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Sir George Gilbert Scott R.A., Surveyor to Westminster Abbey 1849–1878

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2016

William J. Jordan
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Extract

Gaze on this Gothic relic of the past—

See o’er its towers does Ruin surely creep;

Time has her mantel o’er each buttress cast,

On each grey battlement time’s shadows sleep.

What will not fade ?—all records cease at last;

A few short years temple and tablet sweep

Into the mighty gulf that gathers all;

The slow destroyer, Time, sees tottering Empires fall.

Owen Howell, An Ode upon Westminster Abbey, 1849

In 1964 Peter Ferriday wrote that, in respect of his effects on medieval church architecture, Sir Gilbert Scott could claim to be ‘the first rapist with a timid and careful manner’ ; Scott’s meticulous and reverential reports were not in practice pursued, he argued, and while Scott made loud protestations at the destructiveness of over-restoration, he was not averse to the habit himself: ‘He was the only restorer who publicly repented and followed this by public (and profitable) public sinning.’ Such criticisms have until very recently been the hallmark of the literature on Sir Gilbert’s restorations, criticisms not merely levelled since his decease.

Type
Research Article
Information
Architectural History , Volume 23 , 1980 , pp. 60 - 85
Copyright
Copyright © Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain 1980

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References

Notes

1 Builder, 1849, p. 500.Google ScholarPubMed

2 Ferriday, Peter, ‘The Church Restorers’, Architectural Review, CXXXVI (1964), p. 93.Google Scholar

3 Ibid.

4 Published in 1850, but written before he took up the Surveyorship of the Abbey.

5 J. Masfen, jun., Views of the Church of St Mary at Stafford (1852).

6 On the conservation of ancient architectural monuments and remains, RIBA Transactions, 1st ser. XIII (1861–62), pp. 65–84.Google Scholar

7 Presidential opening addresses to RIBA, RIB A Transactions, xxiv (1873–74), pp. 7–13 Google Scholar; XXV (1874–75) pp. 3–14; XXVI (1875–6), pp. 2–11.

8 Stevenson, J. J., ‘Architectural restoration: its principles and practice’, RIBA Transactions, xxvii (1876–77), pp. 219–35Google Scholar; excerpts from the same reprinted in Builder, xxxv (1877), pp. 552–53.Google Scholar Scott’s reply to Stevenson’s paper, RIBA Transactions, xxvii (1876–77), pp. 242–56Google Scholar, also printed in Recollec tions, pp. 398–421. Rev. Loftie, W. J., ‘Thorough Restoration’, Macmillan’s Magazine, XXXVI (1877), pp. 136–142.Google Scholar Scott, G. G., ‘Thorough Anti-Restoration’, reply to Loftie, Macmillan’s Magazine, XXXVI (1877), pp. 228–37Google Scholar, also printed in Recollections, pp. 421–36.

9 A Plea for the faithful restoration of our Ancient Churches (1850), p. 13. Written by GGS in 1848.

10 G. Stamp, Scott Catalogue RIBA Drawings Collection (forthcoming), pp. 148–50.

11 Ecclesiologist 1849)p.334.

12 WAM RCO 3.

13 GGS letter to D & C 6 March 1849, WAM 66645.

14 GGS letter to D & C, WAM 66643.

15 GGS letter to D & C 3 June 1849, WAM 66646.

16 Plea, p. 21.

17 Recollections, pp. 151, 154, 284.

18 Plea,p. 32.

19 Plea, p. 126.

20 GGS, ‘On the Conservation of ancient architectural monuments and remains’, RIBA Transactions, XII (1861–62), p. 75.Google Scholar

21 Recollections, p. 285.

22 Recollections, p. 28 5.

23 J. O. Scott, 1880 Report, WAM RCO 6, printed in Lethaby, W. R., Westminster Abbey Re-examined (1925), p. 73.Google Scholar

24 Recollections, p. 284.

25 Op. cit., p. 153. Wreckedfor George IV’s coronation in 1821.

26 Op cit., p. 284.

27 Surveyor’s Report, 14 February 1855, WAM RCO 4.

28 Surveyor’s Report, 6 February 1867, WAM RCO 5.

29 GGS to D & C 15 March 1872, WAM RCO 5.

30 Surveyor’s Report, 4 March 1878, RCO 5.

31 Recollections, pp. 285–86.

32 Scott’s chief contractors and executors of his designs; master masons to the Abbey 1856–80. Samuel Cundy was Scott’s master mason prior to 1856: see obituary notice, Builder (1867), p. 464. Stained glass was executed by Clayton & Bell; sculpture by Farmer & Brindley.

