The Survey of London:
about St James's Church Piccadilly
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The following is taken, with grateful acknowledgement, from the famous ‘Survey of London’. This is a legthy text and you may wish to use the 'quick links' above. St. James's, Piccadilly is in many ways the finest of the group of four closely similar churches designed by Sir Christopher Wren for building on large open sites, the others being St. Anne's, Soho, St. Andrew's by the Wardrobe, and St. Andrew's, Holborn. Wren’s stated view 'The Churches therefore must be large; but still, in our reformed Religion, it should seem vain to make a Parish-church larger, than that all who are present can both hear and see. The Romanists, indeed, may build larger Churches, it is enough if they hear the Murmer of the Mass, and see the Elevation of the Host, but ours are to be fitted for Auditories. I can hardly think it practicable to make a single Room so capacious, with Pews and Galleries, as to hold above 2,000 Persons, and all to hear the Service, and both to hear distinctly, and see the Preacher. I endeavoured to effect this, in building the Parish Church of St. James's, Westminster, which, I presume, is the most capacious, with these Qualifications, that hath yet been built; and yet at a solemn Time, when the Church was much crowded, I could not discern from a Gallery that 2,000 were present. In this Church I mention, though very broad, and the middle Nave arched up, yet there are no Walls of a second Order, nor Lanterns, nor Buttresses, but the whole Roof rests upon the Pillars, as do also the Galleries; I think it may be found beautiful and convenient, and as such, the cheapest of any Form I could invent.' In April 1664 the inhabitants of the Bailiwick of St. James petitioned the House of Commons that the bailiwick might be constituted a separate parish from St. Martin in the Fields, with its own church. Leave was granted to Edmund Waller, who lived in St. James's Street, to bring in a Bill, but neither this nor another Bill for the same purpose which was considered in November 1664 proceeded further than the second reading stage. Other Bills introduced in 1668 and 1670 were equally unsuccessful, the chief opponents being Dr. Harding, the incumbent of St. Martin's, and members of the vestry of the parish of St. Martin in the Fields The need for a new church Site offered The Building of the Church The lack of information about the building of St. James's Church in the vestry minutes of St. Martin's suggests that the Earl of St. Albans, as the principal subscriber to the cost of its erection, handled the business privately. The choice of architect was presumably his, although Sir Christopher Wren was known to the vestrymen of St. Martin's, who had consulted him in 1672. (ref. 8) Wren had already met the Earl, to whom he had been given a letter of introduction when he visited France in 1665, and St. Albans 'had us'd him with all Kindness and Indulgence imaginable'. (ref. 9) Wren had more scope on this site between Piccadilly and Jermyn Street than he had on the more circumscribed sites in the City, and it is clear from the passage quoted above that he considered that in St. James's he had found the ideal solution to the problem of erecting a church accommodating the largest number of persons, and yet enabling them all to hear the service and see the preacher. The architect's drawings which survive consist of a site plan, a ground plan of the church, with a tower at the west end and a principal entrance on the south side, a drawing of the east elevation, and a design for a tower with a dome. The first three are by various unknown hands but the fourth is most probably by Robert Hooke. Accounts for the building have not survived, and of the workmen employed the names of only four are certain: Hobson, bricklayer, (ref. 10) Stor(e)y (presumably Abraham) and John Barratt, partners, masons, (ref. 11) and John Cock, plumber (ref. 12). Others of whose employment there is no proof, but strong circumstantial evidence, include: Cleare, joiner, (ref. 13) Anthony Hart, senior, bricklayer, (ref. 14) Richard Hayburne, carpenter, (ref. 15) and Jonathan Wil(l)cox, carpenter. Story and Wilcox both worked under Wren in the City and so did Cleare, if he may be identified with William Cleer, joiner (ref. 16). The cost of the project & the granting of the freehold For a year after its consecration the church was used as a chapel of ease to St. Martin's. Commissioners were appointed by Thomas, Lord Jermyn, and approved by the Bishop of London, to administer the church's affairs during this period, (ref. 21) but certain necessities, such as communion wine, ale and 'greens' for the vestry room and a tin pot for watering the church, were provided by the churchwardens of St. Martin's. (ref. 22) The vicar of St. Martin's, Thomas Tenison, became the first rector of St. James's in 1685 (ref. 23). Act of 1685 Sir Robert Gayre had been a generous benefactor (ref. 25) and in 1683 Henry Murrell of Duke Street, gentleman, had bequeathed £1000 towards finishing the building. (ref. 26) Only £300 of this sum had been paid by Murrell's executors by December 1685, and the churchwardens filed a petition in the Court of Chancery to try to obtain the rest. Murrell's executors pleaded that the assets of the estate were not enough to meet its liabilities. (ref. 27) The order of the Court has not survived, but two further sums of £200 and £194 were paid by the executors in 1686 and 1687 respectively. (ref. 28) The building of the steeple In the event Wren's design, estimated to cost £800, (ref. 34) was rejected in February 1686, and 'the new Draft by Mr. Willcox' approved. (ref. 38) No drawing has survived, but contemporary references in the church records show that Wilcox's design was for a tower with a stone cornice and battlement surmounted by a simple wooden, leadcovered spire, with a weathercock or vane on top of a copper ball. 'Mr. Willcox' was almost certainly Jonathan Wilcox, the carpenter employed at St. Vedast's, Foster Lane. (ref. 39) In 1674 he worked at St. Martin in the Fields (ref. 40) and was employed by the vestry of St. James in 1685 to build the rectory and to make a map of the parish. (ref. 41) Between these two dates he was probably employed on some of the carpenter's work in the body of the church. He would have been a far more likely choice as the designer of the spire than his son Edward, but his claim has been obscured by the fact that the latter was employed in erecting the first spire and was asked to design the second spire which was put up in 1700 (see below). Jonathan Wilcox died in April 1687 and left all his instruments for drawing and his drawing books to his son Edward. (ref. 42) After the approval of the design, estimates for the carpenter's, smith's and plumber's work on the spire, amounting to £703 12s. 1d., were agreed in the same month, February 1686. (ref. 43) The brick and stone work of the tower, i.e., up to cornice level, was completed in April (ref. 44) and in May the workmen employed in this last phase of building (Edward Wilcox, carpenter, John Barratt, mason, Anthony Hart, bricklayer, and Paul Winckles, smith) received £200 in part payment of their bills. (ref. 45) In August Edward Wilcox secured the contract for erecting the spire on the tower, (ref. 46) having agreed to abide by the award of Sir Christopher Wren for the value and worth of his work. (ref. 47) The last work remaining to be done on the tower before the spire could be built was the erection of the stone cornice. (ref. 48) John Barratt, who had contracted for the mason's work, had recently died, and his place was taken by Robert Smith who had bought the stock and trade of Barratt and his partner, Abraham Story. (ref. 49) Work on the cornice began on 3 November 1686, when Smith's workmen received 2s. 6d. for 'drink' at 'the first drawing up of the Stones'. (ref. 48) Work on the spire proceeded throughout the winter. It was ready for the plumber's and mason's work (i.e., the lead covering and stone battlements) by February 1687, and before the copper ball was placed on top, Sir Christopher Wren was asked for his opinion 'about the Wether Cock of what forme it shall be'. (ref. 50) A few days later the vestry's attention to these trivia was diverted by the ominous report of a committee appointed to survey the steeple. (ref. 51) The committee found that 'the insufficiency of the Foundation (‘the workeing men who first wrought in it not following those directions which were given them as we are credibly inform'd’) had caused the steeple 'to leane to the West very much and has taken the west