Stained Glass of Percy Bacon

Woolwich Garrison Church, St George (Lost work).

London

23 May 2023.

For a church to have been bombed once would be considered unfortunate, but St George's is, perhaps, unique in England in having suffered the same fate twice. Its location on the south east corner of the parade ground serving the Royal Artillery Barracks, a prominent target for Zeppelins in the first world war and the Luftwaffe of the Third Reich in the second, would have made the church a prime candidate for collateral damage from indiscriminate munitions.

The church was designed by T H Wyatt, assisted by his brother M D Wyatt, and built in 1862/3 in an Early Christian/Lombardic Romanesque style with Byzantine influences in the interior, not dissimilar to Wyatt's design for Wilton Parish Church in Wiltshire, though more basilica-like, broader and bulkier, and without a tower. It provided seating for 1,550 people. The project was eagerly promoted by Sidney Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Lea, who was described as the "Soldier's Best Friend", as a result of his advocacy of reforms promoting the health and welfare of soldiers.¹ As well as his consideration of the army's spiritual well-being, he had supported the building of clubs, hospitals and educational establishments. It was Herbert, who was Secretary of State for War until his death on 21 July 1861, who settled the plans and the site for the new garrison church, as well as approving the funds. This might be seen as self-memorializing to some, and no doubt Herbert's choice of architect resulted from his acquaintance with Wyatt's work at Wilton. However, the Illustrated London News was especially effusive in its praise of the building, describing it as, "..[the] first decent chapel for soldiers' use in the country".²

Built in polychromatic brick with Bath stone dressings, the church consisted of a large nave with side and western galleries, two storey side aisles, a chancel and apsidal sanctuary, pierced by five tall and wide round-headed lancets. Each side of the nave was provided with twelve large windows in two tiers, and a clerestory of twenty four which made the interior extremely bright, at least until stained glass was added. At the western end there was a narthex with three porches, the outer having Bath stone nook shafts, and the central Aberdeen granite columns supporting a Grecian portico, all with ornately carved capitals. The tall western wall was pierced by a large rose window, and five closely separated lancets of varying heights which followed the roof-line, all but the central opening of which were blank. Internally

Interior of St George's circa 1911 showing the original apse windows by Lavers and Barraud.

the designed combined elements of Byzantine and Romanesque, and there was a liberal use of wrought iron. Massive columns in two stages with intricately carved capitals served to support both the polychrome arches and the side galleries. It was reported that the essential solid form of the church (brick and stone work, roof, floors etc.) cost an astonishing £18,000 (about £1.8m at March 2023 prices), paid for by the War Department. Much of the additional decoration such as the Antonio Salviati Venetian glass mosaics, stained glass, encaustic tiles, organ and paintings cost an additional £2,000, (£202,000) much of which was donated by officers of the Royal Artillery.³

Initially, only the five lancets in the apse and the west rose window were filled with stained glass, the apse windows in 1863, designed by the architects, Thomas and Matthew Wyatt, and executed by Lavers and Barraud. The subjects chosen were events in the life of our Saviour with additional figurative works depicting scenes from the old testament. This is typified by the engraving, left, which illustrated the nativity: "BY THY NATIVITY GOOD LORD DELIVER US", beneath which the scene represents the feast made by Abraham at the weaning of Isaac.⁴ The windows commemorated those who served in the Royal Artillery and fell in the Crimean War.⁵

The west window was given by Lady Herbert and was dedicated to the memory of her husband, which was installed shortly after the completion of the church. At the time of the consecration of the church on 2nd November 1863, at least seven other windows had been promised for the aisles.

On the 16th February 1918, bombs were dropped from a German aircraft. One fell on the parade ground to the west of the church, and another on the far side of the barracks. When it reported the replacement of the east windows by Percy Bacon, The Times, in its edition of 3rd March 1919 recounted the incident:⁶

 

The Percy Bacon windows, his largest commission of 1919, and certainly the largest since the company was re-started in June 1917, formed a complete series whose subject matter replicated the originals. The seven in the chancel and apse, starting from the north chancel and moving clockwise were; The Annunciation, the Nativity, the Agony in the Garden, the Crucifixion, the Entombment, and the Ascension. It is unclear whether Percy Bacon also designed and executed the replacement windows in the west end of the aisles which originally depicted St George and St Michael.⁷ These may have been designed by Clayton and Bell, along with the west rose window, watercoloured designs for which are lodge with the V&A.

The second insult to the fabric of St George's occurred on the 14th July 1944 when a German V1 flying bomb fell on the church causing a fire which comprehensively gutted it, leaving only the walls standing. A temporary roof was erected but the church was left unused. Instead services were held at the chapel of the Royal Military Academy, which proved sufficient. By 1952 the damaged edifice was considered, "an eyesore" so the Army and Woolwich Borough Council formulated plans to clear the debris, remove memorials to storage for safe keeping, and commission Kenneth Lindly to design a rebuilding scheme. With Army funding lacking, and insufficient funds being raised by officers of the Royal Artillery, along with the widening of Grand Deport Road in the early 1960s, the works were never undertaken, though occasional open-air services continued well into that decade. The upper parts of the walls were demolished in 1970, and the site was turned into a memorial garden. All that survives today is the narthex, the lower portions of the nave and apse walls, the latter complete with some of the original mosaics. In 2010 with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund a tensile fabric roof was built over the eastern portion of the surviving building to protect the structure from further deterioration.⁸

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References: Use your browser's Back button to return to text.

1. The Times, 03 November 1863, p7.
2. Illustrated London News, 21 February 1863, p24.
3. The Times, 03 November 1863, p7.
4. The Builder, 03 January 1863, p7.
5. The Times, 3rd November 1863, p7.
6. The Times, 3rd March 1919, p3. Woolwich Air Raid Recalled. New Eats Windows at Garrison Church.
7. Kentish Independent, Friday 07 March 1919, p4.
8. For further reading see here, and the Woolwich Garrison Church Trust website.