Anglican Church of St Peter, Woodmancote, Gloucestershire

Description

1371/0/10009

WOODMANCOTE
B4632 CLEEVE HILL
ANGLICAN CHURCH OF ST PETER

18-DEC-07

II
An unconsecrated Anglican church or chapel of ease, dating from 1906-7, designed by E Douglas Hoyland for the Frazzi Construction Company of Cremona, Italy, and built by local craftsmen.

MATERIALS: The church is built from prefabricated hollow terracotta blocks set on a local limestone plinth, with roughcast render to the exterior; the roof is covered in clay double Roman tiles.

PLAN: The building is an irregular rectangle on plan, oriented north west-south east, consisting of nave, aisle, and organ chamber to the south-west, and projecting vestry, sacristy and porch to the north east. Above the lobby is a bellchamber housing a single bell.

EXTERIOR: The building is a high single storey; the north east side of the nave has three windows with timber mullions and transoms and coloured glass, with a horizontal three-pane casement window to the vestry. The gabled timber porch has decorative bracing, with double panelled doors set beneath. To the north west end is another window similar to that in the vestry, with another similar, having more elaborate coloured glazing, set high in the gable. The four windows to the south west aisle are horizontal casements, and to the south east end is a large timber window with a triangular top and three lights with cusping.

INTERIOR: The lofty interior space is dominated by the open timber roof structure, with aisle posts and trusses which have a tie beam and high collar, with elaborate vertical bracing. The sanctuary is articulated by faux timber framing, in an Arts and Crafts influenced style, with white painted plaster to the infill panels; otherwise the warm pink terracotta blocks are left visible above smooth, white-painted plaster to dado height, with a moulded rail. The octagonal font with geometric and foliate relief carvings is by a local mason, Walter Fry. The main window above the altar is of good quality, and depicts the Crucifixion; it is inscribed and dated 1921. The central figure may be a re-used element, possibly by Clayton and Bell and dating from the 1870s, reset in a new window in 1921. The glass in the south west windows depicts the crossed keys of St Peter; those to the north east have decorative margin glazing. The floors are timber boards. There is an undercroft beneath part of the north end of the church.

HISTORY: Cleeve Hill is a small settlement situated above Bishop's Cleeve and the villages of Woodmancote, Gotherington and Southam. The number of people living on the hill increased rapidly during the latter years of the C19 and it became necessary and desirable to provide them with a place of worship closer than St Michael, which lay some two miles away and 600 feet below the settlement. By 1906, the Church of England congregation was in a position to begin its own church building, the costs having been raised by subscription. A board of trustees was begun, which included Thomas Malvern, a local architect, who acted as executive architect on the project on behalf of the congregation. The church opened for worship in 1907, but was never consecrated, remaining a daughter church of the parish of St Michael, Bishop's Cleeve.

Due to the steep and potentially precarious nature of the site, a lightweight construction was sought, and the incumbent contacted the English representative of the Frazzi Company of Cremona, Italy, who manufactured a patented system of hollow terracotta building blocks and other elements used in a wide variety of buildings, mainly as fireproofing or damp proofing. The representative was an architect, E Douglas Hoyland, based in London, who designed the church using prefabricated elements manufactured in Italy and shipped to England by the Frazzi Company; St Peter appears to be the earliest of a handful of churches which were designed by Hoyland and built in England in the early years of the C20 using the Frazzi system. The church was constructed from these elements using local labour, and embellished with stained glass, a stone font and other interior fittings during the twenty years after its completion in 1907. The church remained in use by a gradually dwindling congregation until its centenary in July 2007, after which it was closed for worship.

SOURCES: Gloucestershire County Record Office documents: P46/2 CW 3/2; P46/2 SP 1/2; P46/2 SP 1/3; P46/2 SP 1/4; P46/2 SP 1/5; P46/2 MI 1; D4238/1/1

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION:
The Anglican church of St Peter at Cleeve Hill is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:
* The church is a rare example of a place of worship constructed using a high quality, patented system of prefabricated blocks and timbers, imported by the Frazzi Company of Cremona, Italy
* The structure of the church, which was designed for the Frazzi Company by its agent, the architect E Douglas Hoyland, is intact and unaltered since its construction in 1906/7
* Although the main elements were prefabricated, the bespoke finishes and fittings show clear Arts and Crafts influence in this area, where the style was flourishing in the period
* The stained glass, though not fully attributed, is of good quality and enhances the interior of the church

Reasons for Listing

The Anglican church of St Peter at Cleeve Hill is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:
* The church is a rare example of a place of worship constructed using a high quality, patented system of prefabricated blocks and timbers, imported by the Frazzi Company of Cremona, Italy and constructed in 1906/7, very soon after the development of this system of prefabrication
* The structure of the church, which was designed for the Frazzi Company by its agent, the architect E Douglas Hoyland, is intact and unaltered since its construction
* Although the main elements were prefabricated, the bespoke finishes and fittings show clear Arts and Crafts influence in this area, where the style was flourishing in the period
* The stained glass, though not fully attributed, is of good quality and enhances the interior of the church

External Links

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