end of the Church along with it, tareing of it off at the two westerne Windowes'. The mortar used was also found to be 'very bad' and the work 'very ill performed'. (ref. 52) (Hobson, who was one of the bricklayers who laid the foundations, said they were laid on 'wett Clay'. (ref. 53)). The committee concluded that 'when the waite of the Lead shall be laid on the spire and the waite of the Bells together with the rocking which will be occasioned by strong winds and the Ringing the Bells which may happen together that this steeple with soe bad a bottome and ill workmanshipp cannot be able long to resist those violent motions but that there must be a continuall fear and consternation of some great misfortune to befall'. The two courses open to the vestry were, firstly, to remove the spire (though no fault was found in the carpenter's work), and secondly, to take down the steeple, rebuild it, and replace the spire on top. Mr. Thompson, mason, was asked to examine the steeple regularly for new cracks (ref. 52) and Mr. Tal(l)man, Mr. Banks and Mr. Oliver were called in for their opinions. (ref. 54) (fn. i) The Spire is taken down On 22 March 1687 Thompson, the mason, caused a vestry meeting to be 'call'd suddainly', 'many new Cracks and Crashes' having occurred. The note of emergency at this meeting is vividly conveyed in the minutes, which are interrupted to record the names of the vestrymen as they hurried in, one by one. The vestry ordered that the steeple should be brought down to a height of thirty feet by anyone who could do the work, if Wilcox refused, and that the advice of Sir Christopher Wren should be sought. (ref. 57) A reassuring interim report was presented a few days later by (Richard) Hayburne, who informed the vestry that the roof over the body of the church, which he had plumbed, had not spread. (ref. 58) By April Sir Christopher Wren had also made a survey and he reported that the walls of the church were still upright and safe. He also considered that the steeple might be left as it then stood (it had apparently not been taken down to thirty feet), but that it would be convenient to have it covered with deal boards and no more bells put in than the one already hung. (ref. 59) Although the investigating committee had attributed the cause of the trouble to bad workmanship, in 1690 the vestry asked the Westminster Commissioners of Sewers to alter the course of the sewer running through the churchyard because it had 'dampnified the foundation of the steeple . . . and caused such a settlement that the steeple must be taken quite down and rebuilt'. (ref. 60) In 1691, when an application to Parliament for powers to raise £3000 was being considered, £800 was allocated out of this sum for the demolition and re-erection of the steeple. (ref. 61) Even allowing for the use of old materials this seems an inadequate amount and the idea of rebuilding the tower was eventually dropped. The old scaffolding had been left standing about the steeple until 1691, when John James purchased it for £8. He complained when he got it down that it was rotten. (ref. 63) The spire too, though covered by a shed, (ref. 64) was left lying in the churchyard, but in 1696 the rector mentioned that the parish of St. Anne, Soho, had once thought of purchasing it and the vestry considered spending the money, if it could be sold, on a handsome 'Cupuleo' and weathercock. (ref. 65) There is, however, no reference to the purchase of the old spire among the records of St. Anne's Church, where a steeple was erected in 1718, probably to the design of William Talman. (ref. 66) Probably because no more leaning or cracking had occurred, the vestry of St. James apparently decided that it would not be necessary to rebuild the tower, and determined to finish the steeple using a new spire in place of the old one. In April 1699 Edward Wilcox was asked to 'Prepare some pretty design' for a new spire (ref. 67) and a voluntary subscription was started to pay for it. (ref. 68) There is no other evidence that Wilcox did in fact design the spire that was put up. An entry in the churchwardens' accounts in March 1700 could be taken to imply that the design came from Wren's office, for it records the payment of six shillings and sixpence 'With Sr. Chris Wren's man about the draught of the Steeple'. (ref. 69) In the following October workmen took down 'the Battlements at the steeple end' (ref. 70) and the spire was probably erected by the end of the year, for in December 1700 the turner received three shillings and ninepence 'for the Balls underneath the Piramids upon the steeple'. (ref. 71) The cost of the new spire was £397 12s. 2½d., of which £331 5s. 0d. was collected by subscriptions. (ref. 72) The difficulties encountered in finishing the steeple, and the inadequacy of the £2000 raised by rates forced the vestry to offer soft words and fair promises to its creditors, who were dunning for the payment of their bills. Edward Wilcox, the son of Jonathan, acting on his own behalf and as his father's executor, required permission to assign his debt amounting to £348 2s. 5d., but the vestry offered him 'moderate Interest for Forbearance'. By 1689 it was clear that a new Act of Parliament would be necessary to raise more funds, (ref. 73) the debt for work on the rectory and steeple being £2120; nevertheless, the vestry went ahead with the enlargement of the vestry room and thus increased the parish's liabilities. In 1691 the vestry decided to seek parliamentary authority to raise £3000, out of which £800 was to be assigned for the demolition and rebuilding of the steeple. (ref. 61) Three years after this decision was taken the workmen again petitioned the vestry to promote a parliamentary Bill, but they were told that the sister parish of St. Anne, Soho, had recently had a similar Bill rejected because of 'the Warr'. (ref. 74) Waitman or Wightman, one of the bellfounders, had in the meantime started a suit in the Exchequer Court for £50 owing to him but he had been dissuaded from prosecuting the suit by a promise of payment of interest. (ref. 75) John Cock, the plumber, also went to law. A disagreement between him and the vestry arose in 1693 when he insisted that he should be paid interest on the debt of the 'Lord of St. Albans' (i.e., for work done before the parish was formed), but the vestry would not recognise this claim. (ref. 76) In 1695 Cock therefore prosecuted for non-payment of debt. (ref. 77) The vestry then revised its intention to ask for powers to raise £3000 and prepared a draft Bill to raise £4000. (ref. 78) Further delay was caused because the inhabitants were not advised of the proposed Bill, (ref. 79) but the omission was repaired, and fortified by the presence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the vestry met to discuss the Bill with the complaining inhabitants. When the latter came ('none of the complainants appeared until sent for') they objected to the payment of any debts incurred before the formation of the parish, and insisted that the Earl of St. Albans had settled them. (ref. 80) A committee which was appointed to examine the unpaid bills for work done since the parish was formed found that they amounted to £1723 5s. 9d. ; the sum of £586 0s. 10d. was also owing to persons who had lent money. (ref. 81) The vestry therefore agreed to obtain an Act to raise £3000 only. (ref. 82) The workmen agreed that after their principal sums were paid, plus 3 per cent interest, they would accept what was left in lieu of the higher rate of interest for which they had asked. They also agreed to pay the vestry clerk for his extra trouble and if the sum shared out was considerable 'they would not Grudge amongst them to Contribute and give the Parish a good Clock'. (ref. 83) The Act was passed in 1696. (ref. 84) A list of the surnames of the workmen whose bills were still outstanding appears in the vestry minutes in December 1696. They were: Story and Barratt, masons; Wilcox, carpenter; Win(c)kles, Smith; Lobb, joiner; Alien, paviour; Highmore, painter; Cock, plumber; Smith, mason; Hart, bricklayer; Hayburne, carpenter; and Waitman, bellfounder. (ref. 85) The last outstanding debt appears to have been paid in 1710, to Anthony Hart, junior, as his father's executor. (ref. 86) How tired the vestry was of its financial troubles can be gauged from the desire expressed in their minutes in 1702 'that an End be put to all that Affair'. (ref. 87) The congregation - not docile Accounts by visitors to St. James's during the eighteenth century stress the fashionable element in the congregation. John Evelyn remarked that a sermon which he had heard elsewhere on the subject of costly