Qollection Cahiersde l'lnstitutdu patrimoinede I'UQAM

Collection dirig6e par l,uc Noppen

Dansle mondeentier,le patrimoine, lesconstructions patri-
etlesrepr6sentations
monialesoccupentaujourd'huiuneplacedechoixdansla recherche universitaire.
LesCahiersdeI'Institutdu patrimoinedeIUQAMfont6cho,depuisMontrdal,aux
questionnements et auxexplorationsque cevastedomainesouldve,dansle but
de mieuxcomprendre lesm6canismes qui engendrentlesancrages
identitaires
et qui paventla voieauxconstructions m6morielles.

Etudeset analvses sur lesobjets,lestraces,lesusages, les savoir-faire, mais

aussisur lesrepr6sentationset sur lesm6moiresconcourent ici ) uneddfinition
1laryiedela notiondepatrimoinequi 6chappeauxcloisonnements disciplinaires;
le patrimoineapparaitici commeoutil socidtaldeproiectiondansI'avenirplut0t
quecommeI'encensoir d'unpass6glorifid.

L'Institutdu patrimoinede I'UQAMoffre cettecollectionaux recherches de la

reldve,a\tlnt cellequi 6voluedanssesmurs que cellesqui, ailleursdansle
monde,seconsacrent du patrimoine.
i cetterdinvention Aufil desproietset des
propositions, lestitres desCahiersbaliserontlestravauxen courset un rdseau
d'dchanges et de collaborations,anciennesou nouvelles.

Titres parus
l. Paysagesconstruits: Mdmoire, identit4, iddologies,sousla direction de
Anne-MarieBroudehoux,2006,144pages.
2. Patrimoineetpatrimonialisation du Qudbecet dhilleurs, sousla direction
deMartinDrouin,2005,256pages.
3. Ie tempsdelbspacepublic urbain: construction,transformationet utilisation,
sousla directiondeYonaJ6bruketBarbaraJulien, 2008,216pages.
4. Patrimoine et guerre: reconstruire la place desMartyrs h Beyrouth,
GuillaumeEthier,168pages.

UQAM
- hrtitutdup$npine
Unhreruit6duQridbecirMontn{al
 Le prix Phyllis-Lambert
Chaque dupatrimoine
annde,l'lnstitut deI'UQAM le PrixPhyllis-Lambert
d6cerne i un(e)candidat(e) quia soumis
la
meilleurethbse
dedoctoratoulemeilleurmdmoire portantsurI'r6tude
demaitrise etI'histoire
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auCanada,
quienestfaiteparunjuryind6pendant.
selonl'dvaluation
[e prixhonorePhyllislambert,architecte dela conservation
etfiguretutdlaire fondatrice
architecturale, duCentre
Canadien dArchitecture, mondialement
montrdalaise
institution reconnuepoursonengagement dansla luttepourla
qualit6dupaysage
construit.
Chaque auplustardila fin dumoisdejanvier,I'Institutdupatrimoine
ann6e, deI'UQAM lanceun appelauseindela
communaut6deshistoriens etdesarchitectes
d'architecture duCanada pourquesoient soumis lesthEsesoum6moires
pourthdme
ayant I'histoire
deI'architecture
auCanada (histoire,th6orie,
critiqueetconservation) etcompl6t6s
dans
prdc6dentes,
lesdeuxanndes soumis
les documents sont6valu6s parunjurynational dontI'lnstitutdupatrimoine
de
I'UQAMnommelesmembres.
[e PrixPhyllis-lambert
consiste dereconnaissance
enuncertificat accompagn6 d'unebourse deI 500$,vers6eparla
Fondation deI'UQAM.l'lnstitutdupatrimoineoffreparailleursuneaidei la publication
dutexter6compens6, dans
I'unedesescollectionsouchezun dditeurind6pendant etporteencouverturela mention" PrixPhyllis-lambert
". [e
prixestremislorsd'uneactivit6 inscritedansle programme
spdciale, ducongrbs annuel pourl'6tude
dela Soci6t6 de
l'architecture
auCanada (SEAC) quisetientenalternance villesdu Canada.
dansdiffdrentes

Phyllis-LambertPrize
Eachyear,the Phyllislambert Prizeis awardedby UQAM'sInstitutdu patrimoineto a candidatewho hassubmittedthe
or bestmaster's
bestdoctoraldissertation thesison thesubjectof architectu historyin Canada,
rc and,architectural based
jury.
of an independent
on theassessment

ThisprizehonoursPhyllislambert,architectandtutelaryfigureof architecturalconservation, founderof theCanadian

Centrefor Architecture,a Montrealinstitutionrenownedworldwidefor its involvementin the promotionof the quality
of thebuilt environment.

Eachyear,at thelatestbytheendofJanuary,UQAM's Institutdu patrimoineasksthecommunityof Canadianarchitectural

historiansandarchitectsfor the submission
of dissertations and thesesdealingwith Canadianarchitecturalhistory
that havebeencompletedduringthe two previousyears.Thedocuments
(history,theory,critics,and conservation)
submittedare evaltatedby a nationaljury whosemembersare appointedby UQAM'sInstitutdu patrimoine.

ThePhyllislambert Prizeconsistsof a certificateof recognitionthatcomeswith a $1500scholarship, awardedby the

UQAM.In addition,theInstitutdu patrimoineoffersassistance
Fondation for thepublicationof theprize-winning
text,either
or with an independent
in oneof its collections Thecoverpageof thepublicationbearsthemention"Phyllis-
publisher.
lambertPtize".The prizewill be awardedduringa specialceremony includedin theprogramof theannualconference
of theSociety in Canrda
for theStudyof Architecture (SSAC)- heldin turn in variouscitiesthroughout
Canada.
Cette €dition des Cahiers de l'Institut du patrimoine de I'IJniversit6 du Qu6bec
d Montrdal a b€n6fici6 de I'apport financier dv ProgrammedesChairesde recherche
du Canada(CRSH), grdce d la contribution dela Chaire de recherche du Canada
en patrimoine urbain (ESG-UQAM) et, d'autre part, du Programmede soutien
aux ,lquipesde recherchedu Fonds qu6bdcois de recherche sur la soci6td et la
culture (FQRSC), dans le cadre du programme de recherche <Les paysages de
la mdtropolisation (2004-2008) (Lucie K. Morisset, dir.).
"

Bibliothdque et Archives nationales du Qu6becand Library andArchives Canada cataloguing

in publication
Coffman, Peter(PeterCharles),1961-
NewfoundlandGothic
(CollectionCahiersde I'Institut du patrimoinede I'UQAM; 5)
Originallypresented asthe author'sthesis(Ph.D.--Queen's University),2006undertitle:
Sectarianrivalry, denominationalidentity, andGothic revival architecturein Newfoundland.
Includesbibliographical referencesand index.
Co-publishedby: Institut du patrimoine,Universit6du Qu€becd Montr6al.
rsBN 978-2-89544-126-7
1. Gothic revival (Architecture)- Newfoundland andLabrador. 2. Church of England -
Newfoundland and Labrador- History - 19thcentury. 3. Religiousarchitecture- Newfoundland
and Labrador. I. Universit6 du Qu€bec d Montr6al. Institut du patrimoine. II. Title.
III. Series.
2008
NA744.5.G67C63 726.5097r8',09034 c2008-940799-7
NEWFOUNDTAND
GoTlflc

Peter Coffman

iliiijitiMoNDEs
 O EditionsMultiMondes,2008
rsBN 978-2-89544-t26-7
. Ddp6t l€gal- Bibliothdquenationaledu Qudbec,2008
Ddp6t l€gal- Bibliothdquenationaledu Canada,2008
EDITIONS MULTIMONDES
930,rue Pouliot
Qu6bec(Qu6bec)clv 3N9
CANADA
T616phone : 418651-3885
T61€phone sansfrais depuislAm6rique du Nord: 1 800 840-j029
T6l6copie: 418651-6822
T6l€copiesansfrais depuislAmdrique du Nord: I 888303-5931 i '
multimondes@multim.com
http:/ / www.multim.com

Cover
St.James,BattleHarbour,Labtador,fromthe south-east

Notes on illustrations
All photographs by Peter Coffman unless otherwise noted.
"North", "south", "east", and "west" in captions refer to liturgical directions rather than
compasspoints.

Published with the assistanceof The Canada Councilfor the Arts, the Book Publishing Industry
DevelopmentProgratn of the Departntent of Canadian Heritage a.ndthe Sociiti de ddveloppementdes
entreprisesculturellesdu Quibec (SODEC).
A :sF&1 ,'-*o il
Fflt
V
l\w; *K -.-e"L
1.l1;r 'V4, -
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Printed on 50% post-consumer recycled paper.

PRINTEDIN CANADA/IMPRIME AU CANAI]A

ToDiane
 G

Table
ofcontentt

ChapterFour:EdwardFeildandHis Cathedrat.............

ChapterFive: Gothic on a Mission and Missionariesof Gothic:

 Cffi

flcknouledgementt

My first thanks go to my doctoral supervisory team, Pierre du Prey and Malcolm

Thurlby, who guided this project from idea to plan to thesis to book with unfailing
wisdom, generosity,and enthusiasm.That the resulting thesisbecamea book is due to
the generosityand vision of Luc Noppen and l'Institut du patrimoine at 1'Universit6du
Qu6becir Montr6 aI andthe Societyfor the Study of Architecture in Canada,who founded
thePrix Phyllis-Lambert,wderwhose auspicesthis book hasbeenpublished.I am grateful
for the confidenceand support of the prize'sjtty, Guy M6traux, Lucie K. Morisset, and
Rhodri Windsor-Liscomb. I would parttcularly like to thank Phyllis Lambert, whose
involvementwith the prize thatbears her name is but one of many invaluable services
shehas renderedto architectural scholarsand scholarship.
I would also like to thank the staff of I'Institut du patrimoine, particularly Marie-
BlancheFourcade,for their help at many stagesof the preparatronof this book. Thanks
also to the eagle-eyeof Katherine Laundy-Parrtfor her meticulousediting, and to Jean-
Marc Gagnon and the staff of MultiMondes for their excellentproduction work.
Numerous colleaguesand friends at Queen'sUniversity have helpedme through
many stagesof this project,particularly Una D'Elia, JaniceHelland, CathleenHoeniger,
and Joan Schwartz. I am particularly grateful to the former Head of the Department of
Art, John Osborne,for his unfailing and generoussupport. I was savedcountlesstimes
from the consequences of my very modest administrative skills by Darlene Daniels,
Maureen Graham, Pam Leblanc, Diane Platt, and Louise Segsworth.My academic
'family' in the Grad Room hasbeena sourceof light and sanity.They are too numerous
to list in full, but I especiallywant to thank my fellow-travellersMaggie Atkinson,
Krista Bennett,Kristin Campbell,RebeccaEhlert, Kristy Holmes,Kamille Parkinson,
Angela Roberts,JaneRussell-Corbett,Allison Sherman,and Krystina Stermolefor their
friendship,support, and catsitting.
 NEWFOUNDLANDGOTHIC

