Chandeliers in Hampshire and Isle of Wight Churches: a Gazetteer

Proc. Hampshire Field Club Archaeol. Soc. 61, 2006, 220-241 (Hampshire Studies 2006) CHANDELIERS IN HAMPSHIRE AND ISLE OF WIGHT CHURCHES: A GAZETTEER By ROBERT SHERLOCK ABSTRACT (Oman 1936, 265-6). None of the chandeliers acquired between 1575 and 1650 has survived, The introduction outlines the stylistic develop but records suggest that they were small and ment of English brass chandeliers, as illustrated by inexpensive by later standards (Sherlock 1966). Hampshire examples. The gazetteer provides descrip In Hampshire - a name that will generally be tive and historical details of the chandeliers possessed used to include the Isle of Wight - the example orknoiun to have been possessed by thirty-one churches given to Newport in 1637 or 1638 is the only and chapels in Hampshire. The county's chandeliers one known to have belonged to that period. appear to have been made exclusively in London and Apart from a fragment associated with Holy Birmingham, and the occurrence of identical castings Rood, Southampton, the earliest chandeliers in or similar features elsewhere enables the names of Hampshire are those at Long Sutton and Stjohn some of the makers to be suggested. The substitution Baptist, Winchester. Both date from about 1700 of gas for candles and other such changes often led and typify the design that dominated the scene to chandeliers becoming redundant. Churches from between 1675 and 1715. The branches droop which or to which chandeliers passed under those cir heavily, end in an open spiral and protrude cumstances are identified. outwards where they receive the screws of the sockets. The largest component of the body is a spherical globe, above which rise successively a INTRODUCTION baluster stem, a finial in the form of a cherub- head or a dove, and finally a suspension-ring. Until the 19th century churches in England and Hooks dropping into a circle of holes in the Wales relied for their artificial lighting mainly baluster stem enable each tier of branches to on candles and on the receptacles that held be attached to the body (Oman 1936, 267). them. If the receptacles were intended to be A quite different design is to be seen at hung they were eventually called 'chandeliers' Winchester Cathedral. Its pair of chandeliers rather than 'branches', 'sconces' or 'candle were given in 1756 when the rococo style was sticks'. Although they could be of wood or at its height. Here the branches are horizon glass, they were nearly always of brass. Regard tal in emphasis, end in a closed spiral and are less of the material, the essential elements of decorated also with scrolls and a knop. The a chandelier were a body, one or more tiers body is equally robust and combines well- of branches and, at the end of each branch, a defined mouldings with bands of gadrooning socket and grease-pan. and a pineapple pendant terminal. The largest The few chandeliers that churches seem to component of the body remains the globe, but have possessed in the Middle Ages would have a globe that is flattened and integrated. The been discarded at the Reformation. With the equivalent of a suspension-ring is enclosed by accession of Elizabeth I, the use of chandeliers a flame finial. Efforts to conceal the methods returned, but no longer did the invocadon of construction and suspension are completed of saints help to determine their appearance by bolting the branches to a collar that is part 218 SHERLOCK: CHANDELIERS IN HAMPSHIRE AND ISLE OF WIGHT CHURCHES: A GAZETTEER 219 of the globe instead of part of a baluster stem. of those two developments, the chandelier at There is only a single tier of branches at Win St Mary Bourne was adapted for use with oil chester Cathedral. Had there been more, the lamps, the one at St John Baptist, Winchester, number of collared globes would have matched was re-instated, and in 1885 Ellingham church the number of tiers (Oman 1936, 273-4). received two completely new chandeliers (Little The transition from one design to the 1971, 14). The distinction between the lighting other was gradual. The chandeliers at Kings- of urban churches and that of rural churches clere and Winchester College, dated 1713 ended with the universal acceptance of electric and 1729 respectively, illustrate steps in the ity. Several chandeliers in Hampshire have been process. At Kingsclere, the features to note are adapted for this, the latest means of lighting. the branches that droop only slightly, do not Despite the risks to which chandeliers have protrude outwards and are decorated with been exposed, nineteen examples, capable of scrolls and a knop. At Winchester College, the use and known or believed to date from before body is already robust, the globe is flattened, 1850, can be said to survive in Hampshire. and, most