apparel would have been more appropriately delivered at 'St. James's or some other of the Theatrical Churches in Lond, where the Ladys and Women were so richly and wantonly dressed and full of Jewells'. (ref. 91) James Macky complained that a stranger had to pay for a convenient seat so that 'it costs one almost as dear to see a Play', but he still thought the church worth a visit 'on a Holiday or Sunday, when the fine Assembly of Beauties and Quality come there'. (ref. 92) The display of wealth tempted undesirable characters to attend services and the payment of ten shillings is recorded in 1693 to 'Simmonds . . . for his care in lookeing after and taking pickpocketts in the Church'. (ref. 93) In later years James Boswell confessed that his mind was distracted when he attended a service at the church, but excused himself because his 'warm heart and a vivacious fancy' made him 'given to love . . . and to the most brilliant and showy method of public worship'. (ref. 94) The interior of the church, which had been admired for its beauty by contemporary writers, (ref. 95) owed its brilliancy not only to the richness of the congregation's dress but also to the whiteness of the walls, (ref. 96) the gilded fittings, (ref. 97) and the handsome furniture, all illuminated in winter by scores of candles. (ref. 98) Repairs and Alterations In 1756 James Horn, the parish surveyor, reported that although the timbers of the spire braces appeared very sound, the boarding under the dial and torus, the balustrade, pyramids and balls, and the boardings and bearers forming the plinth under the balustrade all required renewal. With sundry other repairs and repainting and gilding, Horn estimated the cost would be in the region of £352 (ref. 105) but in fact it came to over £500. The workmen employed were Charles Ross, carpenter, Richard Norris, brazier, Richard Troubridge, plumber, William Pickering, painter, and Charles and/or Francis Sheffield, smith(s). (ref. 106) The obelisks or pyramids on the balustrade were presumably taken down during these repairs and not put back; they do not appear in any illustration of the church after this date. (ref. 107) In 1764 Mr. Goreham was chosen as surveyor to superintend further repairs. He found the church a 'sound and Substantial Building', although there was a bulge in the fascia, and some bad bricks in the fabric. Samuel Ludbey, bricklayer, (ref. 108) William Pickering, painter, Matthew Fairless, carpenter, Edward Prestidge, mason, and Thomas Heafford, plasterer, were the principal workmen engaged; (ref. 109) the cost amounted to over £1000. (ref. 110) A year later the rector was asked to procure an 'Electrical Wire' to protect the spire from damage by lightning; (ref. 111) Benjamin Franklin's lightning conductors were first introduced in 1752. In 1788 Thomas Hardwick, Mr. Soham and Mr. Gowan were invited to submit estimates chiefly for repairs to the fittings, steeple and vestry room. (ref. 112) 'Mr. Soham' was (Sir) John Soane, who had recently begun practice on his own. His designs for 'alterations and Improvements' were submitted in November 1788, but Hardwick's plans, submitted later, in January 1789, were preferred. (ref. 113) Their execution cost over £1000. (ref. 114) First major alteration John Smith, carpenter and joiner, John Burt, bricklayer, Hugh Hunter, mason, Henry Pride, plasterer, and Thomas Nash, painter and glazier, were some of the workmen employed. (ref. 117) Hardwick's account came to £427 1s. (ref. 119) and the original estimate for the work was £5700. (ref. 117) Hardwick was given £100 on account in November 1804 and the workmen whose bills amounted to less than £100 each were also paid; the others were to be paid 10 per cent interest on their unpaid bills. (ref. 119) Once again the parish was heavily in debt—this time for upwards of £5000—and in 1805 Messrs. Devaynes and Company, bankers, were asked for a loan of £2000. (ref. 120) Some of this debt remained unsettled when Devaynes failed in 1811. (ref. 121) In 1820 Hardwick proposed to the vestry that the balustrade on top of the tower, which being wooden often needed repair, should be replaced by one in Bath or Portland stone (ref. 124). Consideration of Hardwick's suggestion was deferred but perhaps as a result of it he was asked a year later to call in two eminent surveyors to inspect the tower and steeple. (ref. 125) The joint report of Hardwick, John Shaw, senior, surveyor to Christ's Hospital, and Jeffry Wyatt of Lower Brook Street, was submitted in December 1821. They found that the tower had been built with inferior materials and workmanship, and that it overhung towards the west by about seventeen inches. There was also a bulge between the pavement level and the first string course which had caused a fracture at the northwest angle. (ref. 127) The surveyors decided, however, that the tower was not in immediate danger, and repairs made shortly afterwards temporarily prevented any increase in the overhang. John Shaw also surveyed the tower in 1827, with John White, (ref. 128) and again in 1830. (ref. 129) In 1856 the south doorway was removed and two vestibules were erected in the angles between the tower and west face of the church. These were linked by a continuous ambulatory formed by the reopening of the north and south arches of the tower, thus providing access from the north and south into the body of the church at the west end. The interior staircases to the galleries were removed, new stone stairs being built within the vestibules, and the extra room thus provided was used to increase the number of free pews. The architect for these alterations was Charles Lee, and Messrs. Patrick and Son were the contractors; the cost came to approximately £3000 of which £500 was obtained from a subscription fund collected to augment free church accommodation in the parish. (ref. 130) In 1878 the rector, J. E. Kempe, made further alterations to the church to commemorate his tenure of the living for a quarter of a century. (ref. 131) The pews at the east end were cut down and converted into open seats and the east end fitted up 'to give it more the aspect of a chancel'. The vestibule under the tower was made into a baptistery; the door in the west wall of the tower was shut up and a window inserted above it. (ref. 132) Extensive repairs - 1884
Enemy action - May 1940 For safety's sake, the height of the tower was reduced in 1955. The Roof and Ceiling Minor repairs were occasionally necessary during the eighteenth century but in 1803 Henry Pride, plasterer, had to cut down parts of the cornices, frames and mouldings of the ceiling and make them good. (ref. 117) Some apprehension about the safety of the ceiling was expressed in 1830 (ref. 139) and John Shaw was called in to examine it twice in that year. He declared that the roof was quite safe, (ref. 129) but in 1836 Charles Mayhew, the parish surveyor, decided that the ceiling was so loose as to be a danger to the congregation, and called in Sir Robert Smirke for his advice. (ref. 140) Smirke reported that the joists to which the plastering was attached over the middle aisle had sunk, and in some cases their ends had been drawn out of the beams and were resting on the laths and plaster. As the plasterwork itself was also defective Smirke advised taking down the centre part of the ceiling to enable the joists to be strengthened and fixed from below. Mr. Tombleson did the carpenter's and joiner's work for £1025 3s. 1¾d. and Mr. Fitch the plasterer's and bricklayer's work for £1796 1s. 3d., excluding the cost of scaffolding. The painting and gilding, which cost £512 5s. 10½d., was done by Mr. Herman. (ref. 140) Mayhew had tried to restore the ceiling as it was formerly; one band he had bound with iron but he found it impossible to retain the others. 