In New Brunswick I receivedinvaluablehelp from the staff of the Provincial Archives

of New Brunswick and Harriet Irving Lilbrary.I am also grateful to GreggFinley for his
enthusiasmand advice,and for setting a greatexample.
I havemany peopleto thank in Newfoundland,but first amongthem is Julia Mathieson,
Diocesan Archivist of Eastern Newfoundland andLabrador and former Cathedral
Archivist. Her enthusiasm,help,and resourcefulness haveinformed and improvedevery
aspectof this book. ShaneO'Dea'sknowledgeof Newfoundland architectureis without
peer,and I am very gratefulforhis input. In St. John's,I alsoreceivedgenerousassistance
from George Chalker and Dale Jarvis of the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland
andLabrador.I am also grateful to the staffs of the Centre for Newfoundland Studies
at Memorial University, the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland andLabrador, and
the City of St. John'sArchives. Thanks also go to Lori, Ian, Noah and Holly Fleming
of St. John's,for making their home our home; and to Robert Nelder and Peter Lakin
of Woody Point for the same.I am grateful to JamesMiller, Archivist of the Trinity
Historical Society,for full accessto his extraordinary treasurechestof records,and to
GeorgeFrench of the Corner Brook Museum and Archives. I would partrcularlylike to
thank Mr. Cyril Fudge of Nipper's Harbour, andthrough him all of the many strangers
who gaveme help, advice,directions,tea and awarm welcome.
My researchin England was made possibleby the Institute of Historical Research
Mellon Foundation, and made fruitful by the guidanceof J. Mordaunt Crook. I would
also like to thank John Elliott for help and advrce,and the staffs of the British Lrbrary,
Lambeth PalaceLlbrary, and Public RecordsOffice at Kew. Thanks also to the Royal
Institute of British Architects for permissionto reproduceG.G. Scott'sdrawings.
Thanks to the generosityof the CanadtanCentrefor Architecture'sResearchGrant,
I was able to spend a very fruitful three months in the finest architecturalhbrary in
Canada.I would particularly like to thank Alexis Sornin and Pierre Boisvert for help
given during my time there.
I am gratefvl to Douglas Richardson,whosepioneeringwork on Gothic Revival in
Atlantic Canadawas both useful and inspirational. I would also like to thank David
Brownlee for fruitful discussionsand suggestions.
Funding at various stagesof researchfor this book has come from the Queen's
University Dean's Travel Grant, and the Social Sciencesand Humanities Research
Council of Canada.The profusion of colour illustrations is due to the generosityof the
Heritage Foundation of Newfoundlan d and L abrador.
Greatestthanks are due to my wife, Diane Lawdy, who sharedevery step of this
xtl extraordinary caminowith me.
ffi
 ffi

Prologue

The Church of England has a long history of self-diagnosingits crises,and prescribing

church-building campaignsas a cure. One suchperiod of high activity was the beginning
of the eighteenthcentury.lThis was an era of considerablereligiousenergy,that witnessed
the founding of both the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) and the
Societyfor the Propagationof the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG).Thesevigorous and
vigilant Societieswerenot signsof a Churchatpeace.Internally,the Church was divided
and in turmoil.2 The Church was split into High and Low factions,which generally
correspondedto Tory and Whig political ideologiesrespectively.3 Moreover,the Church
was - or at least was convincedthat rt was - threatenedby external forcesthat were
gaining momentum. Dissenterswere spreadingthrough the rapidly expandingsuburbs,
aidedby the speedand cheapness with which they could erecttheir meeting-houses. One
estimateclaimed thatt/s of the population of London's suburbs- some 100,000people-
were dissenters.aEven more worrying was the belief that Papistswere trolling for converts
amongthe masseswhosespiritual needswerenot being addressed by the cumbersome,
inflexible bureaucraticmachinery of the EstablishedChurch. In such an uncontrolled
environment, atheismand licentiousnesswere all too easilyborn.

1.SeeM.H.Port,Ed.,TheCommissionsfor BuildingFiftyNewChurches,London:1!85;alsoPierredela Ruffinidre

duPrey, Hawksmoor'sLondonChurches, Chicago
andLondon: 2000,
in particular
chapter two,"Hawksmoor and
theDivines",pp.47-80.
2. Port,p.x.
J. duPrey, p.50."HighChurch" to "those
referred whoopposed anyaccommodatior-r
u'iththeDissenters",
whilethose
of the"LowChurch"advocatedProtestant
reconciliation.
4. Port,p.ix.
I
re
 N E W F O L I \ D t\ \ D ( ; O T II I C

In l7ll, Parltament respondedto what it termed "the late excessivegrowth of

infidelity, heresyandprofaneness."sA committeeof the Housesof Commons and Lords
recommendedthat the pressand the theatrebe rigorouslycensored,that non-attendance
at church be punished by law, and that new churchesbe built. Of these,only the last
becamegovernmentpolicy. On April6,l7lI, a recommendationfor the building of fifty
new churcheswas adopted.6Intended to serveLondon, Westminster,and their suburbs,
thesechurcheswere to be built from funds taken from the coal tax. which had servedto
re-build London's churches after the greatfire of 1666.?
Shortly before the first Commission'smandate expired in 1715,it reported that
approximatelyf40,000 had been paid to workmen, with afwther f23,000 in accounts
payableto them.8In total, roughly f80,000 had been spent. Sevenchurcheswere
underway.It was estimatedthat the total amount of money availablefor the project would
likely amount to half what was needed.eSubsequentCommissions carnedon in a more
frugal manner. By 1726,f249,000 had been spent on twelve churches,three of which
had beencompleted.to By 1733,the funding was exhausted,and building activity ceased.
In total, twelve churcheshad been built by the Commission,five churcheshad been
subsidizedby their funds, one church had beenbought and alteredby the Commission,
and one further church was bought without alteration.
Lessthan one century later, in the earlynineteenthcentury, crisis loomed again for
the EstablishedChurch.tl The Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars had increasedthe
pace of industriahzation in England, resulting in alarger and poorer working class.
To the Established Church, the ignorant and uneducatedmasseswere easy prey for
Methodism, atheism,or evenPopery.Moreover,they were rtpetargetsfor revolutionary
agitation. One defenseagainstthis dangerwas the Anglican Church.
In responseto this threat, a National Church Society was appointed.That Society
found a church infrastructure that was emphaticallynot up to the job in hand, particularly
(although not exclusively)in predominantly urban areaswhere industrializationhad

5. Port,p.x.
6. Port,p.xii.
7.duPrey,pp.49-50.
8. Port,p.xxv.
!. Port,p.xxvi.
10.Port,p.xxxi.
11.0n theCommissionersChurches,seeMichael Port,SixHundredNewChurches, London:SPCK,1951.
Seealso
Kenneth GothicReuiual:AnEssayin theHi,story
Clark,The of Taste,London:
1!28,chapterV.
I
ffi
 PROLOCLIE

resultedrn dramaticpopulation increases.In Sheffield,for instance,Anglican Church

capacttywas 6,280 in a community of 55,000.Anglican Churchesin Manchester
could seat 11,000of the 80,000inhabitants;the largestparish church in Bath could
accommodate4,870 of 20,560.London itself was scarcelydoingbetter: Marylebone,
with a populationof 76,624,hada capacityof only 8,700.In total, it was estimatedthat
England and Walesneededan addrtronal2,528,505placesfor Anglican worshippers.l2
Given the potentiallyvolatile social,political, andeconomicconditions,this situation
was seenas a threat to the nation, and only the nation - that is, Parliament- could
addressit. In 1818,the governmentduly appointedan independentcommissionof
churchmen- the "Church Building Commission" - and voted them the extraordinary
sum of fl,000,000 for new churches.l3 TWohundred and fourteennew churchesresulted,
in what was possiblythe most ambitious, systematicnation-wide church-building
campargnsincethe Norman re-building of Anglo-Saxon England.la
About a quarter of a century later, on remote, rocky, windswept Newfoundland in
the North Atlantic, the Church of England agarnfound itself in a stateof crisis.lsIn the
secondquarter of the nineteenthcentury,the Church in Newfoundland was a somewhat
ramshackleaffat, servingtiny fishing villages(known as "outports"), accessible only by
water from a distant diocesanseatin Halifax (which itself representedan improvement
over the island's earlier status as a part of the Diocese of London). A hopelessly
inadequatenumber of clergy ministered from an even smaller number of churches.
Enemiesof the EstablishedChurch - decadence,dissent,and aboveall Romanism -
were everywhere,readyto prey on the unschooledand spiritually unsupervisedmasses.
WesleyanMethodists and Roman Catholicswere all too readyto fill the many voids left
by the inattention of the Church of England. Once again,the EstablishedChurch found
itself tn ahfe-and-deathstrugglefor survival and souls.And once agarnthesolution, at
leastrnpart, was to build churches.
Thosechurchescould not be ofjust any style.By the middle of the nineteenthcentury,
Gothic had becomeinextricably identified with the English nation and its Established
Church. Arguably sinceas far back as the seventeenthcentury,English Gothic had been

12.Porr(1961),
p. 5.
13.Port(1961),
pp.rJ-14.
14.0n theNormanbuildingcampaign,seeEricFernie,TheArchitectureof Norman Englanrl.0rfoLcl:1000.
15.Forafar-reaching
analysis
of thecomplexrelationship
between
theChurchandNewfoundland societvandpolitics,
seeJohnP.Greene,BetueenDamnation and Staruation;Priestsand Merchanlsnt .\eu'fcttrnrllrtnrl
Politics,
1745-1855,
Montrealand Kingston: f999.
l
I
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

interpretedbysomeasthe progenyandsymbolof ancientEnglishpoliticalprinciplesof

liberty.l6During the reign of QueenVictoria,the Churchof Englandproclaimeditself
to be the one true, ancientChurchand Gothic to be its native architecturalstyle.tTIf
architecturewereto be an effectivetool in the struggleagainstthe spiritualdebasement
of England'soldestcolony,only Gothic architecturewould do.

16.Thisissuewill bediscussedmorefullyin ChapterTho.

