The Profile for the Parish Church of St. Peter Devizes

1 The Profile for the Parish Church of St. Peter Devizes Contents A Little History of Devizes 3 An Historical Perspective 4 The Church and School 5 Our Community 6 The Congregation 7 Church and Community 8 Order of Services 9 The Church of St. Peter, Devizes 10 The Fabric 10 Financial Health 10 Collaborative Ministry 10 Our Church 11 Personal Profile 11 Forward Planning, Aims and Objectives 11 Acknowledgements 12 2 WELCOME “We are delighted that you are wanting to find out more about the worship, ministry and mission taking place within St Peter’s Devizes. This is an excellent opportunity to grow the people of God within this worshipping community and to extend a welcome to others in the discovery of faith. The See of Ebbsfleet and the Diocese of Salisbury are committed to working together to provide the support and pastoral care needed for the person appointed.” + Jonathan Ebbsfleet Ruth Worsley See of Ebbsfleet Archdeacon or Wilts. Salisbury diocese THE PARISH PROFILE FOR ST. PETER’S, DEVIZES The Parish Church of St. Peter stands beside the Kennet and Avon Canal at the north-west edge of Devizes, a busy Wiltshire market town and the home of Wadworth Brewery and the traditional Shire horses who deliver to public houses in the town. A LITTLE HISTORY OF DEVIZES Devizes town owes its name to a castle built around 1080 by Osmond Bishop of Salisbury atop a steep hill which marked the boundaries of the three manors of Cannings , Potterne and Rowde , it became known as ‘ castrum ad divisas ‘ the castle at the boundaries . The castle, a stone one replaced the original wooden one, was of strategic importance during the civil war 1139-1141 between the followers of Stephen and Matilda. An aerial view of the town shows how the street pattern developed during medieval times. During the English Civil War 1642-1649 the castle became a strategic prize again. A battle was fought on downland by Roundway Hil,l the Royalists won, [ Hopton Garden Industrial Estate is named after their resourceful leader]. Later, in retaliation the Parliamentary forces destroyed the castle. The town gradually recovered from the plundering inflicted by both sides during the Civil War. The 18th century was a time of prosperity including the brewing, malting and tobacco industries. The lack of water power compensated for by two windmills on the site of Devizes castle. The Kennet and Avon canal built along the eastern edge of the old town between 1794 and 1810 was the first broad canal built to take 3 barges carrying up to 60tons, it linked with the Wilts and Berks canal at Semington and with the Somerset Coal canal at Limply Stoke. Coal, beer, tobacco and building and road making materials were carried to and from Devizes Wharf. The canal engineer, John Rennie, designed side pounds alongside the canal all the way up Caen Hill to prevent the loss of water in the stretches between the locks when the locks are being filled. 29 locks were built within two and half miles to negotiate the steep gradient and three million bricks were used for the locks. Caen Hill brick works beside the canal flourished. By the 19 Century Devizes beyond the Northgate, along the Bath Road , housed workers and their families of the Devizes Brick and Tile Company, which had four kilns, canal labourers and bargees , the Wiltshire Militia in barracks and married quarters and Devizes Prison. The prison contained 210 cells, was overcrowded, the prisoners diet was bread and gruel, long hours were spent on the treadmill. There was a riot in 1822 but strict rules of silence, solitary confinement and flogging continued. An Anglican priest concerned for the spiritual, moral and educational welfare of these people obtained land beside the canal in order to build a church and a school. In 1865 St. Peter’s Church was founded by The Rev. Benjamin Charles Dowding, Vicar of St James Southbroom. AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE The Reverend Benjamin Charles Dowding laid the foundation stone in June 1865. There was a large gathering at the ceremony including many of Mr Dowding’s parishioners of St. James and the officers and men of the Royal Wilts Militia in full uniform. The children ‘’were regaled with tea and cake’’ while the masons and others employed in the construction were given ‘’a substantial supper’’. A Devizes Gazette report describes ‘’the church which is to be called St. Peter’s, will form a very pretty object at the entrance to the town from the Bath Road. It is to be built of Bath and Ham stone and Westbury tile, surmounted at one end by a bell turret, and will have porch and vestry attached…….the interior, though simple will