33 Views of the Church of St Mary at Stafford, p. 28.

34 ‘On the Conservation of ancient… monuments’, p. 71.

35 Op. cit., p. 70.

36 Quoted in RIBA Scott Catalogue, p. 149.

37 I am grateful to Gavin Stamp for clarifying this point.

38 Sir George Gilbert Scott: Exhibition Catalogue, V & A 1978, p. 18, and Madsen, S. T., Restoration and Anti-Restoration (Oslo 1975)Google Scholar. For the most recent assessment of Sir Gilbert Scott’s restorations, see the excellent chapter by S. E. Dykes Bower ‘The Restoration of the Cathedrals’, in the Catalogue.

39 GGS Report on the State of The Royal Monuments, 21 January 1854, PRO, Works 6–120, f. 2.

40 Donaldson, T. L., ‘Notes on the defaced and neglected condition of the royal tombs at Westminster’, Archaeological Journal, ix, pp. 191 ffGoogle Scholar. Also Hawkins, C., ‘Note on the proposed repairs on the royal tombs at Westminster’, ibid., 11, pp. 244 and 402.Google Scholar

41 1854 Report… , f. 3.

42 GGS ‘On the course to be pursued in the reparation of the Monuments’. Report dated 21 January 1854, PRO, Works 20–75.

43 The exact nature of this ‘rust’ on bronze is not clear and requires a more exact chemical explanation.

44 ’A reply to the Memorial of the Archaeological Institute’, 20 June 1854, PRO, Works 20–75.

45 See note 42.

46 GGS to G. G. Vincent, 11 December 1852, WAM 57797a.

47 See note 42.

48 Ethyl alcohol. Later methylated spirits was used as a cheaper substitute.

49 GGS to John Thornborrow, 10 November 1855, PRO, Works 20–75.

50 GGS to John Thornborrow, 2 November 1855, PRO, Works 20–75.

51 Surveyor’s Report, 6 February 1850, WAM 66449.

52 Surveyor’s Report, 22 February 1854, WAM RCO 4.

53 Surveyor’s Report, 2 February 1853, WAM RCO 4.

54 GGS to Lord John Thynne (Sub-Dean); 29 March 1854 (see below Appendix).

55 ‘Annals of the Masonry carried out by Henry Poole 1856–77’, RIBA Journal (Jan.- Apr. 1890), p. 113.

56 Surveyor’s Report, 27 February 1858, WAM RCO 4.

57 Op. cit.

58 Builder (1861), p. 105.

59 ‘Shellac’ is a natural resin formed by a secretion of insects feeding on certain acacia trees. The ‘spirits of wine’ is almost certainly ethyl alcohol.

60 GGS to Dean Stanley 6 July 1876, WAM RCO 5.

61 Appendix, p. 80. In original MS f. 85.

62 GGS to W. E. Gladstone, 1 May 1854, B.M. Add 44380 f. 177.

63 Builder (1878), p. 931. See also Building News (1884), p. 489. The effect of brown varnish has been preserved about the western door into the ‘Samaria’, nave south aisle.

64 Henry Poole, op. cit., p. 113.

65 In a letter to the author dated 14 June 1978. The letter deserves some further comment. First there can be no doubt that Scott’s shellac was a major contributor to the darkening of the Abbey interior masonry: contemporary reaction immediate to its application confirms this. Secondly the evidence of the interior stonework itself in the nave at least, does not suggest that the shellac was removed solely by washing. Dr Clifford Price and Mr David Honeyborne of the Buildings Research Establishment, Mr Peter Foster, the present Surveyor to the Fabric, and Dr Pamela Tudor-Craig, who kindly discussed the matter with me on the spot, are in unanimous agreement that at some point the shellac here has been removed from the stone (other than the Purbeck marble) by brushing or scraping. Dr Tudor-Craig remembers the shellac being removed from the Cloisters in 1951 with wire brushes, the year in which Mr Dykes-Bower was appointed Surveyor, so this may have been the practice before Mr Dykes- Bower’s appointment: we do not know for certain when the nave was cleaned. Dr Clifford Price has been of particular assistance in his advice on the technical aspects of ‘induration’.