17.Unlikelyasthisstatement mayseem,it is specifically
arguedin 1841byNewfoundland's AnglicanArchdeacon
Thomas Bridge, in hissermon"TheThoReligions;or,theQuestionsettld,VhichIsthe0ldestChurch,theAnglican
or theRomish?" Seediscussionin ChapterTko.
l.
il
 re
(f{flPTIR
ot|r
Jlerufoundland
6othic
Before
fccletiologU

The Gothic Revival, as a church style, had two distinct phasesin the first half
;'1
of the nineteenth century. Its most famous and celebratedmanifestation was as
the moral exemplarof the Established(i.e.,Anglican) Church. Augustus Welby
Northmore Pugin (I8I2-52) had beenthe first to establishGothic as a "serious"
stylistic option, in his book Contrasts:or, a ParallelBetweentheNobleEdificesof the
Middle Ages,and Corresponding Buildingsof thePresentDoy; Shewingthe PresentDecay
of Taste,Accompaniedby AppropriateTbxt(first published in 1836).In it, Pugin argued
that Gothic architecturewas not only aesthetically,but morally superiorto the
Classicalstyle,just as Christianity (the historical root of Gothic) was superior to
Paganism(the historical root of Classicism).John Ruskin (1818-1900) took this
further, arguing rn TheStones of Venice (1851-53) that Gothic was indicative of a
more just society than Classical, and that it was also the only rational style of
I architecture.l
As a Roman Catholic convert, Pugin was somewhat margtnalized professionally,
but his architectural principles were eagerlyadoptedby a group of undergraduates
from Cambridgeknown as the CambridgeCamden Society.Founded in 1839by High
Church sympathizers,andre-namedthe "EcclesiologicalSociety"in 1845,the Society
vigorously and effectivelypromoted Gothic as the only suitable style for Anglican
churcheson liturgical, histortcal, ethical and aestheticgrounds. Led originally by
CambridgeundergraduatesBenjamin Webb, John Mason Neale, and A.J.B. Beresford
Hope, they put forward their views primarily (althoughnot exclusively)in their periodical
this journal and anumber of influential pamphlets(suchas 'A Few
TheEcclesiologist.In
Words to Church Builders" of 1841,or'A Few Words to Churchwardens"of the same

chapter"TheNatureof Gothic."
1. Seein particularRuskin's
5
ffi
 NE\,VFOLIN
DL,\\D GOTHIC

yeaf), they defined the principlesof "Ecclesiology",or the study of church architecture
- hencethe other name by which they are frequently known, "Ecclesiologists".
Their
architecturaldoctrineswere vividly realizedby their most favouredarchitects,William
Butterfield(1814-1900) and R.C. Carpenter(1812-55). It is not an exaggerationto claim
that the Cambridge Camden/EcclesiologicalSociety brought about a revolution in
Anglican church architecture throughout the British Empire and even beyond. In the
opinion of J. Mordaunt Crook, Ecclesiologywas, by 1867,an incontestablesuccess;
unlikely as it may seem, "a group of Cambridge undergraduateshad succeededin
transforming the appearanceof every Anglican church in the world."3More about the
CambridgeCamden Society,their ideals,and their influence will be said in Chapter
TWo.
Well before Pugin, Ruskin, and the ecclesiologists,however, Gothic had found
favour with a group in England known as the Church Commissioners.This early,
archaeologicallyimprecise and comparativelyun-scholarly phase of Gothic had a
significant impact on Newfoundland architecture.a
The first Church Building Act was passedin 1818,in the wake of a particularly
unsettling seriesof events.sAs England fought for her survival against Napoleon and
against revolutionary fervour in America, industrialization acceleratedand the plight
of the working poor worsened.Addressing this situation was not merely a matter of
morality - as recenteventsin Francehad demonstrated,a downtroddenunderclasswas
a dangerousthing. The EstablishedChurch was looked to as part ofthe solution, for it
was generally understood that ignorant and impoverishedmasseswere prone to both
atheismand Dissent, andeither could all too easilylead to revolution.With the massive
increasein population in industrial towns, however,the Church infrastructure was
clearly not up to the job; hencethe 1818Church Building Act.
The Commissioners'Churches,also known asthe "Million Churches"on accountof
the amount of their overall funding, havenot fared well in subsequentcritical or scholarly

2. These pamphletshavebeenr:ecently
re-published.
SeeChristopher
Webster, 'Temples.
ed,., . . VhrthyofHispresence,:
theEarljtPublicationsof theCambridge CamdenSociety,Reading: 2003.
3.J.Mordaunt Crook,TheDilemmaofStyle,London: 1987,p.63.
4. 0n theCommissioners Churches,seeMichaelPort,SixHundredNewChurche,s, London: SpCK, 1951.Seealso
RhodriVindsorLiscombe, "Economy, Character
andDurability:
Specimen Designs
fortheChurch Commissioners,
ISIS",ArchitecturalHistory,volume13,1979,pp.
43-57;
GeraldCarr,',Soane's
Specimen ChurchDesignsof 1g1g:
AReconsideration",Architectural
History,volume 16,I973,pp.37-54;Kenneth
Clark,The Gothic
Reuiuil:AnEssay
in theHistoryof Taste,
London:1!28,chapterV.
5. SeePort,chapter 1,"TheChurch BuildingMovement, 1810-18",
pp.I-20.
6
fl
 \ t \ \ I ( ) ti \ t ) t \ \ t ) C ; O T H I CB E F O RE
I CCLESIOLOGy

literature.Indeed,as John Summersonhas pointed out, the Million Churchesare the

leaststudiedand leastvalued of the three enormouschurch-buildingcampaignsof post-
medievalEngland (the othersbeing the post-firereconstructionof London by Wren, the
Fifty New Churchesof l7ll, and the High Anglican building campaignthat peakedin the
1870s),notwithstandingthat it is the largestof thesecampaignsby a considerabledegree.6
Its impact, however,is undeniable,and it could reasonablybe creditedwith laying the
intellectual foundation for Pugin and Ecclesiology.The most prolific Commissioners'
architect,Thomas Rickman (I776-L841), was praisedby the architect,designerand
writer CharlesEastlake(1836-1906)as a theorist and practitioner who argtably drd
"greater serviceto the [Gothic] causethan either his learned contemporaries[Robert
Willis and William Whewelll or his enthusiasticdisciple [Pugin]."2The prodigious
output of Rickman underlinesthe often overlookedcontribution that the Commissioners
Churchesmade to scholarshipon English medieval architecture.Almost two centuries
Iater, Rickman's categoriesof Early English, Decorated and Perpendicularremain as
indispensableto studentsof English Gothic as they were to the nineteenth-century
Ecclesiologists who despisedhis architecture.8
Unlike the Ecclesiologistsa few decadeslater, the Church Commissionerssaw no
inherentethical advantages to the useof Gothic, nor did they overtly identify the Gothic
style with the history of the English Church or nation. Gothic was, however,held by
someto be lessexpensivethan the competingClassicalalternative.eA Classicalchurch,
the argumentwent, required a portico; moreover,it required a tower (a difficult featureto
incorporatewith a Classically-inspiredchurch,ascan be seenin JamesGibbs' St.Martin-
in-the-Fields,London) in orderto be distinguishedfrom a meeting-house.Gothic, on the
other hand (or so the argument went), required only abelfry in order to be sufficiently
church-like.Gothic could alsobe made entirely from brick, whereasa Classicalportico
neededto be of stone.
Notwithstandrngthese arguments,Michael Port has questionedthe belief that Gothic
churcheswere cheaperto build. According to Port, style was primarrly amatter of
the architects' and patrons' tastes,with Classical(specificallyGrecian) dominating in

6. Port,pp.xi-xii.
7.Charles East\ake,AHistoryof theGothicReuiual,
originallypublished 1872,
republishedWatkins
Glen,N.Y.:
American LifeFoundation,I975,
p. 122.
8. ThomasRickman,Anattemptto discriminatethestylesof architecturein England,from theconquestto the
Reformation, London:
J.H.Parker,1818.
9. Port,pp.6l-2.
I
re
 NEWI-OLINDLANDCJOTIIIC

London and othermajor cities,and Gothic more common in country churches.l0 Port also
finds agetobe afactor,with youngerarchitectsmore likely to chooseGothic. Moreover,
Port suggeststhat Gothic was already seenas a "national" style, and was thus gaining
broad public support.ll Whatever the reasons- and there was likely a complex mix of
reasons- the Church Commission establishedGothic as a viable and even desirable
style for modern church-building,with the result that new Gothic architecturebecame
a common sight throughout England.
According to Kenneth Clark, 174of the 214churchesresulting from the 1818Act
were Gothic.l2Very far in spirit from the later Gothic of Pugin and the Ecclesiological
Society,the Gothic of the Church Commissionerspresentsan eclecticandunevenmuddle
of featuresand materials.Holy Trinity, CloudesleySquare,London (1826-28),by Sir
CharlesBarry (1795-1860), is a study in Perpendicular(i.e.,late English) Gothic clearly
modeled afterKing's CollegeChapelin Cambridge;at St. Mary, Leeds(1823-25),Thomas
Taylorbuilt a quadripartiterib-vault out of plaster;at St. George,Birmingham (1819-21),
Rickman constructedaflatwooden ceiling that would havehorrified the Ecclesiologists;
at St. George,Barnsley(1821-22)and St. Barnabas,Erdington(1822-23)the samearchitect
installedwindows of identicalflowing Decoratedtracery- in castiron. All thesebreaches
of truth to style and materialswould havebeen inconceivablejust two or three decades
Iater,but it is probablythis very lack of formaldogmatism that helpedGothic proliferate
so broadly and to remote and seeminglyunlikely sites,such as Newfoundland.
One of the earliestinstancesof suchproliferation,althoughno longerextant,is alsoone
of the bestdocumented.The town of Trinity is locatedon a peninsulathat juts into Trinity
Harbour. The superbquality of that harbour - called "the best andlargestharbour in all
the land" by Sir Richard Whitbourne in I620t3- made it a major centrefor the fishery in
the eighteenthandnineteenthcenturies.St.Paul'sChurchat Trinity (forerunnerto the 1892
churchthat will be discussed in ChapterSix)is known from photographsand documentary
evidence.Accordingto an inscription on a groundplan of the church datingfrom aroundthe

