Tag: william butterfield

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The Old Rectory + St Martin’s Church Great Mongeham Kent

Outer Upper Deal

“An exceptional level of hospitality and quality accommodation is assured at this 18th century country house bed and breakfast,” proclaim hosts Helga and Gordon Kitney. “Thoughtful luxury touches are provided at every turn. Nestled in the heart of a peaceful Conservation Area and less than two miles from Deal, The Old Rectory overlooks rolling countryside and St Martin’s Church with its Saxon origins. This picturesque setting is the perfect base for a relaxing short break on the East Kent coast.” Spread across the red brick house and coach house are The Empire Room overlooking the courtyard; The Polo Room with a coronet bed; The Attenborough Suite with an exposed brick wall; and The Maynard Suite named after villager Captain Robert Maynard who killed the pirate Blackbeard in 1718.

While the parish church next door dates back to Norman times, it has a more recent appearance due to a comprehensive restoration in 1851 by William Butterfield. The prolific Victorian architect is best known for his churches, whether new or reimagined, from Ascot to Ash, Belfast to Bristol, Country Dublin to Melbourne. St Martin’s Church is one of his more hidden gems. The village of Great Mongeham lies just beyond Deal and Little Mongeham, well, a little further. They’re pronounced “Munjum”. Despite being three kilometres inland, Great Mongeham was once a port. The ancient Mongeham Docks have long since silted up. Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, often visited the village from her nearby official residence Walmer Castle.

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Architecture Art Design

Lille Cathedral + The Basilica of Notre Dame de Ia Treille

Pointed Arches Circling the Globe

Mid 19th century England saw a flowering of Gothic Revival architects: George Gilbert Scott, William Butterfield, William White and of course the Pugin dynasty. Across the Channel, things were pretty pointed too. At the dawn of the Second Empire, 200 churches were under construction in France. The Gothic style enjoyed official State endorsement as Napoleon III garnered support among the Catholic clergy.

It’s 1854. The booming city of Lille is declared a diocese, independent of the declining capital of French Flanders, Arras. Time for a church dedicated to a miraculous statue of the Virgin Mary protected by an iron trellis. Time for an international architectural competition. A diktat declares it must be Gothic Revival. What can possibly go wrong? English Protestant architects winning? In the words of one assessor, “L’Angleterre qui a triomphé!” And so William Burges and his sidekick Henry Clutton take first prize.

William Burges was the master of polychromatic romanticism. Witness his rather bonkers Tower House in Kensington. A neo medieval mini fortress on an uppity middle class leafy avenue. Further witness his bold and brilliant maximalist St Fin Barre’s Cathedral of Cork. But Lille was never to benefit from William Burges’ boldness and brilliance. Much curmudgeonly fudgery later, winner of the third price – the Gothic Revivalist and very French Jean-Baptiste Antoine Lassus – was commissioned to build the “Cathedral for the North of France”.

The church was indeed later upgraded to a cathedral with the establishment of the seat of the Bishop of Lille in 1913. But the dosh ran out in 1947 and Monsieur Lassus’ twin peaked entrance was never executed. Fast forward to the 1990s and the front was finally completed to the design of Lille architect Pierre-Louis Carlier. The style is Minimalist Gothic. A vast arch dominating the façade is filled with 28 millimetre thick white marble which appears opaque outside but allows orangey light to flood the interior. A rose window by Ladislaus Kijno is set into the top of the arch. Shadows crisscross as candles flicker against 21st century artworks. Overhead, a hanging reads: “Revenez à Dieu: Il vous appelle à la Vie en Jésus Christ!”