of all, the method of attaching the The number is higher than that in Dorset branches has changed. They hook into bosses (Sherlock 1963), Surrey (Hooper 1941), that are bolted to a collar above the globe. It Wiltshire (Sherlock 1960) or any other of the was not a huge leap to eliminate the hooks, five adjoining counties. Of the nineteen, eleven to merge the functions of the bosses and the are inscribed with a date and with the name of branches and to transfer the collar to the globe. a donor or, where the cost was met by the rate After 1760 there were no significant changes in payers, with the names of the churchwardens. design or construction. Consequendy chande Two of the inscriptions are deceptive insofar as liers like those at Abbotts Ann and Overton are they relate to the circumstances under which difficult to date in the absence of an inscription second-hand chandeliers were acquired. None or documentary evidence. The neo-classical of the nineteen chandeliers is signed, but style was scarcely noticed except that the chan churchwardens' accounts and vestry minutes delier at Brading has urn-shaped sockets and a indicate directly or indirectly that chandeliers finial of leaf-like flames issuing from an urn. formerly at Milford-on-Sea and Portsmouth orig By 1830 gas was beginning to replace candles inated from London and that a pair formerly at as the means of lighting urban churches. At Lymington originated from Birmingham. It is the same time the Gothic Revival was about in fact to be expected that chandeliers destined to promote a fresh approach to the furnish for Hampshire were at first made in London ing of churches. With neither usefulness nor and that only later were they made in Birming appropriateness to commend them, it is not ham as well. Birmingham was alone among surprising that throughout the country chan provincial centres in challenging London's deliers were disposed of once gas had been supremacy at a national level (Sherlock 1973, substituted. A few were retained, whether or 100-1). Several of the Hampshire chande not adapted, but most were sold as scrap or liers may with some degree of confidence be moved to some candle-lit building (Sherlock attributed to foundries by application of the 1959, 91). Such movement could operate to argument that two chandeliers in different and against a county's advantage. Hampshire locations would not incorporate identical gained a chandelier from Norfolk, but it lost the castings unless the same patterns were used set of three at Portsmouth. Churches away from and that the same patterns would not have a gas supply - they were the ones least likely to been available for use unless the two chande possess a chandelier - continued to rely on liers were made at the same foundry. However, candles until the 1880s. By then oil lamps had the process of deduction frequendy stops short been so improved as to be more efficient than of being able to link foundries with addresses candles, and also by then chandeliers were and with the names of makers. coming back into favour. As manifestations It is necessary to cite an example outside 220 HAMPSIIIRK FIELD CLUB AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY Hampshire to identify the considerations that might lead to the acquisition of a chandelier. An inscription records that the chandelier at St Thomas, Oxford, was given for the use and ornament of this church and the service and glory of God. Those are purposes that Hamp shire's chandeliers are still fulfilling or have the capacity to fulfil. GAZETTEER In the case of chandeliers surviving in Hampshire, the entry begins with basic data. Measurements relate to the widest part of the body, either a globe or a collar. Except where indicated, inscriptions are on the globe or lower globe, whichever is applicable. Chande liers known or believed to date from after 1850 are not included. Hampshire Abbotts Ann (Fig. 1) 1 tier of 12 Collar 117A ins. No inscription If statements made in 1926 are to be believed, the chandelier dates from 1784 by virtue of Fig. 1 Abbotts Ann, c. 1830 having been given then to Andover church (.rapbelow). As will be discussed in the Overton entry, the true date is likely to be much later. In that case the second-hand status has also to be chancel. Two further candlesticks, each with questioned. To a large extent the parts of the one branch, were formerly fixed to the walls chandeliers at Abbotts Ann and Overton were of the nave. cast from the same set of patterns. Minimum adaptation of a two-tier design accounts for the Alton (Fig. 2) disproportionate height of the Abbotts Ann 2 tiers of 8 chandelier. Collar 107/« ins. The chandelier hangs slightly east of the 'Thomas Baverstock, Gent, 1780' (Curtis 1896, centre of the nave.

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