10.Port,pp.79-82.
11.Port,p.81.Unfortunately
hedoesnotciteanyprimarysources thatwouldsupportthisargument. Whiletheissue
of nationalism
comes verymuchto theforegroundlaterin thenineteenthcentury,itsimportance to theChurch
Commissioners isuncertain.
12.CIark,p.95.
13.FromSirRichardWhitbourne,,4Discourseand DiscoueryofNew-found-land, withManyReasons toProuehou
Worthyand BeneficiallPlantationMay ThereBeMade,aftera BetterMannerthanIt Was,Together with the
Laytng)pen of CertainEnorrnities
andAbuses Committed bysornethatTradetothatCountrey, and theMeanes
LaiddownforReformation thereof,quoted
in Gordon
Handcock, TheStoryof Trinity,Trinity:1997,p.5.
B
ffi
 \ I \ \ i O I I \ I ) 1 . \ , \ D G O T H I CB E F O R E C C ] L E S I O L O ( , \

middleof the nineteenthcentury,buildingwasbegunin

twdpha gA" Ot)*">tUt?az/,i/i*i&'., -daa:Z1i* aw*',/a-t*,
7874,completedin 1818,and Nova ScotiaBishopJohn .' l,
:
&r4/phtu/,Li./t/!'- &,effiiL,t-4,n/r*V&,€,b,Jor#A;,i*v dt/m,#.tz:a-'t'
Inglis consecrated the churchtn 1827.taThe plan (figure
1-1)showsa conventionalProtestantlayout,with three
rows of seatsrunning longitudinally through an oblong,
with the first two rows of the central sectionreserved
for the "Governor" and the "Rector" (or presumably
his family, assuminghe is conductingthe service)
respectively.The statusof the governoris acknowledged
in the dimensionsof his pew, which is four feetdeep,
comparedto two feeteleveninchesfor the rector.
The entrancewas at the west end. Upon entering,
one was face to face with the staircasethat, the
inscriptiontellsus, led to the "gallerieswhich run round
the sidesof the church,and the westend."Flanking the
staircasewere two closets(for coal, not coats).While
the greatmajorityof the pewswererented,the last four
rows on the north and the southwere free - an issue
that would becomean urgent one among Tractarians
and Ecclesiologists later in the century.Shoehornedin
among the free seatson the south side was a stove,
ensuringthat a few of the poor would at leastbe warm
aswell as cramped.
At the centreof the eastwall stoodthe communion
table,elevatedfour feet four inchesabovefloor level by
a semicircularplatform of threesteps(just asthe 1711
Commissionershad stipulatedls).Justto the north, off
the platform, stood the font. Neither, however,was the visual focus of the space;that 1-l - St.Paul'sChurch,
role was reservedfor the pulpit, which stood abovethe reading desk directly in front Trinity, Newfoundland,
plan of 1818church.
of the Governor'spew (indeed,the governorwould not even have been able to seethe TrinitvHistorical
Socictv
communion table, suchwas the domination of the reading deskand pulpit). According Archives,St.Paul's
Church,
Seriesl0: Plans
andblueprints.
to the inscription, the pulpit was "standing on an upright prllar". Besidethe pulpit was
another stove,providing warmth for the preacherand governor.

14.TrinityHistoricalSociety
Archives,
St.Paul'sChurch,series10:PlansandBlueprints.
15.du Prey,p. 59.
9
ffi
 N E W F O U N D L A N DG O T H I C

This plan is illuminating not only becauseit shows a quintessentialProtestant

"preaching box", but becauseit illustrates social hierarchy. Central to the liturgy was
the Word, which camefrom the pulpit. Nearestthe Word were the governor'sand rector's
pews, followed by the pews rented by those citizens wealthy enough to pay. Furthest
from Grace were the poor. It is preciselythis arrangementthat would be attackedby
later Church leaderssuch as John Medley, first Anglican Bishop of Fredericton, who
declaredit both immoral and i11ega1.16
From the Anglican perspective,Trinity experiencedsomething of a decline around
mid-century.Bishop Edward Feild visited the town rn1846, and reportedto the Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG) that, unlike a year earher,
there was no priest, no deacon,no servicesand no schooling.This must have been
particularly dismaying for Feild given that the demographicsof Trinity suggestedthat it
shouldhavebeena centreof Anglican strength:the 1845censusreportedthat the Trinity
Bay areahad4,753ProtestantEpiscopalians(i.e.,Anglicans),L,283Roman Catholics,
11Presbyterians,2,752Wesleyansand 2 Congregationalists.lT Feild reportedthat there
was, however,a "latge and commodious [Anglican] church", and, more ominously, a
Methodist minister and a Romish priest.The people,Feild reported,were "longing for a
Minister" - by which he meant, of course, anAnglican one.r8The difficulties facedby the
Anglican Church in Newfoundland, and the manner in which the SPG and Ecclesiology,
with its accompanyingGothic doctrine, roseto the challengewill be discussedin detail
in Chapter TWo.The completelynew church which theseforcesultimately createdin
Trinity will be discussedin Chapter Six. In the meantime, it is approprrateto consider
the alterationsmade to the existing church which lasteduntil its re-building in 1892.
The light of Ecclesiologyseemsto havebegun shining on Trinity in 1865,thanks in
part to a leaky window. By this time, Bishop Edward Feild had arcwed,and with him
Ecclesiologyand the Gothic Revival (seeChaptersThree and Four). In Februaryof 1865,
the "Committee for the Repair of St. Paul'sChurch" reportedthat the eastwindow, which
was chronically leaky and in needof immediate attention, should be taken out altogether
andreplacedby a chancel.tn By Octoberof that year,a Mr. D.B. Grant was paid f16.80

16.See,for example, JohnMedley,TheAduantages of )pen Seats,Oxford,1843. Thisis referred

to approvingly
inTheEcclesiologrsdvolumeIII,1844,pp.148-), in whichit is saidthatMedley "demolishesthearguments in
Mr.Scobell'sFeu'Thoughfs,&c."
17.AbstractCensus Retumof thePopulationofNeafoundland,IS45.
18.Bishop Feildto Ernest
Hawkins of theSPG, 14thJuly1845.Provincial Archives
of Newfoundland andLabrador,
SocietyforthePropagationoftheGospel,"G"Series, Letters
readbefore theSociety,rce1249.
1!. TrinityHistorical Archives,
Societr St.Paul's
Church, series
1:Minutes ofVestry
1.02,February16,t865,p.74.
t0
ffi
 \ t \ \ I O I I \ D I \ \ D G O T H I CB E F O R E C C L E S I O L O G )

"for building chancel,making windows, frames,facings."20 The work

done by Grant is visible in a plan dated 1878,which showsa deep
chancelat the eastend (figure I2)." The altar ('.l('), againapparently
elevated,standsagainstthe eastwall of the chancel,this time with
viewsunobstructedby the pulpit ("H"), which hasbeenmovedto the
extremesouth-eastcornerof the chancel.The readingdeskhasbeen
replacedwith a more open (and off-centre)lectern("G"). Choir seats
flank the north and south sidesof the chancel("D"), and the altar is
separatedfrom the restof the chancelby an altarrail ("C"). The font
("J") has been moved to a spacein the central aislebetweenrows
ten and eleven("J"), next to an apparentlytiny vestry ("K"). A plan
of the upper story showsthe galleriesstill intact, while a list of pew
holdersindicatesthat seatingwas still mainly rented.This plan also
givesus the dimensionsof the church: ninety-eightfeet long, thirty-
eight and one half feet wide, and twenty-onefeet high.
It is evidentlythe post-1865churchthat is shown in a photograph
fromthe archivesofthe CentreforNewfoundland Studies(figure I-31.22
The photographis undated,exceptthat it obviouslypredatesthe 1892
constructionof the current building. The church is decidedlyin the
"Gibbsian PreachingBox" tradition - consistingof a box with a
westerntower - with someGothicizing elements.The southwall has
two tiers of windows, correspondingto the main floor and gallery
levels.The upper level windows are round-headedand decidedly
Classicaltn charccter.with radial mullions in the semi-circle.The
lower level windows are rectilrnear,a combinationwhich recalls(in
much simplerform, it must be stressed)the elevationof Gibbs' St.
Martin-in-the-Fields.London.
What Gothic elementsare present areconcentratedon the west fagade.Very simple 1-2- St.Paul'sChurch,
ftacery surmounts the door beneath a shallow gable.Above the door, at gallery level, Trinity,Newfoundland,
planof 1865church.
are three identicalpointed-archwindows with tracerysimilar to that abovethe door. On TrinityHistoricalSociety
the tower abovethe level of the roof are pointed openings,probably surrounding a bell. Archives,St.Pauls Church,Series
l0: Plansandblueprints.
On eachcorner of the tower is a slenderpinnacle.

20.Minutes ofVestry,October
11,1855.
21.TrinityHistorical
Society
Archives,
St.Paul's
Church, series10:PlansandBlueprints.
22.CentreforNewfoundlandStudies,
PhotographCollection,
11.005.05.
tl
re

l-3 - St.Paul'sChurch,
Trinity,
Newfoundland,pre-1892.
Centrefor NewfoundlandStudies,
Coll- 137,11.05.006.
See<http://rvwwlibrary.mun.
calqeii/cns/photos/geogfi
ndaid.
php#Arrange>
IZ
ffi
NEWFOUNDLANDGOTHIC
The exact date of these tentative Gothicizing
elementsis hard to pin down. It is possiblethat they
are from the originallSl4 design,althoughthat would
make them extremelyprecocious,consideringthe
Church Building Act was still four yearsaway and the
Commissioners'tastefor Gothic not yet established.It
is possiblethat they were addedsometime after 1818in
an otherwiseunrecordedrenovation campargn.What
is quite certain is that they predatethe 1865chancel,
which, while only just visible in the photograph,is
clearly of a different character.The chancel has a
separate,steeplypitched roofline andtallwindows of
lancet type (i.e.,Early English, the simplestform of
English Gothic, which is perhapsapproprtatefor a
remote outport church). These featuresdemonstrate
a knowledge of Ecclesiologicaldoctrine that is
unquestionablymore advancedthan the details of the
west end. Even the chancel,of course,now seemsunambitiousin comparisonto the
church that now standsin its place- an Ecclesiologicaltour-de-forcebegun in 1892(see
ChapterSix).
Trinity also providesone of the more curious footnotesto the EuAy Gothic Revival in
Newfoundland. Closeto St. Paul'sis Holy Trinity Church, begun in 1833.Holy Trinity
is a very reasonablefacsimile of a Commissioners'Church - but it is a Roman Catholic
Church.23Holy Trinity must have been one of the first Catholic churchesbuilt after
CatholicEmancipationcameto Newfoundlandrn 18292a, and, notwithstandingits small
scale,it seemsto announceits newly found statuswith considerablevitality.
Holy Trinity (figure 1-4)is a small wooden church with three pointed-archwindows
in the nave and a west tower. That tower is cappedby a concavespire and a ctrcular
(miniature rose)window abovea pointed one, with a pointed-archdoorway below. The
cornersof the tower havewooden buttresses- obviously an evocationof Gothic rather
than a structural necessity.The interior (figure 1-5)is an oblong with galleries along
23. This dateis accordingto both the HeritageFoundationof Newfoundlandand Labradoyand ParksCanada's
CanadianRegisterof HistoricPlaces.Neithercitesa primarysource,althoughthereis nothingin thefabricof the
churchthatwouldrenderthis dateunlikely.
24. OnCatholicemancioation in Newfoundland seeGreene.chaoter2.
 ( I i I \ [ ) [ \ \ D G O T H I CB E F O R E C C I - E S I O L O G \

the (liturgical) north, west and south sides.

