Bishop’s sits right opposite St Osmund’s Church on Exeter Street and, with the very kind permission of the Priest and the Diocese we are have begun to use the church for year group assemblies on a regular basis. We are very lucky to be able to meet together for collective worship in such a beautiful building, and last week I wanted to sketch out some of the history that lies behind the design and building of St Osmund’s by Pugin in the nineteenth century. Here is the script…
Augustus Pugin (1812 – 1852)
I have a story for you this morning. A story of a man who didn’t live very long. A story of an architect who designed lots and lots of different buildings. Who lived for some years right here in Wiltshire and near the end of his time on earth, designed and built this church, including designing and installing many of these wonderful windows of stained glass that surround you this morning. A story of a man who was the son of a French immigrant who ended up designing buildings across Britain, Europe and even as far away as Australia.
His name was Augustus Pugin, and he was born just over a century ago. As you will discover no doubt in your History lessons, Britain was going through some extraordinary changes in the mid-19th century. Factories being built apace, the population migrating to the growing cities, the railways spidering out across the countryside. Utilitarianism ruled. Buildings – things in general – were built, were being made to work rather than look good. Augustus was not a fan of all of that. He reacted against it, because he preferred looking back to earlier medieval times when buildings in general and churches in particular were built to impress. He must I guess have looked at Salisbury Cathedral, with its finials, gargoyles, minarets, lancet and windows and wondered why new buildings couldn’t be like that anymore. So he decided to do something about it – he published his ideas for new building design as architectural drawings and started what is now called the Gothic Revival Movement. Salisbury Cathedral is the most perfect Gothic template; you can absolutely see where he got his inspiration.
So – lets talk Pugin buildings then. Where can you see them? Here are 4; three local and one not so much but very, very familiar. You have some homework to do later – a bit of reading about who Pugin was and what he did (and there’s a lot of it!).
Building One – this church of St Osmund’s here on Exeter Street. Pugin designed the main part of the nave, the altar, the roof and the bell tower, together with many of the stained glass windows.
Building Two – you’ll know it well. The Odeon cinema is actually a medieval tudor merchant’s house, but that half-timbered bit on the front facing on to New Canal was designed by AP. It is certainly the only tudor cinema that I have ever seen…
Building Three - if you travel on the bus through Alderbury you’ll have seen St Mary’s Grange, the big house next to the Downton Road junction. All towers and chimneys, a Gothic fairy tale. That was his house – he built it and lived in it while he worked in Salisbury and took on national commissions.
And Building Four – here’s the famous one – the Palace of Westminster (aka the House of Commons) in London, including the tower that is home to Big Ben. After the previous palace burnt down in 1834, Pugin and Charles Barry won the competition to design and build the world famous replacement that you will all have seen. Now that’s a well-known piece of architecture!
Augustus Pugin died in 1852 aged just 40. His ideas and his buildings outlasted him. We are really lucky to be able to use St Osmund’s for your assemblies – but even luckier that Pugin chose to tarry in Salisbury for a time and leave his mark on our home patch. Have a look at the plaque on the wall of the church on your way out, and next time you go to the cinema think Gothic Revival’ before you launch into the Spiderverse . . .
