the Arts & Crafts Church – Middleton, Manchester
The church gates were decorated yesterday for Pentecost and the first service since lockdown at Long Street planned for today, unfortunately had to be postponed, so it was back to Zoom.
We now look forward to the first service on the 13th June. Until then the Sunday morning and evening services will continue on Zoom. Details can be found on the Manchester Circuits web site. https://manchestermethodists.org.uk
The fourth and final talk by Dr. Alec Hamilton
The Title is: “Is it or isn’t it? A Field Guide to Arts & Crafts Churches.”
Alec says “It’s my attempt to answer the big question that constantly crops up: “What are the essential characteristics of an Arts & Crafts church?” Also expressed as, “How do I know it’s an Arts & Crafts church when I finally get into it?” (Another popular one is “There is a church near me. It has a Burne-Jones window. Why, oh why, is it not in your book?” And I have a soft spot for “Who was this William Morris bloke anyway
As this fourth talk is for VicSoc, I have to warn you it costs £5 to view. I know. A disgrace. But cheaper than Netflix and Curzon Home Cinema. And shorter. And VicSoc needs the money – rest assured, I do not get a bean. Meanwhile VicSoc has to carry on its work as statutory consultative body on planning matters, and keeping a sharp eye out for buildings under threat, despite the current unpleasantness. Whereas I am a diversion.
You can book here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/141162186901 (And, yes, it was awfully jolly to be asked back. And, yes, this is an all-new talk – 22 churches I have never lectured on before.)
For those of you who find my stern academic rigour intimidating – and quite rightly so: it is – there will be a Quiz at the end. Fun – even for intellectuals.
Leave them wanting more, I say…”
If you missed Alec Hamilton’s talk yesterday lunchtime, it is available on the Churches Conservation Trust’s YouTube feed. Just enter Churches Conservation Trust into your browser and you will find all the information.
Weekly lectures are free and are live at 1.00pm but you do need to register or sign into Facebook.
Dear Friends
Hey! Here’s an idea. A talk – but it’s “online”! You know, you watch it through your computer. Yes, I know. What a wacky notion. I bet nobody else has thought of it. It’s so modern.
Heigh ho. One can but try.
So anyhow…
Just in case you can’t spend nearly enough time looking at a screen, here’s more.
I am doing a talk (entirely new) on 11 February which may interest you.
It’s for the CCT (Churches Conservation Trust), and titled: ’Dreams, Distractions and Destruction: Britain’s lost Arts & Crafts Churches’.
It is at lunchtime: 1 p.m.
The talk is free and open to all. If you are interested, you can sign up here: https://www.facebook.com/events/147756693521434
Following a water burst last week, on Friday the damaged surface was being removed (revealing some of the original stone sets). Although the Church remains closed (Covid) details of online services can be found on the web site www.manchestermethodists.org.uk
On Monday 18th January starts A Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2021. For resources follow the link, https://manchestermethodists.org.uk/a-week-of-prayer-for-christian-unity-2021/
Alec Hamilton author of the recently available book ‘Arts and Crafts Churches’, published and available from Lund Humphries, gave an excellent lecture last evening for the SAHGB (Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain). With over 400 illustrations taken from churches across the country, showing a wealth of both variations and similarities of what can be said to be examples of the Arts and Crafts Church.
The ‘icing on the cake’ for me was the mention of, and images of Long Street Methodist Church, together with the plug for the website www.artsandcraftschurch.org
A recording of a previous talk by Alec on ‘Arts and Crafts Churches’ is available on the Victorian Societies website www.victoriansociety.org.uk or try the link Arts & Crafts Churches – Crowdcast
Go to the Web site manchestermethodist.org.uk to see the Week by Week worship list.
Following the long lock down, Theo (martial arts leader) held his first session on Monday last. Although having to have his classes outside to conform to guide lines, it was good to see the premises in use once again. After this Monday’s outside session, he should be able to move back inside during the last week of the month.
While doing our weekly check of the building this morning, I opened the main church door to check the rain hopper and was surprised to be greeted by a delivery man. On balance he was more surprised than me to see the church door open. The delivery was a copy of a new book, by Julian Treuherz and Peter De Figueiredo, in which they “pull back the curtain to reveal 111 fascinating and eccentric destinations” in and around Manchester. “Edgar Wood in Middleton”, together with a photo of the garden and church feature at number 32 (alphabetic order). I suggest the church and school rooms fall in the fascinating category rather than the eccentric!
In line with the Methodist Church policy I did the weekly buildings check, as the Church is not being used during lock down. Shortly before 11.35, I noticed the sun shining on the font and took a photograph, while watching the shadow I was surprised to see how fast the shadow was moving across the stone and bronze sculpture and took a second image. Note the time between the two images and the distance the shadow travels.
The Middleton Archaeological Society held their monthly meeting in the lecture room at the Edgar Wood Rooms on Thursday. Leon gave an illustrated talk to a full house about the industrial History of Thornham (Middleton). This area is now more associated with green open spaces and recreation (Tangle Hill Park) rather than the previous deep mined coal pits, calico printing and a main centre for the manufacture of fustian.
The weekly check of the building was carried out this morning and everything was sound. The only change was the length of the grass and the number of weeds between the pavings.
The road outside the Church was awash on Sunday before the start of the service at 11am. Inside did not escape water ingress, staining can be seen on the wall in the photograph below.