Thesegalleriesare supportedon delicately
fluted squarepiers, with square,moulded
capitalsabove.A moulded corniceruns all
the way along the bottom of the galleries,
and the whole is rather expertly finished.
The configurationcould easilybe mistaken
for a Commissioners'Church, savefor the
prominent altar rarl andraisedplatform for
the altar at the (liturgical) east end. The
elaborcteGothic reredosis not in perfect
harmony with the rest of the interior, and
is probably of a somewhatlater date.
Subsequentto the construction of
J.J. McCarthy's St. Patrick's Church in
St.John's(begun1855),Gothic - or atleast
one particular sub-style of it, as will be_
l4 (A)_HolvTrinityRoman
discussed in subsequent chapters - would catholic
Church,
Triniry,
become a viable (if not common) style for Nervfoundla'd,
exterior.
Newfoundland
Roman
Catholics,i
Holy il,ljl;iilif,1XiT,fi:"""
Trinity, hOweVer,remains an anOmaly Newfoundland, interior.
- it is unusually earlyfor Romanist Gothic, and is the 'wrong'
style of Gothic to be any later. one possibleexplanation is that
it was made by local builders in the style that local builders
understoodto be the right one for a church - which, basedon
the modelssurrounding them, would havebeenGothic. Another
possibleexplanation might be some familiarity on the part of
Newfoundland'sRoman Catholic clergywith recentarchitectural

25.On St. Patrick'sChurch,seeMalcolmThurlby,"St. Patrick'sRomanCatholic

Church,SchoolandConvent in St.John's:JJ.
McCarthyandIrish GothicRevivalin
Newfoundland",Journalof theSocietyfor the Studl,of Architecturein Canada,
volume28,numbers3,4 (2003),pp.13-20.
 NEWFOUNDLANDCOTIIIC

developmentsin another Catholic strongholdof British North America: Montreal. Notre-

Dame Church in Montreal, built 1823-29,is one of the earliestexamplesof Gothic Revival
architecture in what is now Canada.26It was designedby JamesO'Donnell, an Irish
Protestantbasedin New York. The earliestRoman Catholic bishopsof Newfoundland
- JamesO Donel (no relation to the architect),Patrick Lambert and Thomas Scallon
- correspondedfrequentlywith the Bishop of Quebec,JosephOctavePlessis.2T They
and their successor,Michael Anthony Fleming, may have remained in touch with
developments(including architectural developments)in British North America's other
Catholic dioceseafterPlessis'deathin 1825.While the main axis of influenceon Roman
Catholic architecturein Newfoundland was certainly between St. John'sand Ireland,
the possibility of influencesfrom other parts of British North America cannot be ruled
out.
The earliestGothic Anglican church still extant in Newfoundland is also one of
the very few stoneonesever constructed:St. Paul's,Harbour Grace. Harbour Grace
had been a successfulfishing community as farback as the mid-sixteenthcentury, and
by the middle of the nineteenth century it was among the busiestcommunities on the
island,with apermanentpopulationof over 5,000.28 Accordingto L.C. Davis,2e the first
Anglican church in Harbour Grace was built in 1764and enlargedin 1816at a cost of
overf200. That churchwas destroyed,allegedlyby arsons,in the sameyear.Itssuccessor,
begun in 1817,was apparentlyblown down almost immediately(no one who hasbeento
Newfoundland needdoubt the likelihood of this). It was replacedwith a church "having
ten windows on eachsideand a tower with minarets" [sic]30, which, it may be supposed,
was not unlike its near contemporaryat Trinity. This church, having beenbuilt at a cost
of 83,870,was destroyedby fire inl832. The cornerstonefor its successorwas laid in 1835.
The ceremony,accordingto reports taken by Davis from the Harbour Grace Standard,
took placein the presenceof the Anglican Archdeacon,Rev. Thomas Bridge.

25.OnNotre-Dame in Montrealsee FranklinToker,TheChurch ofNotre-Damein Montreal:an architectural

history,
Montr6al:
1970. AlsoHaroldKalman,A volume1,pp.264-65.
Historyof CanadianArchitecture,Toronto'.1!!4,
27.Thesecorrespondences havebeenpublished in CyrilJ.Byrne,ed.,Gentleman-Bi,shopsand FactionFighters:
TheLettersof Bishops 0 Donel,Lambert,Scallonand )ther lrishMissionaries,St.John's: 1!84.
28.Encyclopedia ofNewfoundland and Labrador,volumetwo,pp.807-23.
29.L.C.Grace,'A Historyof St.Paul's
Church, Harbour Grace",lVeafoundland Churchman,Janlary,l!58, pp.5-6,
13.Gracestates thatsheused"notes fromthebookof Thomas published
G.Ford", in 1935,andalsonotesfrom
Rev.CanonJ. M.Noel,contributor totheDiocesanNlagazine "several
yearsago."
p.6.Minarets,
30.Davis, strictlyspeaking,arcafeature "pinnacles"
of Islamicarchitecture; islikelya moreaccurate
term.
t4
ffi
l-6 (A) - St.Paul's,Harbour Grace,Newfoundland,exteriorfrom north-west.
l-7 (B) - St.Paul's,HarbourGrace,Newfoundland, erteriorfrom south-east.
l-8 (C) - St.Paul's,HarbourGrace,Nervfoundland. interiorof nave.
 \l:\\ I()tl\t)l \\l) G()l'lllC

That church,with substantialadditionsmade 1859-60,still stands(figures1-6to 1-8).

In both the exterior and interior, it is necessaryto disregardthe transeptsand chancel
in order to form an impressionof the 1835church. On the exterior (figure 1-6),the basic
configuration is not unlike Trinity, with a westerntower attachedto an oblong nave (this
time projecting from that nave ratherthan simply protruding aboveit as at Trinity). By
this date,however,the tastefor Gothic amongthe Church Commissionersis much more
establishe d, andthe detaihngat Harbour Graceis considerablymore assuredthan that at
Trinity. The entranceis a pointed doorwaywith wooden platetraceryin the form of three
trefoils abovethree cuspedlancets.The whole is encasedwithin a robust,chamferedarch
in ashlar.On the north and south facesof the tower, at ground level,are lancetwindows
with a cuspedwoodenpanelwithin and faced,unusually,with red brick without. The same
motif, on alarger scale,appearsabovethe west door. Higher yet are trefoil and quatrefoil
openings, rn aroundedtriangle and circlerespectively, alsoartiiulated in brick. The upper
levelof the tower,separatedby a wide ashlarstring course,containslouvred,pointed-arch
openingswith a facsimileof traceryin low relief in the tympana.The tower is toppedby
crenellationsrather more in keepingwith the robust proportions of the tower than the
"minarets" at Trinity. The north and south nave walls (figure l-7) contain large lancet
windows with Y-tracery,facedin ashlarand toppedwith substantialstonehood-moulds.
Aside from the largepointed windows, the interior of St. Paul'shas few featuresthat
evokeGothic (figure 1-8).It sharesa conventionalplan of three aislesof seatingwith Trinity,
alongwith gallerieson the north, southandwestsides.The galleriessit on woodensupports
which, if they can be given any stylistic classificationat all, are more like a simplified,
rectilinearDoric than anythingmedieval.A flat, woodenceilingcurvesdownwardto meet
the top of the gallery,giving the interior a cross-section
not unlike atrain tunnel.
This generalconfiguration, or varrationson it, is not unusual in Commissioners'
Churches.Among the rather few suchbuildings that havereceivedscholarlyattention is
St.Matthew, Brixton (CharlesFerdinandPorden,1822-24),where rows of closedpews and
a U-shapedgallery sit below aflatwooden roof.3lThe samepatterneffortlesslyadaptsto
a more upscalesetting at Holy Trinity, Marylebone,built by Sir John Soane(1753-1837)
The Gothic box with a west tower appearsat St. Stephen,Lindley (Joan
in 1826-27.32
Oates,1828-29):3St. Stephen,Kirkstall (Robert Dennis Chantrell. 1828-29)':nSt. Paul,

31.Port,platelYa.
J2.Port,plateIVb.
JJ.Port,plateVIIa.
34. plate
Port, VIIb.
t6
ffi
 \E\\'FOLI\DLAND GOTHIC BEFOREECCLESIOLOGY

St. Saviour, Bath (John Pinch, 1829-31):6St. Matthew, Camp

Shipley (Oatep,1823-25);3s
Field, Manchester (Charles Barry, 1822-25);"St. George, Hulme (Francis Goodwin,
1826-28);38and St. Matthew, Stretton (Philip Hardwick, 1826-271.t0 The list could be
extendedconsiderably,but that earlyNewfoundland Gothic has ample precedentamong
Commissioners'Churchesis clear.
Gothic came to the caprtal,St. John's,in 1836.The city's first Gothic church was
a dfuectresult of lobbying by the Anglican Archdeacon, Edward Wix, whose efforts
will be discussedin more detail in Chapter TWo.Until the construction of the Gothic
St. Thomas' Church, St. John'shad but one Anglican establishment,on the site of the
present cathedral.The history of St. Thomas' was documentedin some detail on the
occasionof its centennialrnl936,with subsequentrevisions.ao The SPG had recognized
the need for a secondchurch in St. John's,and recommendedits construction, as early
as 1827.Land was acquired by the governor, Sir G4spar le Marchand, and a contract
was signedwith the builder Patrick Kough in the fall of 1835,and servicesbegan the
following year.
The church that Kough built survives, with some subsequentalterations,and its
original form is shown in two early drawings. A sketch by W.N. Gosse (figure 1-9),
dating between 1838-41,4r showsa Gothic box, with three tall, pointed-archwindows
on the side, anda west tower with a west porch (with alarge, Y-traceriedwindow), a
pointed, Y-traceried window above the porch, two small Gothic windows one each
face atthe top, and abroad, bold spire. A later painting (figure 1-10;azshows exactly the
same featuresrenderedwith somewhat more painstaking draughtsmanship.The one
difference is the presenceof dormer openings on the spire in the later illustration. These
were presumably subsequentadditions to the church, and could be pafi of what Bishop

35.Port,plateVIIc.
35.Port,plateVIId.
37.Port,plate VIIIa.
38.Port,plateVIIIb.
39.Port,plateXa& Xb.
40.Historyof St.Thomas'Church,1836-1961, Basedupon "TheHistoryof St.Thomas'and its Rectors:by tbe
lateH. W LeMessurier, publishedin 1928.Asamendedand addedto by theCentenaryHistorical
C.M.G.,
Committee, R, G.MacDonald,Chairman(1936).Thiseditionhasbeenbrougbtup to dateby P.B. Rendell,
aformer PeoplebWarden,and E. E. Kxtgh| PeoplebWarden,to commemorate the129hAnniuersaryof the
opentngof theChurch.
41.\ilf.N.Gosse, in Conception
Sketches BayNewfoundland1838-4LProvincial Archives
of Newfoundland and
Labrado1T.B. Browning P6/M I.
Collection,
42. Cityof St.John's photo#2.03.034,
Archives, #A1160.
Location
t/
x
\l:\\'IrOLl\l)t .\NI) CIOTIllC