'Some of the flowers over the organloft were the original ones, and the design of the enrichments were followed as closely as possible.' (ref. 141) The central part of the roof was destroyed in 1940 by incendiary bombs, but it was found possible to save the fir timbers of the roof over the aisles. The present ceiling was reproduced by Messrs. Eaton Contractors Ltd., by using existing measured drawings and pieces salvaged after the fire. It is constructed of fibrous plaster and the ornaments were cast in the church itself; four thousand books of gold leaf were used to gild the plasterwork. (ref. 134) The Windows Wren evidently preferred an uncurtained light, at least at the east end. In 1693 the removal of the curtain over the east window occasioned some disagreement amongst the vestrymen; 'Some were for putting it up [again] others for bricking up the Window halfe way and some for letting the Window be as it is.' (ref. 145) Wren, whose advice was sought, considered that 'it was best to let the Window be without any Curtaine'. (ref. 146) In 1743 the oval windows at the east and west ends were stopped up (ref. 147) and at the time of the repairs to the church in 1764 Goreham prepared designs for ornamental mouldings to go over them. The vestry approved these and ordered that they should be executed 'as near similer to the other windows as possible'. (ref. 148) A new window was substituted for the north doorway in 1803 (ref. 117) and in 1856 a similar window was inserted in place of the south doorway. (ref. 149) In 1810 several 'respectable' inhabitants suggested that the east window should be filled with painted or stained glass. The vestry did not object, provided it was paid for by voluntary subscription, (ref. 150) but only sufficient funds to pay for the upper part of the window were promised. (ref. 151) The subject chosen was the 'whole History of the Transfiguration', and in 1813 Joseph Backler agreed to execute the work and fix ground glass in the lower part of the window for a sum of not more than £1250, or to complete the whole window for £2000, subject to the satisfaction of Benjamin West and Thomas Hardwick. (ref. 125) Backler was given permission to solicit for subscriptions in 1819, (ref. 153) and in 1821 the vestry also instructed one of the rate collectors to ask for subscriptions and issued a printed appeal. (ref. 154) Promises of funds were so slow in coming, however, that it was not until 1845 that The Builder reported, accurately, a rumour that a Gothic stained-glass window was to be put up. The hope that the information was 'in error' was not realized, (ref. 155) for Wailes of Newcastle had been asked, among others, to submit a design. (ref. 156) The storm of protest aroused by the new window reverberated through the pages of The Builder for years afterwards. (ref. 157) Wailes himself had been reluctant to design the window for a church 'in the modern style . . . having devoted himself and his workmen exclusively to the production of glass adopted to Gothic structures'. (ref. 156) The committee appointed to carry out the scheme, with Charles Mayhew as secretary, gave way before public pressure and asked Wailes to take out of his design 'everything Gothic'. (ref. 158) The window was eventually given 'a more Byzantine character' and was installed in 1846. (ref. 159) By 1857 two more windows by Wailes had been put up, furthering the intention to fill in all the gallery windows with stained glass. (ref. 160) Another two were put in by Messrs. Ward and Hughes by 1888, one commemorating the church's bicentenary. Both are illustrated in The Builder. (ref. 161) On the restoration of the church Crown glass was put in all the windows except the east, where stained glass, designed by Christopher Webb, and depicting scenes from the life of Christ, was inserted in 1954. (ref. 162) Architectural Description The Hulsbergh engraving, published between 1709 and 1729, shows an early arrangement of the interior (Plate 10a). The floor was fitted with four blocks of pews and a single row of pews lined the walls, broken by the lobbies of the doorways centred in the west, north and south fronts; by the gallery-staircase enclosures in the northwest and south-west angles; and by the small railed sanctuary before which rose the three-decker pulpit. The north and south galleries contained two stepped rows of pews, and a single narrow row between the gangway and the wall, whereas three rows were crowded into the shallow west gallery. These arrangements were completely changed by Thomas Hardwick, shortly after 1803 (see page 37), when two blocks of pews were formed in the nave, separated by a wide central gangway in which the free benches were placed as occasion demanded. The pulpit was erected in front of the south block and the reader's desk in front of the north. In each aisle was a shallow block of pews, facing east, extending to the wall or into the recesses formed by the removal of the window aprons on the inside. In each side gallery were three stepped pews in front of the gangway and one behind, with a second in each window recess. Hardwick also constructed new staircases to the gallery, inside the building but eliminating the original outside steps. The open porch under the tower was converted into a vestibule, and a window was substituted for the central doorway in the north aisle. All of these changes are shown on the plans by the elder Pugin and by Clayton, and the general appearance of the interior at this time is recorded by Frederick Nash's perspective view. In 1856 the lobbies and staircase enclosures within the body of the church were removed under Charles Lee's directions, the space gained being given over to the provision of free sittings, augmented by increasing the second gallery to the full width of the church. The engraving from The Builder of 14 February 1857 shows the interior arrangements at this time. The present arrangement of the church floor follows, in general, that in use after 1878. The easternmost bay of the nave serves as a chancel, raised one step above the general floor level and flanked by stalls. A wide cross-gangway separates this chancel space from the handsome new oak benches, all facing the altar and spaciously set out to form two blocks in the nave, with a wide central gangway, and one block in each aisle. The west bay of the north aisle now serves as the baptistery, and the east end of the south aisle is arranged as a chapel (the panelling and altar form a memorial to Francis Ernest Jackson, A.R.A., given by his pupils and friends, and the 'Pieta' painting is his work). The simple utilitarian exterior of the church, as contrasted with the richness and elegance within, has always been adversely criticised, though seldom so forcibly as when Joseph Gwilt called it a 'barbarous brick-cased and ill-shaped pile' and likened it to the toad which is 'ugly and venomous, yet wears a precious jewel in its head', (ref. 163) the jewel, of course, being the universally admired interior. Yet, looking at the Hulsbergh engraving of the north elevation as originally designed, the design is pleasant enough in its modest way. The walls throughout were faced with red brick, generally laid in Flemish bond, and Portland stone was used for the window architraves, the doorcases, the plain underlying plinth, the bandcourse immediately below the upper tier of windows, and for the long-and-short chamfered quoins at each angle of the church and tower. The north and south elevations are similar in composition, but differ slightly in treatment since the north side was at first partly concealed from Piccadilly by houses. There are two tiers of five evenly spaced windows, that in the middle of the lower tier replacing an original doorway, dressed with a stone frontispiece described below. A vestry, linking church and rectory, has always taken the place of the easternmost window of the north elevation. The lower windows are of squat proportion and have segmental-arched heads; the upper windows are relatively tall and have round-arched heads. All are dressed with wide moulded architraves, eared at the heads and broken by keystones, those of the lower tier being plain, and those above having a form of moulded scroll-console except the middle one which is carved with a cherub's head on folded wings. The Hulsbergh engraving of the north front, and Sutton Nicholls's north prospect of St. James's Square show that the north and south elevations, and the return fronts of the aisles, were originally finished with a modillioned eaves-cornice of wood, with gutter ornaments of lion heads at centres between the windows. This wooden eaves-cornice lasted, with repairs, until 1803 when Thomas Hardwick repaired and altered the church. The walls then received the finish shown on the engraved elevations and sections by Clayton and Pugin — a plain brick parapet rising about three feet above a plain bandcourse (at the level of the old eavescornice) and finishing with a plain coping, both of Portland stone. This parapet was removed, probably by Wimperis in 1884, in favour of a more appropriate block-modillioned cornice and a blocking-course of stone. Wimperis's cornice remains on the south aisle walls, but has been replaced on the north by a replica of Hardwick's plain parapet - perhaps for structural reasons. The simply drawn plan from Wren's office shows an entrance at the west end of the nave, through a porch or lobby in the base of the tower, and an entrance in the middle of the south side, dressed with a frontispiece sufficiently