Historic Churches 2018

BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 25 TH ANNUAL EDITION 15 studs with little finials and a curved top rail. The otherwise plain splats at St Peter and St Paul, Kedington (Suffolk) end in a little twist and the gates have a dramatic curve, with the tallest splats in the centre, while St Mary, Gislingham in the same county has a single gate with three rails, the top one curved, and plain splats. Many iron gates follow the same basic pattern of vertical and horizontal members, with more or less embellishment depending on size, location and date. Many are very hard to date but some certainly date back to the 18th century. The west porch gates at St Mary’s, Usk (Monmouthshire) have a central spiral finial that looks 18th century, while St Oswald, Malpas (Cheshire) has a fine pair of wrought iron gates made by Thomas Tomlinson in 1767 (Pevsner). Perhaps the most attractive gates are those which have a lower panelled section and an open upper section filled with turned balusters, simpler studs, or ironwork. The lower section may have a single horizontal panel on each gate (St Martin, Elworthy, Somerset), one large square panel (St Mary, Dunsford, Devon) or two vertical panels (St Andrew, Broadhembury, Devon). At St James, Dorney (Buckinghamshire) the brick porch is dated 1661 and the pair of gates is undoubtedly the same date. Each has four turned gun-barrel balusters above a plain panel with applied moulding forming a lozenge. Broadhembury (page 13) and Puddletown have very attractive turned balusters of early 18th-century design and while the latter has simple spikes along the top, the former has the most elaborate set of scrolled spikes above a row of egg and dart moulding, with a rosette at each outer corner. Pevsner calls it ‘a C17 wooden gate’ (at least he noticed it). St Peter’s, Shaftesbury (Dorset) has equally extravagant features, with the curved and moulded top rail of each gate finished with a beautiful scroll. The iron spikes have tightly curled scrolls, with an S-shaped scroll atop the outer post. Instead of turned balusters there are four diamond-section studs in each gate. Diamond studs are also found in the very handsome gates in the north porch at St Mary’s, Usk (Monmouthshire), where they are finished with tiny sharply pointed finials. Medbourne (Leicestershire) also has diamond studs which protrude through the ramped top rails, and the gates are finished with ball finials on both inner and outer posts. They are fastened by a simple iron hasp and a modern padlock, and were perhaps more effective at keeping dogs out than humans. Dunsford (Devon) has slender turned balusters of a simple design typical of the mid- to later-18th century, with a ramped top rail and no spikes. The single gate at St Mary’s, Nettlecombe (Somerset) has two horizontal panels and an open section with moulded studs and rails forming three rows of six squares. The only remotely similar gate is at St Melangell, Pennant Melangell (Montgomeryshire), where the pair of gates bears the date 1763 and the initials ‘SO’ and ‘EM’, presumably the churchwardens of the time. Here each gate has two square fielded panels, with an open lattice above formed from plain slats, and like Nettlecombe the top rail is ramped. The execution is much less precise, however, and nothing is quite square, giving a rustic charm. Even more unusual are the handsome gates at St Mary’s, Ross-on-Wye (Herefordshire) which have the upper panels filled with elaborate wrought ironwork. Further ironwork on top of the ramped and moulded top rail fills the space between the gates and the ironwork filling the head of the arch. Much simpler but equally pleasing ironwork partially fills the round arch at St Martin, Welton-le-Marsh (Lincolnshire), where the western tower forms a porch. The simple gates have plain vertical slats above flush panels, but the lintel carries five decorative spikes, graded in size, each with a twisted central shaft carrying four leaves. Historic church porches are often full of interest. Outside there may be boot scrapers or a decorative path; inside may be old benches, an interesting floor or roof, or a holy water stoup. Linking the two are the porch gates, of a huge variety of styles and dates but always worth a closer look. The author would be delighted to hear of other interesting examples. LINDA HALL BA FSA (lindajhall61@googlemail. com) has spent many years examining fixtures and fittings in houses, but churches are her first love, inspired by the acquisition of I-Spy Churches and The Observer Book of Churches at the age of ten. She is the author of Period House Fixtures and Fittings 1300–1900 . St James, Dursley: the solid plank gates in the south porch have applied fillets with a simple hollow moulding creating five vertical round-headed panels on each gate. St Mary’s, Pembridge: the north porch gates are inscribed with the names of the churchwardens and the date 1678. The upper curved section carrying the plain spikes looks less weathered and may have been added later. St Mary’s, Debenham: the gates have two rows of turned balusters of simple design, symmetrical about the centre and dating from the 17th century. Although there is a keyhole and a row of spikes, it is hard to take these gates seriously as a security measure.

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