April 2007

VISIT TO THE CITY OF LONDON CHURCHES
by FDFAS member, Val Pearn

Our Visit on Tuesday 25 April led by Andrew Davies was an unforgettable day. He is a superb and entertaining guide who helped us to appreciate the beauty of Christopher Wren’s design. We started the day in the splendid redesigned Paternoster Square in the shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral.

When Sir Christopher Wren was commissioned to rebuild the City churches after the Great Fire of London in 1666, his aim was to make each church unique, particularly the spires. St Augustine, with its Baroque style spire, was the first church we looked at; it was completely destroyed during the Fire. ome of the exterior walls were rebuilt with salvaged stone; new stone was brought up the Thames by boat and along a very narrow Carter Street to each building site. This all cost money and Wren had to work within a budget.

We visited St Vedast, named after an obscure French saint. It was restored after the Great Fire but during the blitz in 1940 only the spire survived; however, restoration was completed in 1962. It is light with beautiful stained glass windows. The carvings, mainly by Grinling Gibbons including the font and pulpit were taken away for safety during the Second World War and are now returned to the church. There is a delightful small garden attached to the church, a very welcome and peaceful spot amongst the hectic city life.

On to St Lawrence Jewry in Gresham Street. St Lawrence came to a very grisly end when ordered by the Church of Rome to produce the treasures of the church; he gathered the poor and sick of the parish and declared them to be the treasures.  For his “misdemeanour” he was killed by being slowly roasted alive on a grid iron. On the weathervane is a grid iron to commemorate this grim event. We went to where St Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury once stood; gutted during the last war the church was taken down and has been rebuilt in Missouri, USA as a memorial to Winston Churchill. Its small garden remains with a bust of Shakespeare. Two of the playwrights’ friends and fellow actors, Heminge and Condells, collected his plays and had the first edition printed, thus saving his work for posterity.

After lunch we had a brief glance at the remains of a Roman Fort, known as the Barbican, the name adopted by a post-war nearby development. On to a spot where Christchurch once existed, only the church tower now remains. It was privately purchased and is now a house with 11 storeys; it is on the market for £4M!

We then visited St Anne’s & St Agnes, the only Lutheran Church in the city. The interior is surprisingly light considering it is surrounded by tall buildings and one was struck by the simplicity of the design compared to other churches we had seen. It was severely damaged during the war and has been restored to Wren’s original plan. Lutherans continue to worship here and the congregation is made up of people from many nations.

We paused at another garden called Postman’s Park, where Andrew Davies remarked “If any place might bring a tear to your eyes, this is it”. George Frederick Watts suggested that plaques commemorating the incredible acts of bravery by “ordinary people” were placed there; it was a very moving sight. We passed Cutlers Hall, a red brick building decorated with a terracotta frieze by Henry Timworth, a friend of William Morris. We glanced at Stationers’ Hall where an unfortunate edition of the bible was printed, known as the “wicked” bible because of a misprint, e.g. “Thou shalt commit adultery” missing out the vital word “not”!

The last church was St Brides with the “wedding cake” spire; it is the highest church spire in the City. It is known as the journalists’ church having been built in Fleet Street where Caxton built his first press and the press industry was born. The church was destroyed during the war with only the exterior walls remaining. Restoration is complete and its close connection with the daily press remains. Having completed the tour it is reassuring to see these wonderful churches restored to Wren’s specifications and is a great tribute to present-day craftsmen.

 

SECRETS BEHIND THE WALL: THE FORBIDDEN CITY, BEIJING

Hanne Sutcliffe, BA Hons, FRSA gave a splendid lecture on the “Secrets Behind the Walls: The Forbidden City in Beijing” to members of the Farnham Decorative & Fine Arts Society on Tuesday, 17th April 2007.

China’s wealth came from her own riches of silk, which was exported along the silk route from the 1st century BC, her abundance of porcelain from the 15th century onwards and tea. The third Emperor of the Ming Dynasty moved the capital from Nanking, which didn’t suit him, to his newly built capital of Beijing in the north of China.   It was surrounded by a lake with mansion palaces and a moat. The Emperor had his own palace, the Empress another and the many concubines around the sides. It was called the Forbidden City as it was set inside 3 sets of walls with gates, i.e. a box within a box within a box. The Emperor was the caretaker of the realm of China, the throne being the power not the Emperor; he would have audiences with dignitaries from far afield kowtowing and wishing the Emperor well. He was surrounded by wonderful treasures of gold, porcelain, jade, exquisite paintings and jewel encrusted ornaments. It was a life of luxury, hunting shooting and fishing in the spring in Manchuria (men only), then at the summer palaces having picnics, tea parties and sailing.

Hanne Sutcliffe enthusiastically showed many interesting slides depicting the way of life at the palace, the Emperor’s splendid silk robes, gold encrusted dragon robes of the 17th century, the solid gold incense burners, the blue and white decorated porcelain and the beautiful gardens. Recently the storage houses within the Forbidden City, having been unopened for 400 years, revealed the many treasures from the dynastic era.

However from 1800 China suffered under bad emperors with the opium wars and the minx Empress Cixi who put her son on the throne whilst she ruled in a very cruel way living a luxurious life for herself but bringing chaos and suffering to China.   Members certainly received an insight of different culture through Hanne Sutcliffe.

Chairman, Frances Ashworth preceded the meeting with the news that FarnhamDFAS were joint runners up in the NADFAS Media Award for its website. She thanked David Jackson, our Webmaster, for all his help in designing and running the site. She will accept the Award at the National AGM in London in May and display it at the June meeting. She reminded members of the bookings for Compton Verney Gallery on 14 June and the Study Day on 28 June with a Shakespearian theme.