important to be seen from St. James's Square. No north doorway is shown or suggested, and it must appear that the decision to provide an entrance from Piccadilly into the north aisle was made at a late stage, perhaps after the body of the church had been erected, thus accounting for the difference in the design of the two frontispieces. That of the north doorway, removed in 1803, was an arch set in a rusticated surround, with a moulded surbase, a moulded impost, and a keystone carved with a cartouche bearing the arms of Jermyn, the whole being finished with a moulded cornice. The south doorway, removed in 1856, had a more elaborate frontispiece. The door, which was surmounted by a panel resting on cherub-head corbels, was framed by a straight-headed moulded architrave, flanked by panelled pilaster-strips with scrolled consoles bearing the cornice-hood. On each side was an engaged half-pilaster and a pilaster of an Ionic order, plain-shafted, carrying an extension of the entablature, its frieze carved with festoons and the Jermyn mullets and crescents. Profile scroll-consoles flank the architrave of the window above. When the door was closed up, and the frontispiece removed, the wall face was patched with yellow stock bricks. The east elevation is divided into three bays, the wide middle one being the projecting east end of the nave. The stone quoins, plinth, and bandcourse of the side elevations are repeated, the last stopping against the great east window. This is of two stages, each divided into three lights, the lower by plain-shafted half-columns and square columns of a Corinthian order carrying an unbroken entablature. The upper order is composite, and the entablature is stopped and returned in the middle light, which is arched with an unbroken moulded archivolt. The wall face beneath the east window is treated as a high pedestal, originally with a moulded base, a panelled die now plastered, and a cornice which continued in a simplified profile across the flanking faces of the projecting bay. Each narrow flanking bay, ending an aisle, contains a tall oval window (now blocked) framed in a moulded architrave and placed just above the bandcourse. This front was originally finished with a wooden eaves-cornice, raking up to form a steep pediment over the projecting bay. It seems probable, however, that Wren envisaged finishing the walls with a cornice, presumably of stone, surmounted by a pedestal parapet, and a great open segmental pediment over the projecting bay, which would have made it necessary to hip the east end of the roof. The present steep gable is far less happy in effect. The west end of the church exterior has been so much altered and overlaid since 1856 that it is necessary to turn to drawings and engravings for a clear idea of its original appearance. Kip's panorama shows scrolled consoles abutting the tower shaft, finishing the narrow exterior faces of the nave's west wall. The aisle fronts were similar to those at the east end, except that doors serving the gallery staircases were introduced on the inside of the lower stage. These small doors were approached by lateral steps, and were dressed with enriched moulded architraves and cornices. Reset, they now give entrance to the aisles from the staircase lobbies flanking the tower. The tower, projecting squarely from the west wall of the nave and interrupting its crowning triangular pediment, was built of red brick although much of the lower part has been refaced with yellow stocks (probably in 1788). Portland stone was used for the quoins and the three bandcourses (the first plain and the others moulded) defining the four stages. The first two stages correspond with the two storeys of the church, the lower having a round-arched opening (now furnished with doors) in each face, dressed with a plain stone architrave, moulded imposts, and a keystone, that of the west front being extended and carved with a Baroque cartouche bearing the arms of Jermyn. In each face of the second stage was a round-arched window with an eared architrave, similar to those in the second tier of the church but furnished with a plain keystone. The squat third stage has a circular opening, probably intended for a clock-dial, set in each exposed face, and the top stage (now demolished) contained in each face a round-arched opening, fitted with louvres and framed by a plain brick architrave, with stone imposts and keyblock. The actual spire erected by Edward Wilcox (but by no means certainly designed by him) had some affinity with that of St. Lawrence, Jewry (1677), and even more with the lower part of a spire designed for St. Michael's, Crooked Lane, (ref. 165) to which has been added an octagonal obelisk spirelet of the St. Martin's, Ludgate Hill, type. At St. James's, the tower was finished with an open balustrade of wood, each side being divided into two lengths by solid dies, with an obelisk on balls, at each angle. The spire had a low concave base, then a square stage with a clock-dial in each face. The upper angles of this stage were splayed, transforming the square to an octagon, and above a shallow concave plinth rose the arcaded octagonal drum of the obelisk spirelet, with consoles decorating its foot and a ball terminal surmounted by a vane. The staircase lobbies, added on each side of the tower in 1856, were designed by Charles Lee in complete harmony with Wren's work as altered by Thomas Hardwick. The side wall of each lobby contained a reproduction of the round-arched window in the second stage of the tower, and below was a Doric doorcase with an arched opening. The west wall repeated the design of the aisle end wall, with its tall oval blocked window. The north lobby has now been reduced in height and furnished with a new segmental-arched doorway. In the west wall a large lunette window has been introduced above the bandcourse. The original form of construction used for the roof was always admired, and justly so. James Elmes, in his life of Wren, (ref. 166) gave an excellent account of it, based on C. R. Cockerell’s examination. (ref. 166) Joseph Gwilt's description is quoted here. 'The roof, which is admirably contrived . . . is a model for economical, not less than for safe construction, and that without tye-beams. The principal rafters, which rise from the walls at a height level with the tops of the columns, are prevented from spreading, partly by collars above the plastered cradling of the great vaulting, and partly by hammer-pieces, (on to which they tail towards the wall), which lie from the walls to the tops of the columns, whence the semi-cylindrical ceiling springs. On the hammer-pieces there are posts which rise vertically and catch the principals, thus causing the superior parts of those principals to be poised and steadied on the right-angled triangular bases formed over the galleries. The lead-flats above the galleries also create a reaction of the thrust primarily generated: the principals, of course, only occur over the columns. There is nothing remarkable in the framing which forms the cradle of the plastered vaulting.' (ref. 167) There is a conflict of evidence concerning the roof covering. Sutton Nicholls's north prospect of St. James's Square, an engraving of c1722, shows the church roof wholly covered with lead, but the reference in 1714 to broken slating suggests that the engraving misleads on this point, and that whereas the flats over the aisles were leaded, the more steeply pitched nave roof was slated. In 1756 it was to be re-covered with Westmorland slates, but in 1825 Gwilt states that 'the roof . . . is covered with lead'. (ref. 167) However, in his estimate of 1821 for repairs, Thomas Hardwick allowed £50 for the slater, and in the later nineteenth century and down to 1940 there is no doubt that the nave roof was slated. The whole roof is now covered with copper, to lighten the load on the fabric. The interior Each bay of the galleried aisles has a barrelvaulted ceiling of plaster, springing from the transverse entablatures and rising between the trusses. The surface of each vault is decorated with a double-guilloche rib, linking the columns, and an enriched foliage moulding enclosing a large rectangular panel in the centre of which is an acanthus-boss. These transverse vaults intersect with the great barrel-vault of plaster over the nave, the surface of which is divided into five bays by double-guilloche ribs, linking the columns of the two arcades. These ribs, and those of the transverse vaults, are bordered with chains of acanthusbuds. In each bay enriched foliage mouldings are used to frame the three large square panels between the linked spandrel panels which