry, on the wall surrounding the arch, is a fresco depicting “The bringing by the Angels of all children of all nations to Holy Baptism”, by Alfred Hemmings, designed in 1906 and executed for the sum of £70. Here two is the Paschal Candle, on its monumental candlestick. This is one of a pair, presented by the Bath Knot of Friendly Brothers in 1882 as one of a number of memorials in St. Mary’s to Randle Falconer MD, a local worthy of the time. Originally they each supported a seven-light Sanctuary standard, one of which has now been restored: the other for the time being remains in an obscure cupboard in the gallery.
Upon turning to face the Chancel, an impression is gained of the generous size of St. Mary’s.
Continuing into the north aisle, notice should be taken of the Stations of the Cross, a striking modern sequence painted on slate.
Further along again lies the Shrine of Our Lady. This rather convenient structure housing the statue began life as a porch, added to ease Edwardian congestion in the days when vast congregations were the norm in Bathwick. In 1957 the doorway was finally blocked, the interior panelled and the statue removed from its previous home at the entrance to the Lady Chapel. Here also lies the Book of Remembrance wherein are inscribed the names of past worshippers at St. Mary’s; like the Books recalling the Citizens of Bath who died during the Second World War which is in Bath Abbey, it is the work of Benjamin Maslen, Organist of St. Mary’s for nearly 40 years.
A little further east again is the War Memorial, dedicated in 1929. Originally, the then rector Father Napier, had intended that this memorial should take the form of a large rood, suspended from the chancel arch; one of the churchwardens of the day however refused to countenance any such intrusion into St. Mary’s!
And so to the Organ. Originally built in 1878 by “Father” Henry Willis, and the only example of his work in the city of Bath, it contains 40 speaking stops and over 2,500 pipes. It is considered one of the most notable instruments in the Diocese of Bath and Wells. At the time of writing it is in need of major restoration, with an appeal to raise £250,000 in progress. The church enjoys an unbroken musical tradition, founded largely upon the work of Prebendary George Tugwell, Rector of St. Mary’s from 1871 until his retirement in 1904. The choir still offers an ambitious programme of music both liturgically and in concert.
Passing to the chancel, note should be taken of the Pulpit, described in an earlier guide book as “...sufficiently emphasizing the focal point of the ministry of the Word, but at the same time properly subordinated to the ministry of the Sacrament at the High Altar”. The inscription around its base reads as follows: PREACH : THE : WORD : BE : INSTANT : IN : SEASON : OUT : OF : SEASON
The Chancel, as we see it, was an addition of the 1870s, built to the design of G E Street. John Pinch is said to have designed one, the preceding apse having been a temporary measure, but no details have so far come to light. In order to gain a small amount in length, the orientation of the chancel varies from that of the nave by a few degrees south. It must be said that the design bears little regard for that of the rest of the building, but whereas the nave holds a clear debt to neighbouring Bath Abbey, the chancel can be seen as being influenced a little by the architecture of the Chapter House of Wells Cathedral.
When originally built, the chancel was decorated in accordance with Street’s own interpretation of what a mediaeval church interior would have looked like. This included a splendid frieze depicting the first two verses of the Magnificat. All was sadly obliterated in 1963 in accordance with the trends of the time, although something of what has been lost can be seen in the decoration of the organ case and façade pipework.
The most notable feature of the chancel is, quite rightly, the High Altar. The altarpiece itself is of alabaster, and includes a sculptured representation of the Entombment of Christ. Installed in 1886, it took almost forty years for a comment to appear in the Church Times describing it as a revolting arrangement of a large and ghastly figure of the dead Christ under the altar! Even today it excites contrasting opinion, and only emerges from beneath its frontals on Good Friday. The reredos consists of a gilt triptych depicting Christ reigning from the Cross, attended by Our Lady and St. John, and is flanked by wings containing some excellent 15th-century Flemish panels, believed to have come from an ancient organ-case. There are four panels, each painted on both sides, with those depicting the Last Supper, The Agony in the Garden, The Ascension and Pentecost being on view for most of the year, and the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem and The Cleansing of the Temple only being seen during Advent and Lent.
Passing the Lectern, another design of Street, and standing an impressive 6ft 8 inches high, the Lady Chapel is reached. Originally the vestry and sacristy, it was in 1896 converted into a chapel in memory of Prebendary Tugwell’s wife who had died two years previously. The alabaster-work in the sanctuary was designed by Sidney Gambier Parry, with the very detailed copper and brass screen being the work of Singer, of Frome. The Blessed Sacrament is reserved in this chapel, and visitors are encouraged to spend a moment in prayer here, and perhaps to light a candle.
Above the entrance to the chapel is an interesting memorial to Father John Rowe, Rector of St. Mary’s from 1963 until his untimely death in 1970. Originally outside the west window of the Baptistry, vandals removed it, and it was eventually recovered from the nearby canal, and re-housed in this rather safer location.
It is worth noting that the very busy Church Centre attached to St. Mary’s, was originally conceived as vestry accommodation and nothing more. The older part of the present Church Hall was built as a Choir Vestry, and was only extended into its existing dimensions in 1967, with additional kitchen, lavatory and office accommodation being provided at the same time. More recently, in 1998, the present reception office was fashioned out of what was originally the choir robbing room, and disabled facilities were provided at the same time.
No guide to St. Mary’s would be complete without reference to Bathwick St. Mary Primary School, whose life and work is intimately connected with its parent church.
Text by Benjamin Maslen, edited by Colin Hunt