'l'honurs',
l - 9 ( A )- S t . St..lohn'N s .c u ' f o u n d h n d .
Sketch brSi,illiunr(iossr:.I)rrn inciul'\rchives of\erifoundllntl antlLnbt'adol
T,B.IJrou n (iollcction, I'(r/.\/lFile#.1.
l-10 (B) - St.Thomas'Church,thc Narrols lltc. from Gove rnnternt llouse,
(lit\ol St,.fohn's i\rchivr 2.0J.0J+,
l-ll (C) - St.Thomas',St.john's,NervfirLrnclland, ertcrior from n'crst.
l - 1 2 ( D ) - S t .T h o m a sS' , t . . J o h n 'Ns e, r v f o u n c l l a n
edr t,e r i o rf r o n rs o u t h .
 \N\'FOU\DLAND GOTHIC BEFOREECCLESIOLOGY

Spencermeant when he wrote, upon his departure

from Newfoundland in 1839,that he was "happy
in having been able to complete and embellish the
building..."a3
The presentchurch retains the 1836core, but is
also a product of anther eventful subsequenthistory.
On September 19, 1846, a "terctfic gale of wind"
shifted the whole church six inches from its original
position.aaThe tower remains virtually unchanged
(igure 1-11),while aisleshavebeen addedto north and
south sides(figure l-12). According to LeMessurier,
these were addedshortly after the 1846 gale in order
to increaselateral stability, although they may equally.
be an adaptation to newly-introduced ecclesiological
taste. The nave was lengthenedrn 1874,at which time
a chancelwas added,the latter being enlargedin 1882-83.Galleriesoriginally extended 1-13- St.Thomas',
St.John's,
around the church, but were removed, doubtlessto accommodateEcclesiological Newfoundland,
naveinterior.
doctrine, in 1874.
It is not difficult, upon entering St. Thomas' today (figure 1-13),to mentally strip
awaythe subsequentalterationsand imagine the church as Archdeacon Wix would have
known it in 1836.With no chancel,and galleriesat the level of the current aisle roofs,
St. Thomas'would haveconformedperfectly to the conventionsof the Commissioners'
Churches. Indeed, it would have looked like a somewhat smaller version of the church
at Twillingate, in the north of Newfoundland.
St. Peter'sChurch, in Twillingate, is one of the largestand best-preserved examples
of pre-Ecclesiological Gothic in Newfoundland. Historically referredto as "the capital
of the north",asTwillingate was a major centre of activity for the northern fishery. Like
Trinity Bay (and unlike most of the rest of Newfoundland), the arcawas, by the middle
of the nineteenthcentury, one of considerableAnglican numerical strength.According to
the 1845census,TWillingateand Fogo held 5,017ProtestantEpiscopalians,I,128Roman

43.QuotedinHistoryofSt,Thomas' Church,p.14.
44.Whileit bearssomeof thehallmarksof an urbanlegend, theeventof thegaleis welldocumented, andit is
reportedin somedetailin theHistoryof St.Thomas'Church.Itis alsoreferred
to byV/illiamGreyin hisarticle
"TheEcclesiologyofNewfoundland" in TlteEcclesiologist,
newseries, volumeXI, 1853,p. I56-5t.
45.Encyclopedia ofNeufoundlandand l-abrador,volume 5,p.440.
t9
I
 NEWFOUNDLANDGOTHIC

Catholics,2Presbyterians,and 597Wesleyans.a6 Although the parishrecordsburnedalong

with the parsonageina 1915fire, the earlyhistory of the churchwas piecedtogether,largely
from SPG records,by Edith Manuel in1970.a7 According to Manuel, the SPG sentJohn
Leigh to be the first permanentresidentAnglican minister in TWillingatein 1814.The
SPG also furnished Leigh with books and schoolsuppliesto further faclhtatehis moral
By 1819,just
instruction of "the young and the old in favour of morality and religion."a8
in time for Leigh's departurefrom TWillingate,the church building and parsonagewere
finished. Little is known of this church, except thatLeigh's successor,J.G. Laughorne,
reportedin 1822that it was crowdedto excessin spiteof its seatingcapacityof 550.4e The
building was consecratedby Bishop Inglis in 1827,who reportedthat the church and
parsonagewere "large, ill-built and in debt to the amount of f 1,500which will neverbe
rcpaid."soHe alsoobservedthat "peopleseemeduncouth and wild with little devotionand
much apathy,"although he washopeful that improvementin this rcgardwas forthcoming
aftera seriesof seriousconversationswith principal personsin the community.sl
Exactly when and why it was decidedto build a new church is not recorded,although
Laughorne'scommentsabout crowding in the church seemto provide adequateincentive.
Construction of this (the presentchurch) began on November 6, 1839,and the first
servicein the still unfinished church was held on December11,1842.Construction was
completeby the end of I844.s2
Edward Feild, who had arcivedasbishop inl844, consecratedthe church during his
first visitation in 1845.He reportedthat:
A verysubstantial,capacious,
and handsome church,eightyfeet byforty-five,with a lofiy and
characteristic
towerat the westernend,haslatelybeenerected here,and the inhabitantswere
anxiouslydesiringtheBishop'spresence
that thefobricmightduly besetapartandconsecrated
to God'sltonourandservicewith prayerand blessings.s3

46.AbstractCensus Returnof thefopulationofNewfoundland,1845.

47.EdrthManuel,J/.PetersAnglicanChurchTwillingate:)ne hundredand Twenty-fi,ue
yearHistory1845-1970,
andinAdditionEarlyHistoryofTheChurchfrom lsl3.Noplaceofpublicationisnamed,butitmaysafelybe
presumedtobeTkillingate.
48.Manuel,p.3.
4). Manuel,p.4.
50.Manuel,p.5.
51. p.5-6.
Manuel,
52.ManueI,p.6-7.
53.FromFeild's quoted
VisitationJournal, p.7.
in Manuel,
ZO
ffi
 \[:\\ I:OTI\DL-\\D GOTHIC BEFORE
ECCLESIOLOG\'

Feild'spraise of the church is somewhatsurprising, as he was to prove considerably

lesspatientwith the speciesof CommissionersGothic that was plannedfor his cathedral
in St. John's.Perhapshe appliedlessrigorous standardsto the outports than the Episcopal
city, or perhapshis own Ecclesiologicalconvictions- and resultingGothic architectural
tastes- were lesswell-formed in 1845than they were later to become.Either way, he
recordsthat he duly consecratedthe church on a Thursday morning at 11:00o'clock, in
the presenceof alarge congregation.
According to Feild, the church had beenpaid for by a combination of volunteerlabour,
f50 eachfrom the SPCK and the SPG, and fl} from the Church Societyof Newfoundland,
with the remainderof the f1,000 cost being coveredby donationsfrom local merchants
and planters.sa Foremostamong the merchantswas one R. Sladeof Poole,Dorset, who
also donateda silvercup and paten atthe consecration.ss The Slades'connectionwith
Twillingate had begunwith John Slade(1719-92), who, having bought his first ship in 1753,
went on to amasswhat the Dictionaryof CanadianBiographyterms a "respectablefortune"
(in fact, an extremely"respectable"f7 ,000at leastby the time of John Slade'sdeath)from
the migratory fishery.s6 The Sladesremainedbasedin Poole,but their Newfoundland
ventureoperatedout of TWillingate(and to a lesserextentFogo and Tilting), from which
basethey exercised"considerablecultural andeconomicinfluence."s7
This being so, it is not surprisingto find certain similaritiesbetweenthe churchesat
Twillingate and Poole.St. James,Poole(figures l-14 & 1-15),wasbuilt in 1820by JohnKent
of Southamptonand JosephHannafordof Christchurch,for L5,600.s8 While not technically
a CommissionersChurch in that it was not paid for by the Commission,St. Jameswas
clearlyinfluencedby the Commissioners'brandof Gothic, andindeedJosephHannaford
had beenhired by the Commissionto designthe Church atBransgrove(Hampshire).se The
exterioris a two-storyGothic preachingbox,with a crenellated,shallow-pitched roof and a
westtower.The exteriorstoriescorrespondto interior galleries,supportedby tall, wooden

'Planters'
werea middleclassof fisherman,
54. between theimpoverished
small-boat
fishermen
andthewealthy
fish
merchants.SeeJohnP.Greene,Between Damnationand Staruation:Priests
andMerchantsin Newfoundtand
Politics,
1745-1855,
Montreal andKingston: I))),p.28.
55.Manuel, p.8.
56.W.GordonHandcock,"slade,John",DictionaryofCanadianBiography0nl,ine,http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.
asp?Biold=J5292&query=slade.
Seealso Encr'clopedia
ofNewfoundland
andLibrador,volumi 5,pp.440-45.
57.rbid.
58.0n St.James,Poole,
seeJohnNewman andNikolausPevsner,
TheBuildingsofEngland:Dorset,Harmondsworth:
r972,pp.318-19.
59.Port,p.I82.
ZI
re
 \E\\'FOUNDLAND GOTHIC

quatrefoilpiers thatlead to a plasterquadripartrterib-vault. According to Newman and

Pevsner'sBuildingsof Englandvolume on Dorset, "local tradition" claims that thesepiers
are madefrom Newfoundlandpine - a by no meansunlikely possibility.60
The church at Twillingate fits this generaldescription,albeit in a simplified form. The
exterior (wooden ratherthan stone)is a shallow-roofedbox with a singletier of narroq
pointed windows and a west tower (figure 1-16).The tower is crenellatedwith a short
spire and sharply pointed corner pinnacles.The chancel,which disrupts the otherwise
Commissioner-likemassing,was addedin the 1880s.61
The interior (figure 1-17)is, asFeild observed,"substantral,capacious,and handsome".
It sharesthe generalconfiguration of nave and gallerieswith Poole,although it must be
addedthatrt sharesthis configuration with countlessother CommissionersChurches,
and in its simple detailing and tunnel-like ceiling appearsmore closelyrelatedto its
Newfoundland predecessorssuch as Harbour Grace. Comparedto Poole, the interior
is notably lacking in Gothic detailing, which is probably a reflection of both economics
and the availability of craftsmen.The most Poole-likefeatureis undoubtedlythe pulpit
(figure 1-18),a tremendouslymonumentalpieceof furniture raisedhigh abovethe floor,
reachedfrom behind by a straight staircaseand decoratedwith quatrefoilsand a cusped
Gothic arch.The appearanceof its Poolepredecessor, no longer extant, is preservedin
a nineteenth-centurypainting in the church (figure 1-19).

