Historic Churches of Buckinghamshire

Historic Churches of Buckinghamshire is a project launched in 2018, with only a few churches included at the moment.


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John Loughborough Pearson

John Loughborough Pearson RA (5 July 1817 - 11 December 1897) was a Gothic Revival architect renowned for his work on churches and cathedrals. Pearson revived and practised largely the art of vaulting, and acquired in it a proficiency unrivalled in his generation. He worked on at least 210 ecclesiastical buildings in England alone in a career spanning 54 years. Pearson was born in Brussels on 5 July 1817. He was the son of William Pearson, etcher, of Durham, and was brought up there. At the age of fourteen he was articled to Ignatius Bonomi, architect, of Durham, whose clergy clientele helped stimulate Pearson's long association with religious architecture, particularly of the Gothic style. He soon moved to London, where he became a pupil of Philip Hardwick (1792-1870), architect of the Euston Arch and Lincoln's Inn. Pearson lived in central London at 13 Mansfield Street (where a blue plaque commemorates him), and was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1880. From the erection of his first church at Ellerker, in Yorkshire, in 1843, to that of St Peter's, Vauxhall, in 1864, his buildings are geometrical in manner and exhibit a close adherence to precedent, but elegance of proportion and refinement of detail lift them out of the commonplace of mere imitation. Holy Trinity, Westminster (1848), and St Mary's, Dalton Holme (1858), are notable examples of this phase. Pearson began his career drawing purely on English medieval prototypes, but increasingly incorporated ideas from abroad: Charles Locke Eastlake described Pearson's Christchurch at Appleton-le-Moors in North Yorkshire as "modelled on the earliest and severest type of French Gothic, with an admixture of details almost Byzantine in character." St Mary's Dalton Holme, East Yorkshire St Peter's Church, Vauxhall (1864), was his first groined church, and the first of a series of buildings which brought Pearson to the forefront among his contemporaries. In these he applied the Early English style to modern needs and modern economy with unrivalled success. St Augustine's, Kilburn (1871), St John's, Red Lion Square, London (1874, destroyed by a parachute mine in 1941), St Alban's, Conybere Street, Birmingham (1880), St Michael's, Croydon (1880), St John's, Norwood (1881), St Stephen's, Bournemouth (1889), and All Saints Church, Hove (1889), are characteristic examples of his mature work. He also did restoration work on smaller churches, including St Edward's Church in Gloucestershire. He was enlisted by Sir Tatton Sykes, 5th Baronet to develop the first of what now are known as "The Sykes churches" near Sledmere. Initially Pearson restored the Church of St Michael and All Angels, Garton on the Wolds and the churches at Kirkburn, and Bishop Wilton, along with a new one at Hilton. (More on Wikipedia).

 One Church with features by John Loughborough Pearson - Designer

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(Click Image to Enlarge)		 Features
 
St Mary Aylesbury
Image in Preparation
1891: Reredos. Designer was John Loughborough Pearson .
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Historic Churches of Buckinghamshire

All photographs by Michael G Hardy unless stated otherwise


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