66 Recollections, p. 153.

67 By Messrs. G. Haden and Sons. See GGS’s detailed report on the proposals 1 June 1865, WAM RCO5.

68 Builder (1851), p. 11.

69 Builder (1878), p. 931. This is precisely what one would expect. Any decay would continue underneath the resin, particularly if the perished stone was damp. It is instructive to examine the cloister today to contrast the use of traditional lime-washing, and the general extent of the decay. Induration is still evident in parts, (cf. the stone benches).

70 After Scott’s death, J. O. Scott stopped its application to the cloister. See his Report for 1879, WAM RCO 6.

71 See 1862 Lecture, p. 69.

72 Surveyor’s Report, 1850, WAM RCO 4.3.

73 Surveyor’s Report, 1853, WAM RCO 4.

74 See Appendix.

75 Surveyor’s Report, 1850, WAM RCO 3.

76 Gleanings from Westminster Abbey (1861), p. 18 for illustration.

77 The north cloister was completed in 1871.

78 Builder (1867), p. 413.

79 Surveyor’s Report, 12 February 1866, WAM RCO 5.

80 1862 Lecture, p. 75.

81 Builder (1867), p. 435. This demonstrates that ultimate responsibility for restoration policy lay with the Dean and Chapter: Scott never had greater powers than those of an advisor.

82 Surveyor’s Report, 24 February 1868, WAM RCO 5

82 83 GGS to D & C15 March 1872, WAM RCO 5.

84 Gleanings from Westminster Abbey (1861), pp. 32–37.

85 Rev. W. J. Loftie, A Brief Account of Westminster Abbey (1894), Bell’s Cathedral series.

86 N. Pevsner, London I, Buildings of England Series (1973), p. 469.

87 Gleanings, p. 33.

88 Ecclesiologist (1867), p. 340.

89 Recollections, p. 285.

90 Gleanings, p. 34.

91 Builder (1872), p. 98.

92 See Appendix.

93 Hyland, A. D. C., ‘Imperial Valhalla’, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, xxi, 3 (1962), pp. 129–39.Google Scholar

94 Church Builder (1869), pp. 29–31.

95 In the last twenty years of the seventeenth century, 169 burials had taken place; there were fifteen under Dean Stanley (1864–81).

96 Appendix, p. 81.

97 Appendix, p. 81.

98 Appendix, p. 81.

99 See Jocelyn Perkins’s excellent chapter on Scott’s reredos, Westminster Abbey: its Worship and Ornaments (1938), vol. 1, pp. 102–07Google Scholar, for constructive criticism.

100 Recollections, p. 153.

101 Surveyor’s Report, 6 February 1867, WAM RCO 5.

102 Surveyor’s Report, 18 February 1871, WAM RCO 5.

103 GGS to D & C 15 March 1872, WAM RCO 5. Scott had suffered a stroke at Chester at the end of 1870.

104 GGS to Lord John Thynne 15 February 1871, WAMRCO 5.

105 Wren Bicentennial Volume, quoted by Arthur Sharp, RIBA Journal, 22 May 1939, p. 707.

106 Op. cit.

107 Appendix, p. 79.

108 Arthur Sharp, op. cit.

109 Quoted in House of Kings, 1966, p. 316. See WAM RCO 5. no Recollections, p. 287. in GGS to Lord John Thynne 8 February 1875, WAM RCO 5.

112 GGS to Ewan Christian 1 June 1875, WAMRCO 5.

113 Lethaby, op. cit., p. 77. Recorded on 2 September 1907.

114 The original shape of the tympanum was discovered during excavations after Scott’s death, and the design accordingly modified. The incident emphasizes the element of conjecture.

115 The statues were eventually omitted for lack of funds.

116 Quoted in RIBA Scott Catalogue, p. 150. Original source not given.

117 GGS to Lord John Thynne 8 February 1875, WAM RCO 5.