Quidi Vidi is a small and exquisitely picturesque fishing village, now part of
St. John's.Like the adjacentcapital, it was, in the mid-nineteenth century, dominated
(numerically,rf certainly not socially or economically)by non-Anglicans.The 1836
censusreports that St. John'sand Quidi Vidi contain, betweenthem, 2,623Protestant
Episcopalians,TT2Protestant Dissenters,and 11,551Roman Catholics.This numerical
imbalance would have far-reachingrepercussionsfor church-building, zrswill be seen
in subsequentchapters.Christ Church, Quidi Vidi was originally built in 1832to serve
the Anglican, Congregationalist,and Methodist communitiesof Quidi Vidi. According
to the Encyclopediaof NewfoundlandandLabrador,the Anglicans took solepossessionof

50. Newmanand Pevsner, p. 318.

51.A brassplaquein thechancelreads,"This chancelstandsasa memorialof the lateEdwinDuder,a merchantof this
placewhodiedFebruary 20,1881,aged58.Hewasfirm in his religiousprinciples,
diligentin hisbusiness, generous
to the church,kind to the poor.Manyfound in him a friend and all misshim. Erectedby his only survivingson."
n
ffi
 \E\\'FOUNDLAND GOTHIC BEFORE
ECCLI]SIOI
OG\

--";;":"&:-::::::-
B

1-14(A)- St.James,
Poole,
Dorset, fromsouth-rvest.
exterior
PhotographbyMalcohn
Thurlbv.
l-15 (B) - St.James,Poole,Dorset,interiorto \\'est.
Photograph
byMalcolmThurlby.
1-16(C) - St.Peter'sTwillingate,\es foundlend.crterior from north.
1-17(D) - St.Peter'sTwillingate,\enfountlland.interiorto east. Z]
l - 1 8 ( E ) - S t .P e t e r 'T
s w i l l i n g a t e\ .e s f o u n d l r n dp. u l p i t . GgI
l - 1 9 ( F ) - S t .J a m e sP, o o l eD , o r s c t u. n l r r r i h u r r do i l p r i n t i n go f i n t e r i o r c, a . 1 8 2 5 .
 NEWFOUNDLANDGOTHIC

the church rn 1842, and hired Cork native JamesPurcell (b. ca. 1804,d. after 1858)62
to alter the building. However a report sent to the Society for the Propagatronof the
Gospel in Foreign Parts sent in 1842by Aubrey George Spencer,the first Bishop of
Newfoundland, strongly suggeststhat Purcell designeda wholly new church for the
Anglicans at Quidi Vidi:
Visit to Quidi Vidi, wherewe arefounding a new clturclt, the old onebeingin decayedstate,
and moreover thepropertyof all denominations
of Protestants. Thissettlementcontainsabout
200inhabitants,whohavebeenfora longtime Wesleyan Methodists,but a considerableportion
of whom,throughthegreatexertionsof theRev.Mr Bridgeand Mr. Brett... hayebeenfully
recovered to the Church.63
Christ Church Quidi Vidi is something of a design oddity (figure t-20). Clearly
Gothic in style,it is roughly cruciform in plan, and resemblesneither the Commissioners'
Churchesnor their Ecclesiologicaldescendents. The proportions resemblethose of a
cottage or house more than a church, with only the pointed windows revealing the
ecclesiasticalfunction. The tower and spire, addedby 1890(at which date a bell was
installed), enhancethe picturesque quality, if not the lucidity, of the building. James
Purcell would go on to build the Colonial Building in St. John's(1846-50)and submit
the first design(ultimately unused)for the Anglican cathedral.
The town of Fogo, on the north-westcorner of Fogo Island, was also economically
dominated by Slade and Company. The current Anglican church, which was built in
1915,falls outside the parametersof this study. Little is known about its predecessor
apart from the fact that it was built in 1845(and is thus almost exactly contemporary
with TWillingate),and, as usual, subsequentlyprovedtoo small. However,a photograph
in the collection of the Centre for Newfoundland Studiesclassifiedunder "Churches,
Unidentified" is claimed by what Pevsnerwould term "local tradition" to be the earlier
church at Fogo (figure l-211.0+
Careful inspectionof the topographyaround the building
showsthe tradition to be correct. The photograph(takenfrom the liturgical north-west)
showsa very TWillingate-likewooden church with a crenellatedwest tower, with a short,

62.Encyclopedia of Newfoundlandand Labrador,volumeI,pp. 429-30. Thesubsequent historyof thiscurious

buildingisof somenote.It wasusedextensivelyasasetforthe1931Hollywoodfilm TheViking,andlaterfellinto
decaythroughnon-use. In 1965theAnglicanSynodofNewfoundland decidedtodemolishthechurch,andit was
in oppositionto thatdecision
thattheNewfoundland HistoricTrustSociety
wasformed.Thebuilding,longsince
deconsecrated,is nowaprivate home,lovinglymaintained.
53.Incorporated SocietyforthePropagation of theGospelin ForeignParts.ReportfortheYear1842.London:
p.CXN.
1842,
64.Memorial University Library,
TheGeography Image28.01.001.
Collection,
u,
ffiil
 \ I \ \ I ( ) I I \ D I \ \ D G O T H I CB E F O R E C C L E S I O L O G \ '

sharp spire and sharply pointed corner

pinnacles.The nave is a broad oblong,
with four pointed lights, covered by a
single,sweepingroof. There appearsto be
no chancel.A room projecting from the
north-eastcorner maybe a vestry.Another
projection from the west wall of the church,
not obviously distinct in style or materials
and thereforeprobablycontemporarywith
the rest of the fabric, is of uncertatnuse. It
may be a baptistery, although this would
be anunusual placementof the font before
the influence of Ecclesiology.6s There is no
record of the interior arrangement,but it
may safelybe assumedto have resembled
l-20- ChristChurch,
QuidiVidi,
that at TWillingate. Newfoundland.exterior.
All of the surviving examples,and the
admittedly scantydocumentary evidence,
suggeststhat theseearliestGothic churchesin Newfoundland conformed
to a very standard formula of nave, entrance tower, and interior
gallerieson the (liturgical) north, west, and south. This configuration
quite certainly derivesfrom a famlharity with recent Commissioners'
Churchesin the mother country, which were relatively simple to build,
inexpensive, and adaptableto different materials (most importantly,
wood).
1-21- St.Andrew's,
Fogo,
Newfoundland,exteriorfrom
In spiteof the prolificacy andadaptabllity of Commissioners'Gothic, its architectural thenorth-west,
pre-1!15.
and aestheticreputation barely lasted a single generation.Leading the chargeagainst Studies,Coll- lj7,
Centrefor Neu'foundland
28.01.01.See<http://www.library.mun.cal
Commissioners'Gothic was Pugin. The frontispieceof Contrastswas a mercilesssatire qeiilcns/photos/geogfindaid.php#Arrange
>
of the Church Commission(figure 122).66 Designedto resembleapageof advertisements
from anarchitecturaljournal, it includesan announcementof an architecturalcompetition
for anew church, aimed at "youthful unemployedand aspiring architects",for achurch
in the Gothic or Elizabethan style, to contain 8,000 sittings and cost no more than

65. See,for example,themovement of thefontshownin the floorplansof theearlierchurchat Trinitv.

56. fhis frontispiece
is includedin the mostrecentreprint of.Contrasts.Seethe SpireBooksvolume.Cotttroststnd
TheTrue Principlesof Poinled or Cbristirrn^trcbitecturqLondon:2003.
/5
re
 NE\\'FOUNDLANDGOTHIC

1-22- Augustus welby

Northmore Pugin,
., frontispiece,
Contrasts..

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il
 \E\\'FOLINDLAND GOTHIC BEFORE
ECCLESIOLOG)'

fl,500. Elsewhereare ads for "elegantterminations

cheap",and Gothic designtaught in six easylessons.
Designs wanted include a Moorish fish market
and a Dissenting Chapel in a plain style, "to serve
occasionallyfor a lecture or a rcading room." The
caption reads, "This illustration of the practise of
architecture in the 19 century on new improved and
cheapprinciples is dedicatedwithout permissionto
The Trade." The page sums up the contempt Pugin
had for the architectureof his age,which he considered
vulgar, mercenary,superficial and morally vacuous.
Pugin takesmore preciseaim at Commissioners'
Gothic in his platefrom Contrastsentitled"Contrasted
Chapels" (figure l-23). In it, the medieval Bishop col.{TRASTEDjeCHAP€LS

Skirlaws Chapel in Yorkshire is contrasted to a

building identified as "St. PancrasChapel."The latter
is in fact St. Mary, SomersTown, in the St. Pancras
district of London, designedbyW. and H.W. Inwood,
and built between 1822-24at a cost of f13,629.67The
contrastis striking - which is preciselywhat Pugin had
intended.The medievalchapelis robust,muscular,and
substantial;the Commissioners'building appearsflimsy,
two-dimensional,and, atleastby Gothic standards,ill-
proportioned.The Inwoods' church hasthe appearance
of a thin Gothic veneerappliedto a body that completely
misunderstands its greatmedievalprototypes.The lack
of archaeologicalacclxacy and apparentflimsiness
madeCommissioners'Gothic an easytargetfor Pugin,
whoseunderstandingof medievalGothic design,spatial, 1-23- AugustusWelby
NorthmorePugin,
structuralandliturgicalprinciplesgreatlyexceeded
thatof anyof hispredecessors. Contrasts..
., "Contrasted
Chapels,"
The insubstantial,"pasteboard"Gothicof the ChurchCommissionwould soonbe
rcplacedbythe muscular,robustGothic - or "Pointed",asthe Victoriansfrequently
calledit - of Puginhimself,William Butterfield(1814-1900),68
GeorgeGilbert Scott

57.Port(1961),
p.136.
69.OnWilliamButterfield,
seePaulThompson.
W'illiamButterf.eld,London:
1971.
u
re
 NE\\'FOUNDLANDGOTHIC

(1811-78)6e and George Edmund Street(1824-81).70 The contempt that thesearchitects

had for their Neo-Gothic predecessors
has colouredthe reputation of the Commissioners'
Churchesto the presentday. However, there canbe no denying the immense impact and
influence that the Church Commission had on architecture at home and abroad.
While Commissioners'Gothic was clearly an Anglican inheritance, its use at the
Holy Trinity Roman Catholic church in Trinity demonstratesthat G-othicdid not yet
have precisedenominational or liturgical meaning. This was about to change.Soon,
Gothic in Newfoundland would be brimming with political meaning, and its shapes
would conform to a stylistic prescription as rigorous as the strictest Neo-Classicism.
In just a few short years, the Newfoundlandbrand of Commissioners'Gothic would
look false,unconvincing, evengrotesque.The key building was St. Thomas' Church, in
St. John's.Its significancelies not in its form - which, as originally built, was entirely
conventional- but in the circumstancessurrounding its creation. St. Thomas' was the
first volley in a war - a denominational war for the souls of Newfoundlanders. One of
the primary weaponsin that war would be architecture.And the shapeof that weapon
would be Pointed.