be very neat and appropriate’ On 17th July 1866 the new church was consecrated .The Bishop and assembled clergy preceded by the band, officers and men of the militia processed from the Assize Courts in Northgate Street to the church. The Vicar of Rowde, the Reverend A.B. Starkey met the Bishop at the door and presented to him a petition praying that the church might be consecrated. The Bishop signed his consent and proceeded up the aisle to the chanting of the psalm, ‘The earth is the Lord’s and all that therein is’. The first Vicar was the Rev. Harold Grindle who held office from 1866 until his death in 1885; he was described as ‘a dear friend of the poor’ with his heart and energies centred on St Peter’s, its services and people. After ordination in 1871 the Rev. Lincoln Wainwright assisted as his curate. By early 1884 sufficient funds had been raised to enlarge the church with a south aisle, a new vestry and to rebuild the chancel arch adding two corbels of Chilmark stone. Gas lighting was installed to replace the candle chandeliers. Services were held to mark the re-opening of the church. At the morning service the 4 Right Reverend W.G.Tozer, formerly Bishop of Central Africa, preached and at the evening service the Rev. Fr. Lincoln Wainwright, Vicar of St.Peter’s London Docks, and a former curate at St. Peter’s Devizes. ‘‘Many people stood and scores more were obliged to return home as they were unable to get in’’, it was recorded. The interior design of the church is simple but memorial gifts have been added, including the beautiful stained glass windows many of them given in memory of the founder, the Reverend B.C.Dowding, his wife Maria and their family. Also, In memory of the Rev Harold Grindle the Baptistry and the carvings on the font ‘by those baptised therein’. The chancel screen given in memory of the Rev. Arthur Devas, the second vicar. Canon Frederick Phipps, a prominent Anglo-Catholic, who was the Vicar from 1901 until his death in 1934, enriched the tradition and introduced incense into the worship on St. Peter’s Day 1919. Canon George Frank George, Vicar 1935-1939, an architect, in tribute to his predecessor, redesigned the High Altar, moving the original table into the Lady Chapel. In 1938 he designed the three rood figures and the heightened chancel screen to hold the specially commissioned carved figures paid for by a bequest to the church. All these gifts have enriched the church, its atmosphere and worship. St. Peter’s well founded Anglo-Catholic traditions have been enhanced and the spiritual life of the parish maintained by the work and dedication of a succession of worshippers and incumbent vicars and lately by a ‘priest–in-charge. The present congregation and people are indebted to them all. THE CHURCH AND SCHOOL The church’s founder speaking at a luncheon on Consecration Day spoke of the intention to open a school; ‘’ we are an aspiring people and don’t intend to remain with just the nave of a church’’. Two years later in 1868 a piece of land between the church and the canal was purchased from the Great Western Railway Company, at the cost of £5. ‘For a school for the education of children and adults, or children only, of the labouring, manufacturing and other poorer classes in the ecclesiastical district of St. Peter’s, Devizes and for no other purpose’. The school building, similar to the church in design, opened in 1870 as a Church School with a Headmaster and 36 boys. Four years later girls were admitted too. From the beginning the Chairman of the Governors was the Vicar of the parish who also gave religious instruction in school. The children attended services in the church, weekly and at the beginning and end of term and on special holy days: Epiphany, Ash Wednesday, Ascension Day and St. Peter’s Day. Many children, until the school leaving age was raised, attended St. Peter’s for all their schooldays. In the 1950s the school became a Primary School for 5 to 11 year olds, still a church school, the close ties remained. The boys becoming, choir boys or altar boys and the large Sunday school met in the school building. The school was the meeting place for other church organisations also, there was a thriving Church of England Men’s Society and a Mother’s Union. 5 In the 1960’s the administration of the school was passed over to Salisbury Diocesan Board of Education. In the late 1960’s and the early 1970’s new local authority housing within the parish caused an increase in population and a larger school roll from 179 in 1968 to 267 in 1977. The ‘juniors’ moved into the old Grammar School building next door and the ‘Infants’ stayed in the original St.

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