are modelled in high relief with a winged cherub's head flanked by foliage-and-ribbon festoons and pendants. In the first, third and fifth bays, the middle panel contains a large boss of curling acanthus. Similar bosses in the second and fourth bays, which had been replaced in 1866 by sun-burners, were omitted when the ceiling was last restored. It is almost certain, however, that the five bosses were added in 1837 when gas-lighting was first installed, to provide a decorative finish to the roof ventilators (cf. Plates 17a, 17b). The east wall is dominated by the great Venetian window of two stages, set in a wide recess with slightly splayed reveals. These and the flanking wall faces were originally left quite plain, but a cornice has been added to link the entablature of the arcades with that of the lower stage of the window, where the same Corinthian order is used. The architectural treatment of the window is the same inside as out, and the soffit of the recess is enriched with coffers. Altar, Altarpiece and Communion Rail The altarpiece consisted of 'fine Bolection, Pannels, with Architrave, Friese, and Cornish, of Cedar; and . . . a large compass Pediment'. (ref. 169) Below the pediment, carved in limewood, were 'flowres and Garlands about the Walls by Mr. Gibbons . . . [and] a Pelican with her young at her breast'. (ref. 170) The altar was enclosed by a 'strong and graceful Rail and Banister of white Marble, artfully carved'. (ref. 169) The four marble panels set in the railing were taken away in 1821 because of their decayed state. An estimate for their repair, together with the railing, was produced in 1820 by Mr. Hardwick but it being thought too costly he was asked to provide estimates for a similar railing in brass or wood. (ref. 171) In 1821 he submitted three estimates; one for repairing the railing and panels for £720, a second, for bronze panels only, for £210, and a third, for ironbronze panels, for £126. The first estimate was from Mr. Westmacott, and the other two from Mr. (probably Samuel) Parker of Argyle Street. At first it was decided to accept the cheapest tender (ref. 172) but on Hardwick's advice 'best bronze' was eventually chosen, (ref. 173) and Parker made the panels for £220 10s. The repairs to the railing itself were made by Mr. Mather, mason. (ref. 174) In 1846 the limewood carvings had also become very dilapidated and they were restored by George Lock and G. Kent of Leamington, using 850 new pieces. (ref. 175) The altarpiece was painted and grained in imitation of walnut and varnished during alterations made to the church in 1866. (ref. 178) In 1878 the marble enclosure was raised and enlarged. (ref. 177) Towards the end of the nineteenth century painted panels were inserted in the altarpiece under the pediment, one depicting the Last Supper, and others, in the flanking faces, portraying the Apostles; (ref. 178) they survived the war, but were not reinstated. The whole width of the wall face beneath the east window is lined with cedar and oak, the design continuing the treatment of the Doric lower order of the aisles, forming an altarpiece with wings. This altarpiece is a modern replacement of the original, in which each wing presented a face with two raised-and-fielded panels framed in bolection mouldings. Now there are three panels, one narrow between two wide. The full entablature is omitted from the altarpiece proper, where the cornice curves to form a great segmental open pediment, its tympanum filled with the splendid carvings in limewood by Grinling Gibbons. These carvings are dominated by the Pelican in its Piety, placed above the middle loop of a festooned garland, elaborately composed of fruits, flowers, shells and wheat-ears, arranged to fall in three wide and two narrow loops, and ending in two great knotted pendants. Following the curve of the pediment cornice is an intricate composition of interlacing scrollwork, in which rest two doves. The twin round-headed panels (inscribed with the Decalogue) originally placed on this altarpiece were probably those for many years fixed on the east wall of the gallery; they are now in store. The original wainscot panels flanking the altarpiece were also lettered. The altar, which has been enlarged, is of oak. The front is divided by twisted columns into three panels, and has a festooned apron decorated with cherub-heads. The Communion rail is of white marble with open panels of cast bronze, with rich foliage scrollwork of a pattern based on the original marble panels. The Pulpits and Reading Desks At the time of the first major alterations to the interior of the church in 1803 a new pulpit and new reading desks were ordered to be made of 'right wainscot'. The type was to be made of the same material, the soffit inlaid 'with a glory of mahogany and sattin wood', and the supporting iron pillars were to have shafts representing palm trees, the tops 'richly covered with leaves and dates'. (ref. 117) Hardwick produced drawings for the new sounding board in July 1803 and one of these was approved. (ref. 181) The carpenter and joiner engaged by the vestry was John Smith, and the smith and brazier, Henry Dawes. (ref. 117) The old pulpit and reading desks were perhaps among the 'old Fittings' ordered to be given to Berwick Street Chapel or sold in January 1822. (ref. 182) In Sir John Soane's Museum there are drawings for a pulpit and prayer desk at St. James's Church, dated 1824; (ref. 183) they do not appear to have been executed. Hardwick's pulpit can be seen in a water-colour and in an undated view by F. Mackenzie. (ref. 184) It was presumably superseded by the present pulpit which was installed about 1862. This is constructed in oak, and octagonal in plan. Each face has a moulded panel containing a figure carved in high relief, and at each angle is a twisted column supporting the entablature-rail. Originally raised on a cluster of columns (Plate 16), it now stands on a simply panelled and moulded pedestal of octagonal plan, in oak. In 1902 an outside pulpit was erected on the north wall of the church as an offering by W. D. and E. J. Nichols. (ref. 185) It was designed by Temple Moore and carved by L. A. Turner. (ref. 186) It was damaged in 1940 but restored at the same time as the rest of the fabric (ref. 187). The Font The new font and its cover are attributed to Grinling Gibbons. The white marble font consists of an ovoid bowl raised on a stem realistically carved to represent the Tree of Knowledge, with the serpent entwined about it, Adam standing on one side and Eve on the other. The bowl is decorated with three kidney-shaped panels carved in low relief to represent (a) the Baptism of Christ, (b) St. Philip baptising the Eunuch of Candace, (c) Noah's Ark afloat (Plate 23b). The cover was described by Hatton as being 'finely carved . . . with a spacious Angel descending from a Celestial Choir of Cherubims, all gilt with Gold'. (ref. 169) In 1687 the vestry ordered that the position of the cover should be altered for the benefit of Sir Thomas Clarges, who 'thought himselfe much injur'd . . . it being to high and hindred his sight'. (ref. 191) According to Brayley (ref. 192) the cover was stolen about the end of the eighteenth century and hung up at a spirit shop near the church, but the vestry minutes make no mention of this. It was probably sold with the other old fittings in 1822 after the removal of the font to a position behind the seats in the central aisle, where the cover could not be hung. The font is shown in this position in contemporary illustrations, (ref. 193) but in 1878 it was moved into the lobby under the tower, which was made into a baptistery, and enclosed with a railing. (ref. 194) During the restoration of the church the font was moved to its present position in the northwest corner. The Plate The Royal Coat of Arms The Organ In March 1692 a record of the Queen's gift was ordered to be inscribed on the middle panel of the organ loft (ref. 204) and in July 'Dr. Blow and Mr. Purcell' (fn. q) were invited to judge if Smith had performed his work well. (ref. 205) In 1695 Smith was appointed to keep the organ clean and in tune, at a salary of £10 a year (£10 less than he received at the Temple). (ref. 206) On Smith's death in 1708 £10 owing to him was withheld from his widow in compensation for several pipes and stops which he had omitted during the reconstruction. (ref. 207) The organ had become greatly dilapidated by 1852 when, under the superintendence of Charles Lee, the parish surveyor, it was entirely rebuilt by J. C. Bishop. This was his 'last work and avowed masterpiece'. (ref. 208) Bishop re-used the old pipes which 'the mellowing hand of time