Own work: Life Drawing LIII

   Back to the life drawing studio after the half-term break.  I thought I'd try something new by bringing my mixed media technique to bear, but first some pen and ink.  Not that successful as I had forgotten to bring a pencil with me, so no underdrawing.

  After the coffee break and now suitably armed with a B pencil the results were far better.  Three poses: one hour before the break and two half hour ones after.

Church crawling: Exton

     Our final stop last Saturday was Exton, an even more attractive village further into Rutland (England's smallest county).  The great W G Hoskins wrote of the county:

"Rutland is a small part of England as she used to be before the Industrial Revolution - unspoiled, clean, full of fine buildings, full of country smells and sounds, of sound arable farming with great stone barns, of neatness, order and natural good taste almost everywhere. No other county surpasses Rutland for unspoiled, quiet charm []They say good things come in the smallest parcels: Rutland is both very small and very good."

     This is no longer quite so true.  It can't be. But at Exton one gets a view, a glimpse as it were, of what it was and what it could be again if only we applied ourselves.

     Anyway to the church. This is by far the grandest of the three churches we visited. It stands slightly aloof from the village and on the edge of the park that surrounds the Hall.  One rather beautiful house keeps it company.  All in all quite heavenly.  Peaceful.  At first sight the whole thing looks rather Victorian, and to be honest nearly all the visible masonry is 19th century.  First, the tower.  A noble and very satisfying design. The original was struck by lightening in 1843, and subsequently rebuilt in replica. R C Carpenter, who has appeared in this blog before as the restorer of Ss Peter and Paul Algarkirk, is credited with the work.  The restoration of the body of the church is the great Gothic Revival master J L Pearson, 1852-54, and a thorough job he did of it.  

     A surprise perhaps for the visitor on entering the church to find Medieval work, and a pretty majestic interior it is; tall and spacious, monumental and full of Seigneurial pomp - banners and more importantly tombs.  Perhaps one of the best collections in England, and all of great interest both aesthetically and historically.  There is a fabulous Late Medieval tomb of English alabaster - look for the tiny figures lurking around the feet of the main figures, and a vast Elizabethan tomb in the south transept, but the best is in the north transept: a vast white, grey and black marble construction by Ginling Gibbons in 1686, to the memory of the 3rd Viscount Campden. Baroque and voluptuous. It cost £1000. But that is just to mention three in a remarkable ensemble. I plan to return.

     Thanks to A for the use of his phone when my died for lack of juice.  Some of the following images are from his phone.

Church crawling: Witham-on-the-Hill and Clipsham

   A visit from A this last Saturday and a jaunt out into Rutland in spring like weather.  A journey from the fen edge across limestone country.  A visit too to three 'estate villages'.

   Firstly, on our way to lunch we made an impromptu stop in Witham-on-the-Hill, an attractive stone built village off the A 6121, to look at the church.  I've been past it any number of times, but this was my first sight of the interior.  I think it would be fair to say we were both disappointed with it.  It lacked something, but I'm not sure I can put my finger on what precisely...the numinous?  There are fittings by George Gilbert Scott jr, but the screen in particular was a lack lustre performance.  Sad too that the elaborate, pinnacled, font cover was languishing on the floor.  Much better if it and the font were moved into the centre of the nave and the cover, restored to its rightful position coloured and gilded in the medieval manner.  At least there wasn't too much clutter. 

   The exterior had much more going for it with the Georgian tower and spire to the side of the church,1737-38, the design of George Portwood sen. of Stamford.  It is a robust design of quiet dignity, part classical and part gothic, perhaps a little quixotic too.

   After lunch we headed into Rutland and yet another attractive stone built village - we are rather blessed with them in this part of the world - Clipsham. An estate village too, which is always a good thing.  The church is close to the hall - owned, I think, by the Davenport Hanleys - and is reached by a wide gravel drive from the village street.  The delight begins there for on the north side of the drive is a superbly constructed dry stone wall.  A fantastic piece of craftsmanship, and love, as each course is set a few millimetres in from the course below. That is not all, for the entrance to the churchyard is marked by gothic cast iron gates and stone gothic gate piers.  It's tempting to ascribe them to Edward Browning who restored the church in 1858.  And so to the church a small structure with a thick set west tower and spire - unusually detailed too.  Striking too the great square headed Dec windows of the south aisle.  

   The interior is a delight, low, spreading, very atmospheric and full of fittings.  Much of it dates to Browning's restoration but there is an earlier reredos (Commandments and Moses & Aaron) perched on the north wall.  The long-slanting light contributed greatly to the sense of place.  The stained and painted glass, by Wailes, which fills all the windows is very good.  (18.09.2019: I learnt today that the lovely encaustic tiling is probably from Godwin of Lugwardine, designed by that great Gothic master John Pollard Seddon.) I think of all the churches restored by Edward Browning I have visited this is about his best.  A schatzkammer, yes, but without the slightly oppressive, wilful quality of his work at Uffington.  I had been to Clipsham years ago, but didn't remember it to be so good. Virtually clutter free too!

The English Woman's House

   It's been a long while since I posted my article on the two books 'The Englishman's Garden' & 'The Englishwoman's Garden', edited by Alvilde Lees Milne, (the complex, if not at times downright difficult, wife of James Lees Milne), and Rosemary Verrey the famous gardener. 2014 in fact.  Since then I've kept a look out for other books by Alvilde and - having parted ways with Rosemary Verrey - her new collaborator, the photographer Derry Moore.  I was delighted therefore, sometime before Christmas to come across 'The Englishwoman's House' which was published in 1984, Collins, London.  The format, a good one, remained the same as the previous books:  short pieces by each home owner accompanied by Derry Moore's photographs, introduction by Alvilde and foreword by well known commentator in this case HRH Princess Michael of Kent.

   A mixed bag of interiors they are - most conventional upper-class trad, but none the worse for that I feel.  A lot of them were still 'Sixties' in feel - lots, still, of seagrass squares for instance - though you won't find any Op-art. The sitting room of Laura Ashley is a fine example of that; with its spare use of Victoriana it fits almost neatly into the sort of interior examined by Mary Gilliatt in her magisterial, and 'SomethingoftheChameleon' favourite, 'English Style' of 1967.  Another interior that stood out for me was the Salisbury home of Janet Stone, the widow of the remarkable Reynolds Stone.  Remarkable too in her own right was Janet Stone, as a new book of her photographs shows.  Imagine the sheer joy of a sitting room lined with paintings of Welsh mountains by John Piper. I call that bliss.

 Laura Ashley's Welsh home

Barbara Cartland's home in, I think, Hertfordshire.  'Sixties' taste.

Diana Cage in Cumbria

Love those pale blue walls in the hall

With Janet Stone in Salisbury

Another beautiful shade of blue