JOHN MIDDLETON Victorian, Provincial Architect
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JOHN MIDDLETON Victorian, Provincial Architect Brian E Torode Makan~eva 16, Zagreb, Croatia Credits for illustrations: The illustrations used are from the author’s personal collection, with the following exceptions: Hugh Greenhalf, Frontispiece, John Middleton John Wheeler, Fig 11,12 Bill Fawcett, Fig 3,4,5,6,9,14 and 8 (John Mallon Collection) The late Nigel Temple, 39,40,44,45 The Rev Canon Allan Maclean, 41,42,43 A more detailed and comprehensive version of this book, fully referenced and annotated can be seen at the following Centres: Cheltenham Reference Library Gloucestershire Archives Darlington Library, Centre for Local Studies Durham County Record Offi ce Borthwick Institute of Historical Research, York National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth Carmarthenshire Archive Service, Carmarthen Cardigan Record Offi ce, Aberystwyth Pembrokeshire Record Offi ce, Haverfordwest CIP zapis dostupan u ra~unalnom katalogu Nacionalne i sveu~ili{ne knji`nice u Zagrebu pod brojem 672136. ISBN 978-953-99762-5-3 Cover illustration, Middleton’s Westholme Contents Foreword .............................................................................................................................................................................. 5 Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................................... 7 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER I: John Middleton’s early years ........................................................................................... 9 CHAPTER II: The Beginning of the Practice .................................................................................... 12 CHAPTER III: Middleton’s work in and around Darlington ........................................... 16 CHAPTER IV: Further work in the north-east. Middleton as mentor ........................ 24 CHAPTER V: Arrival in Cheltenham. St Mark’s Church ..................................................... 29 CHAPTER VI: Middleton’s Social Life in Cheltenham and the Development of the Practice ............................................................................ 33 CHAPTER VII: Further Cheltenham Churches ............................................................................. 40 CHAPTER VIII: Restorations and Rebuilding ................................................................................ 53 CHAPTER IX: The Cheltenham Colleges ........................................................................................... 60 CHAPTER X: Delancey Fever Hospital .................................................................................................... 68 CHAPTER XI: Private Residences ............................................................................................................... 72 CHAPTER XII: The Forest of Dean - Clearwell, a Middleton village .......................... 81 CHAPTER XIII: Work in Newent and the surrounding area .............................................. 87 CHAPTER XIV: Tewkesbury and surrounding villages ........................................................... 94 CHAPTER XV: Berkeley Castle and smaller local contracts ............................................. 102 CHAPTER XVI: Work in Herefordshire ............................................................................................ 105 CHAPTER XVII: Coleshill Park, Warwickshire ............................................................................. 108 CHAPTER XVIII: Here and there .............................................................................................................. 111 CHAPTER XIX: An Introduction To Wales .................................................................................. 114 CHAPTER XX: The Houses of Bronwydd and Mount Gernos ..................................... 116 CHAPTER XXI: Churches along the Teifi Valley between Cardigan and Lampeter ..........................................................................................123 CHAPTER XXII: St David’s College, Lampeter .......................................................................... 129 CHAPTER XXIII: From the Aeron Valley to Aberystwyth ....................................................... 132 CHAPTER XXIV: Two Pembrokeshire Churches ...................................................................... 137 CHAPTER XXV: Churches in the vicinity of Carmarthen ................................................ 140 CHAPTER XXVI: Cilgwyn ............................................................................................................................ 145 CHAPTER XXVII: John Middleton, Obituary ............................................................................. 148 CHAPTER XXVIII: John Henry Middleton ................................................................................... 154 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................................... 165 3 Foreword I have lived in Cheltenham for forty years and have been associated with St Stephen’s Church, Tivoli, for most of that period. This church was designed by the architect, John Middleton in 1873 and when co-writing the history of the church to commemorate the centenary of the laying of the foundation stone in 1973, I was puz- zled by the lack of information that I was able to access about Middleton the man. There were parish histories of some of his other Cheltenham churches and a reasona- ble amount of archival material covering St Stephen’s in the county archives, but apart from this, I was not able to fi nd anything that would help me to put flesh on the ar- chitect of fi ve of Cheltenham’s Victorian churches as well as Cheltenham Ladies’ Col- lege. What was known locally about Middleton was contained in a short book written by L. W. Barnard FRIBA, Ninety Years Past, a History of the Offi ce of L. W. Barnard and Partners. This fi rm was the successor to that which had been started by Middleton in Cheltenham back in 1860. While researching the St Stephen’s Parish History in 1973, the colleague with whom I was working was able to borrow some Middleton archives – since deposited at Gloucestershire Archives– but these contained nothing about the man himself and at the time, anything that did not relate specifi cally to St Stephen’s seemed irrelevant. After publication, my interest waned somewhat but any written or spoken information about John Middleton which came my way was fi led for future reference. Gradually I built up a portfolio of his work and my interest was revived. Some sources were obvi- ous, such as Pevsner’s Buildings of England series, the RIBA archives, and eventually, the many plans and account books which had by that time, been deposited at the Glouces- tershire Archives. A chance reference to Middleton, found in a letter in the Centre for Local Studies in Darlington Library, enabled me to contact Bill Fawcett who was at the time research- ing railway architecture in the north-east of England. It is due in no small measure to his guidance and direction that I was able to build up a picture – albeit incomplete - of Middleton’s work in the north of England. Other leads soon followed and with the help of Thomas Lloyd of Cresselly, Pem- brokeshire and the late Christopher Bishop who had worked with L. W. Barnard in Cheltenham, I was eventually able to discover more about John Middleton, “an ob- scure provincial architect” as Sir Hugh Casson once described him. In 2002 John Morgan-Guy, the Archivist at University of Wales Lampeter, kindly invited me to contribute an essay entitled ðMiddleton and St David’s College, Lam- peter’, for a volume entitled A bold imagining, published to mark the 175th anniversary of Lampeter. That article seems to fi ttingly acknowledge Middleton’s contribution to 5 Brian E Torode: JOHN MIDDLETON - Victorian, Provincial Architect the Anglican renaissance that took place in South Wales during the closing decades of the nineteenth century. I hope that the story which follows will promote interest in one of those many provincial architects whose work is not of national signifi cance, but who made impor- tant contributions to the architectural heritage of the towns in which they lived and practised. Brian Torode 2008 6 Acknowledgements As with any research of this nature, numerous persons and organisations have provided help and support in a variety of ways. The majority of organisations to which I have resorted for archives or help with locating buildings are all acknowledged in the references at the end of this book. However I do want to thank the staff of all these establishments for the cheerful and willing way in which they have encouraged me and gone to immense trouble to help me solve, interpret and sort the many puzzling and challenging pieces of evidence which have been examined over the course of many years. Many individuals too have shared the fruits of their own research and shared with me photographs, newspaper cuttings, personal memories and suggestions for further avenues of research. In some cases, I have been welcomed into the homes of strangers and received hospitality from people whom I had previously known only through cor- respondence. Research that covers such a wide geographical area has entailed much travel and I have been fortunate to have had