had rendered of more than ordinary value', and added a detached choir organ in front of the gallery. (ref. 209) Messrs. G. and C. Bishop, herald painters to the Queen, decorated the organ, (ref. 210) and the cost of the rebuilding and restoration was £1000. (ref. 209) The organ was damaged when the church was bombed, and had to be rebuilt. Messrs. Rothwell repaired it and in 1954 it was re-erected with a new console. The organ case was preserved, having been saved from damage by storage at Hardwick Hall during the war. (ref. 211) The first organist of the church was Ralph Courteville, recommended by the Earl of Burlington and appointed in September 1691 at a salary of £20 per annum. (ref. 202) The Dictionary of National Biography assumes that he continued in office until 1772, but he resigned in favour of his 'kinsman', Ralph Courteville, junior, in 1729, being 'Infirm and unable to do his Duty'. (ref. 212) Ralph Courteville, senior, was presumably the composer of the sonatas and songs and part of the music for Thomas D'Urfey's Don Quixote. (ref. 213) His 'kinsman' Ralph or Raphael Courteville, junior, was organist from 1729 to 1772; (ref. 214) he was very neglectful of his duties (ref. 215) and it was presumably he who, according to the Dictionary of National Biography, took an active part in politics. There is a memorial to his (? first) (ref. 213) wife on the south side of the gallery. Gibbons's sumptuous organ case of carved and gilded oak dominates the west end of the nave and towers high above the choristers' gallery. This last is raised above the western gallery by four equally spaced Tuscan columns. The gallery front of oak is formed as an entablature surmounted by a high panelled pedestal, and it consists of three parts, each side curving with a concave sweep to meet the projecting centre, now fronted with the case of the choir organ added by Bishop in 1852. The pipes of the great organ are raised on a panelled chest, and the segmentalheaded front is flanked by pipe-towers and broken centrally by a taller tower. These three towers rest on corbels carved with cherub-heads, projecting from an enriched entablature with a fretted frieze. They finish with rich entablatures, having acanthus friezes, and the pipes are partly overhung with carved valances. Above each side tower stands a trumpeting cherub, and above the central tower kneel two cherubs holding a crown, while on the curving cornices between the towers are reclining angels, St. Cecilia's musicians, holding trumpets. The choir organ case, designed to accord with the great organ, also has three towers but the middle one is shorter than the others (Plates 13b, 21). The Bells The Clock Illumination There are several references in the vestry minute books to the gilding and lacquering of the light fittings, (ref. 223) and in 1764 the iron candlesticks on the pews were replaced by six dozen brass ones. (ref. 224) New three-light branches were fixed to the fronts of the galleries in 1803. (ref. 225) In 1835 the vestry considered lighting the church with oil (ref. 226) but this proposal was apparently abandoned in favour of gas-lighting by the Equitable Gas Company in 1837 (Plate 17b). (ref. 227) The heat from the bronzed gas brackets and standards made the atmosphere of the church too oppressive, however, and most of them were removed in 1866 when two sun-burners were installed in the ceiling by Messrs. Strode. (ref. 176) Vertical pew lights were installed when the church was restored (Plate 21). The Churchyard The other piece of land lay on the north side of the church, but was separated from Piccadilly for many years by a row of buildings. These included the rectory, two houses on property not belonging to the parish, the watch house and houses and stables belonging to the rector as part of his endowment. Between the watch house and the rector's property stood the gates which gave access to the north entrance of the church (fig. 2). The churchyard was first lit by patent lights in the winter of 1688–9. In November 1688 the churchwardens were asked to install 'such a Light or Lights as are used in Jermine Streete' on the south side of the church 'to light along the Church yard Wall there and front of the Church'. (ref. 231) The wardens entered into an agreement with Edmund Heming and John Bulteel, representatives of 'the Copartnership of the New Invention of Lights' for two 'great lamps' to be put up on the north and south side of the church. (ref. 232) The initial fine was £9 for installation and the rent for a five-year period was fixed at £4 per annum, the wardens being responsible for the provision of oil and for lighting the lamps. (ref. 233) Other improvements were considered in 1704. A Dr. Wrathbone offered to plant three rows of lime trees in the 'outer' churchyard and this was considered along with a proposal to remove the partition wall between the two yards. (ref. 234) Neither of these suggestions appears to have been carried out but later in the year the vestry ordered that, 'for the Gentrys greater conveniency in taking Coach', the great gates leading into the churchyard from Jermyn Street should be removed and a larger pair placed in the middle of the wall. (ref. 235) 'In 1747 an Act of Parliament was passed permitting a piece of land which was part of the rector's endowment to be taken into the northern churchyard (D on fig. 2); compensation to the rectors was fixed at £27 per annum. (ref. 236) The site was cleared in 1748 and consecrated in 1749. (ref. 237) On this part of the churchyard the first vestry hall was built in 1814, to be succeeded by the second hall and the Midland Bank (No. 196 Piccadilly). In 1762 another Act was passed to enlarge the churchyard. (ref. 238) The land on which the two houses between the rectory and the watch house stood was let to the parish by the Crown in 1738 to provide for the parish poor. (ref. 239) The Act of 1762 empowered the parish to incorporate this site into the churchyard (F on fig. 2). The two houses were pulled down in the following year and the ground was consecrated in 1764. (ref. 240) References in the vestry minutes suggest that from the middle of the eighteenth century, at least, the northern churchyard had been paved, burials being made in vaults underneath the paving. (ref. 241) After the war of 1939–45 Viscount Southwood provided money for the 'green' churchyard to be made into a garden of remembrance 'to commemorate the courage and fortitude of the people of London'. (ref. 242) The garden was opened in 1946 by Queen Mary, and contains a memorial, designed by Alfred F. Hardiman, to Viscount Southwood (1873–1946) and his wife (1865– 1951) (Plate 19b); there is a statue of 'Peace', also designed by Hardiman, standing in the garden. The north side of the churchyard was originally bounded by a brick wall, broken by a gateway immediately opposite the tower, presumably with wooden gates hung on the impressive nichefronted and urn-crowned piers shown in the Hulsbergh engraving. Later representations show plain piers and a wall topped with an iron chevaux-defrise. It was, presumably, about 1862 that the wall was rebuilt in a style matching that of the vestry hall, with a panelled and pilastered face and an elaborate archway of brick and stone, framing the entrance gates (Plate 11c). In 1937, to commemorate the coronation of George VI, this archway was demolished and replaced by a pair of crested gates of wrought iron, hung on urncrowned piers of brick, flanked by small gates set in brick surrounds, the whole designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield. (ref. 243) These gates, the work of Bainbridge Reynolds, were taken down and stored before the wall was wrecked in 1940, and they have now been incorporated, with the cresting altered to form an overthrow, in the new iron railing which extends between the rectory and the remaining part of the old brick wall (Plate 18b). The gates and railings on the south side of the church appear to date from about 1800. They are of good design, though simple, with vase-headed standards and trellised panels that originally terminated in lamp-holders (Plates 11a, 19a). Few of the memorials in the churchyard are now decipherable. A list of those which were readable in 1913 was published in Notes and Queries, 11th series, vol. vii, pp. 185, 224–5, 303 and 324. The buildings which have been erected in the churchyard at various times are described below. The Rectory In 1739 a passage and doorway were made on the ground floor to enable the rector to pass into the vestry which adjoined it. (ref. 246) The house survived until 1846 when it was demolished (ref. 247) and a new rectory was built on its site in 1846–7 from the designs of John Henry Hakewill. (ref. 248) Hakewill's building was destroyed in the war of 1939– 1945 and the new rectory, designed by Austin Blomfield, was built in 1955–7. (ref. 249) The building has a church hall at basement level and incorporates a vestry room. The original rectory is shown by Tallis (Plate 18a), and a part of it appears in a view of the church published in 1837. (ref. 250) Both sources combine to suggest that it was a fairly typical late seventeenthcentury house of three storeys, built of brick with long-and-short quoins and bandcourses of stone, and a tiled roof sloping down to a wooden eavescornice. The Piccadilly front had four straightheaded windows in each upper storey and the pedimented doorway was placed on the left. J. H. Hakewill's building of 1846 preserved the general lines of the former house, but the windows had segmental arches, the quoins were all of equal length, and the crowning cornice was of stone. At some time, perhaps around 1900, Hakewill's three-storeyed building was heightened by an additional storey, designed with a scrupulous regard for the original work. The new rectory, also a three-storeyed building, is built of red and fawn-coloured bricks with stone dressings. The elevations, neo-Georgian in style and somewhat eclectic in detail, are more elaborate than those of the former buildings. The entrance front faces west to overlook the paved churchyard, and is a composition of three bays. The doorway, in the middle bay, has a handsome doorcase of stone with a broken segmental pediment, and is reached by a double flight of curved steps (Plate 18b). The Vestry Room John Haines (Heynes), carpenter and former churchwarden, (ref. 12) designed the new vestry room (ref. 253) and the workmen employed to build it were Newington, bricklayer, Larham, carpenter, Winc(k)les, smith, Allen, paviour, Price and Davis, painters, Combs, plasterer, Franclin, glazier, Rudsby, plumber, Ryley, ironmonger, and Lobb, joiner; (ref. 254) their Christian names are not given. The workmen's bills amounted to £324 3s. 3¼d., (ref. 254) which was thought excessive, and they were referred to Sir Christopher Wren. (ref. 255) Robert Newington, the bricklayer, died in 1693 with £7 still owing to him so his burial expenses were set against his bill. (ref. 75) Lord Ossulston gave £60 towards the cost of the new building (ref. 254) and his coat of arms was erected in the vestry to commemorate his gift. (ref. 75) The new vestry room had a plain plastered ceiling and cornice, with a two-light window in the east wall, and was wainscoted. (ref. 256) It became the custom for departing rectors, or for their relatives, to present the vestry with their portraits and these were hung on the vestry walls. (fn. s) The cellar beneath the room, through which the City water pipes ran, (ref. 256) was let to a Mr. Smith. The vestry admitted, on his appeal in 1697, that it was 'not fitt to lay his Wine in'. (ref. 257) The vestry room survived until 1940 when it was destroyed by the bomb which fell in the churchyard. A new vestry room is incorporated in the rectory building designed by Austin Blomfield (ref. 249) and erected in 1955–7. The Watch House In May 1692 the vestrymen considered a 'draft' of a watch house and (Edward) Wilcox was asked to prepare estimates. (ref. 260) Some vestrymen wanted it to be in St. James's Square but it was eventually built on the east side of the churchyard gates fronting Piccadilly (E on fig. 2). (ref. 261) It was finished by August, when the vestry agreed to a churchwarden's suggestion that 'at the Delivery of the Watchouse to the Constables on Saturday night next he might give them a peece or two of Beefe and some drinke for the said Constables and Common Watch'. (ref. 262) By the 1760's the building was found 'too scanty of room' and its situation 'very improper and inconvenient'. (ref. 263) Matthew Fairless, carpenter, prepared a plan to enlarge the watch house in 1763, (ref. 264) but this was apparently laid aside. A few years later, however, he purchased and sold to the parish a house in Little Vine Street for use as a new watch house. (ref. 265). The old watch house was pulled down by Samuel Ludbey, bricklayer, in 1768 and vaults were built on its site. (ref. 266) Boys' Charity or Offertory School The school was maintained out of the offertory money, hence its usual appellation of the 'Offertory' school in the vestry minutes. According to Hatton (1708) there were then 50 boys at the school 'who have Cloaths and Learning at the Charge of well-disposed Subscribers'. (ref. 269) Another source (1732) adds that the boys were 'put Apprentices when capable, and 40s. given with each of them; sometimes more, according to the Genius of the Boys, and the Interest that can be made for them'. (ref. 270) The plan to alter the watch house in 1763 included the pulling down of the school-room (ref. 264) but as this plan was not carried out the boys presumably remained there until 1767 or 1768, when room was made for them in the new watch house in Little Vine Street. (ref. 271) The school never returned to the southern part of the parish. The Engine House The Vestry Hall Tallis (Plate 18a) shows Thomas Hardwick's vestry hall as a building of one lofty storey, the Piccadilly front having five evenly spaced roundarched windows, a plain parapet above a simple cornice, and a pitched roof of slates. The Acts of Parliament which gave rise to an enormous increase in parish business during the nineteenth century resulted here, as elsewhere in the metropolis, in a need for larger office accommodation. The old vestry hall was, therefore, demolished in 1861 to make way for an 'extensive and handsome' new hall (ref. 276) which was completed in 1862. The general plans were by A. Howell, the parish surveyor, but the principal elevation was based on a design by E. Pearce, selected by competition from thirty-nine entries. Care was taken 'to set up an edifice that shall be worthy the important site it will occupy, and creditable to the high standing of the parish'. The building cost about £6000 and the builders were Messrs. George Mansfield and Son. (ref. 277) Pearce's vestry hall (Plate 11c) appears to have been a spirited, slightly pompous Victorian Renaissance building. Three storeys high and built of red brick elaborately dressed with stone, the Piccadilly front was five bays wide and the east side three. The ground storey was quite simply treated, except for the triangular-pedimented doorcase and the rustic quoins. The principal storey was dressed with two orders, the main order being Doric with pilasters at the angles and columns flanking the middle bay, which was surmounted by a segmental pediment. The secondary order was Ionic and its columns flanked the five windows, the entablature serving as an impost for the arched lunette-heads. The attic storey was plain but for the segmentalheaded middle bay, flanked by ball terminals and surmounted by a chimney-stack. In the east elevation the bays were divided by pilasters in each storey. After the constitution of the Metropolitan Borough Councils in 1899, the Westminster City Council took over the hall for departmental offices. (ref. 278) Part of the premises were let to Messrs. Goddard and Smith, auctioneers, in 1907, (ref. 279) but in 1922 an agreement was entered into with the London Joint City and Midland Bank Company for a lease of the site (ref. 280) and Messrs. Goddard and Smith and the City Council left the premises. (ref. 278) The parish's user rights were extinguished by a compensatory payment of £5000 and the hall was demolished in 1922–3. (ref. 281) The human remains in the vaults underneath the vestry hall were removed by the London Necropolis Company and a record made of the legible inscriptions on the coffins. (ref. 282) The present building on the site is No. 196 Piccadilly (see page 259). The Church Room As originally designed, the church room was a single-storeyed building of oblong plan, having a narrow front to Jermyn Street. The walls were faced with yellow stocks, fine red bricks being used for the quoins and window dressings. The Jermyn Street front contains a group of three flat-arched windows, originally furnished with small-paned sashes, and the eaves-cornice was returned to form an open pediment ending the roof. The added storey is low and entirely faced with yellow stocks. The pediment finish has been repeated, but with the bed-mouldings and corona of the wooden cornice carried across the brickwork, framing the tympanum which contains a small circular louvred opening. Footnote references |
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