69.fhe bestchronicle
ofScott's to "proper"Gothicformishisown.SeeGeorge
conversion GilbertScolt,Personal
and
professionalRecollectiozs,
reprinted : 1995.
Stamford
seeDavidBrownlee,
70.0n Street, TheLau Courts:theArchitecture EdmundStreed
of George NewYork:1984.
ZB
:ill
t
I
 reffi
(I{flPTIR
TIIJO
(ridrinthe(olonial
fturch

t The transformation of Newfoundland Gothic alluded to at the closeof the previous

ffi chaptercameabout as a result of a crisis- or at leasta perceivedcrisis- in the
state
of the colony'sEstablishedChurch. The goal of this chapteris to examinethat crisis,
how it was framed for an English audience,andthe organizationsthat were to act
I as agentsfor changein the colonial Church and its architecture.
The first key figure in the identification of a 'crisis' in the Newfoundland Church
was Edward Wix (1802-66),the Anglican Archdeaconfrom 1830-38.1 Wix, the son of a
clergymanof the High Church pafty, was born in Faulkbourne,Essex,and educatedin
London and Oxford. He was ordained in 1825,and cameto Halifax, Nova Scotia,as a
missionary in 1826.He returned to England in 1828to recoverfrom typhus, and acquired
his MA at Oxford beforereturning to Halifax. He was then transferredto Newfoundland,
where he becameArchdeaconin 1830.That year he visited severalmissionsoutside
St. John'sand on Trinity Bay. Five years later, he undertook a much more ambitious six-
month tour of the eastern,southern, andwesternshoresofNewfoundland. His recordof
that journey was publishedin England the following year as SixMonthsof a Newfoundland
Missionary's Journal.2He returned to England inrather mysteriousand possiblyunsavoury
circumstancesin 1838.3Upon returning to England, he serveda variety of pastoral
postingsbefore continued ill health forced him to seekmore clement, foreign climes.

1.Biographicaldatafrom "Wix,Edward",Dictionaryof CanadianBiography0nline,http://www.biographi.ca/

EN/ShowBio. = 38902
asp?Biold &query=
2, EdwardWix, SixMonthsof a NeafoundlandMissionary's Journalfrom FebruarytoAugust,1835,London:
1835.
J. According
IotheDictionary of CanadianBiography}nline,WixleftSt.John's debt($1,300)
in considerable after
beingseenin thecompany ofaprostitute.
Onewondersattheacctracyofthese
reports;
forreasons
thatwill become
obvious,
Wixwouldcertainly havemadenumerous enemies in Newfoundland,
buttheDictionarTquotes theRev.
Thomas Bridge - whocertainlywouldnothatebeenoneofthose enemies- aswritingthattheciriumstancesof
Wix'sdeparture "bothsurprised
andappalledmembers oftheChurch."
Z9
re
 He returned to England in 1864,and died in 1866 after settling in his son'sparish on
the Isle of Wight.
Wix's Journalwaspublishedin the hope that, ashe put it, "the sympathyof a Christian
public maybe enlistedin the behalf of the peopleofNewfoundland."aSpecifically,his aim
was to generatesupport in England for the Newfoundland mission in general,and for the
building of a secondAnglican church in St. John'sin particular. It is a vivid, colourful,
andprecisely targetedstatementof the challengesand threats facing the Established
Church in its oldestcolony.In particular, Wix set out to encouragecuriosity about the
land itself, sympathyfor the colonistsand their missionaries,and concern,even ovtrage,
over forcesthat he believedwere undermining the Church'steachingsand interests.
Wix set out in 1835,at what would seemto be the most inauspicioustime of year
imagrnablefor such a journey - February. The land he traversedwas a wild, sublime
landscapeof ruggedbut compelling beauty.Arising shortly after dawn nearthe cliffs of
Norman's Cove, he wrote:
No desuiptioncanconveyan ideaof the beautyof the overfallingstalactitesof ice,somewhite
through,sometransparent, whichhungdownfromtheruggedclffi on thesideof thisfne arm
of thesea,till theynearlytouchedthewater,s
Later, on PlacentraBay,he describedthe sparkling appearunceof everybranch and
blade of grass after an extendedperiod of fueezrngrain:
Thesplendourof thespectacle whichwaspresented by woods,shrubs,and under-brush, thus
brilliantly illuminatedin a morntnsof unclouded
sunshine,wasgreaterthan any tffort of art
couldcomenearto imitate,6
Around Bay D'Espafu,Wix describednavtgattngpast apair of waterfalls:
...onesoflne that weresteduponour oars,for someminutes,to lookat itsunceasingflow
of
wate4in an unbrokenperpendicularfollof at leastsixtyfeet.'
As William Grey would do in his drawings of Newfoundland and Labrador two
decadeslater8,Wix was seeing and representingthe colony through eyesaccustomed

4.Wix,p.229.
5.Wix,p.25.
5. Wix,p.27.
7.Wix,p.82.
8. WilliamGrcy'sSketches and Labrador,published
ofNeufoundland in 1852will bediscussed length
algrealer
in Chapter
Five.
l0
ffi
 CRISISIN THE COLONIALCHURCH

to the conventionsof English landscapepainting, and its love of the Sublime.While

this was fairly certain to resonateandgeneratecuriosity with an English readership,it
is probably an unconsciousreflection of sharedcultural norms rather than a dehberate
effort on Wix's partto manipulate his audience'sreaction. Perhapsmore calculatedto
touch his readers'sentimentswere Wix's descriptionsof the peopleof Newfoundland,
whom he portrays (with someimportant exceptions)as both desirousand deservingof
spiritual guidancefrom the Mother Country.
With greatpathos,Wix describedthe extremepoverty of many Newfoundlanders.On
the Isle of Valen, he told of "marrred femalesliterally almost in a stateof nudity" - not
through immodesty,but becausethey literally had next to nothing to wear.eWixbaptized
three children of such women in their homes,as their mothers did not have sufficient
clothing to venture outsideduring the winter. One home he visited measuredtwelvefeetby
ten, and housedfifteenfamily membersof threegenerations.lO As well asbeingpoor,many
Newfoundlanderslived livesof exceptionalhardship.Joining a fishing boat expeditionin
Fortune Bay,Wix reportedthat the cod, upon being pulled from the water into the cold
air in which the fishermen are working, freezesolid and dreimmediately.ll
Newfoundlanders' matertal impoverishmentwas matched,in some cases,by their
spiritual impoverishment.In Bay d'Este,Wix met a woman of ageeighty-six,a native of
PlacentiaBay,who had neverseena clergymanin her life.l2One JamesMiles, originally
from Shaftesbury,Dorset,hadlived fifty-six yearsin Newfoundland without laying eyes
on an Anglican clergyman;someof his children had beenreducedto intermarryingwith
Roman Catholics,"to his grref."t3An isolatedplanterhadlost track of the calendar,and
consistentlymarked the Sabbathon Saturdaysor Mondays by mistake.r4At Bonne Bay,
Wix enjoyedthe hospitality of one who had lived for thirty-three yearsin Newfoundland,
andhad never in that time seena minister of any denomination.rs
Amidst this poverty and hardship Wix eagerlyreported a great spiritual hunger
among the people.One woman from PlacentiaBay broke down in tearsas shetold the
story of how, after her marriage, shewas unable to take her prayerbookto her new home.

!. Wix,p.53.
10.Wix,p.54.
11.Wix,p.70.
12.Wix,p.6!.
13.Wix,p.6!.
14.Wix,p.86.
15.Wix,p. 118.
ll
re
 \E\\ FOLI\DL,\ND GOTHIC

It was, she said, the greatestcalamity of her life apart from the death of her father.t6
A man atBay d'Este askedWix for a supply of simple sermons- "not too high Iearnt"
- for he often wept on Sundayswhen thinking of the church back home in England, so
much did he long to hear church prayers.lT
At Long Island Harbour, Wix found one Mr.
Strickland reading from aprayer book to his own and his neighbour'sfamily:
"Weneversawa church,"saidlte, "or werewherea churchwas,orgot anyschooling, for reading
andgo throughtheprayersalternate(he
is hard to begot in theseparts; but wetaughtourselves,
and his brother,hemeant)morningand evening,eachSunday."ts
At Chaleur Bay,the reading of abiblicalpassageso moved Wix's audiencethat they
were soon wiping tears from their "sunburnt cheeks,"remarking "It is very feeling,
Sir!"le He reported hearing, after going to bed, the voicesof children straining to "an
unnatural pitch" asthey attemptedto learn and recitethe Ten Commandments.20 Clearly,
the peopleof Newfoundland would handsomelyrepay any investmentthat Wix's readers
might make in their salvation.Or, as Wix himself assuredhis audience,"You will not
be castingpearlsbeforeswine."21
Someof the readers'sympathywould certainly havebeenreservedfor Wix himself,
who presentedhimself as cheerfully - or at least stoically - determinedto do God's
work in the teeth of considerableadversity.Someof this adversitywas rather comical,
at other times it createdconsiderablediscomfort or even danger.Wix describedhis first
attemptsto learn to walk in snowshoes,which, becoming wet and heavy, "occasioned
me many falls and disasters."22 He describedhow his frozen sealskinboots cut into his
Diarrhea was a common problem,
feet, and the danger of frostbite was ever present.23
which he attributed to a diet of too much venison.2a
He became,by necessity,intimately
acquaintedwith the relative virtues of wooden vs. iron snow shovels.2s Moving inland
from Bay St. George,Wix and his two native guideswere struck by snow-blindness

16.Wix.p.75.
17.V/ix,p.57.
18.Wix,p. 115.
19.Wix,p.I3L
20.Wix,p.139.
21.Wix,p.252.
22.Wrx,pp. 89-91.
23,Wix,p.56.
24.Wix,p.77.
25.Wix,p.91.
ll
ffi
 CRISISIN THE COLONIALCHURCII

which increasedto the point where "the blind was leaderto the blind."26Their troubles
were made more acute by a severeshortageof food, and only rctracing their stepsfor
severaldays (itself not a simple task) savedtheir lives. These examplesof his tenacity
and dedicationare no lessimpofiantto his appealthan his descriptionsof the needsof
Newfoundlanders. The colonial clergy had, apparently,been under attackfrom certain
sources.Although Wix did not name thosesources,he spentconsiderabletime refuting
them, quoting at somelength the responseof Nova ScotiaBishop John Inglis (in whose
dioceseNewfoundland, at this time, fell)3,
Endearingand entertainingas all this was and was surelymeantto be for its English
audience,it lacked the senseof urgency necessaryfor a major fundraising drive. That
senseof urgencywas providedby a darker,more ominous sideto life in Newfoundland,
which Wix chronicled with equal vividness and commitment. Hints of decadence,
of behaviour in need of correction, appearin many communities. In Furby's Cove,
a community full of adherentsto "the good old English religion", Wix was disturbed
to note "the too generalprevalenceof spirit-drinking even among the females..."28 At
FachieuHarbour, Wix found peopleeither living in idleness,or working on the Sabbath.2e
A "heathenish man" in Muddy Hole "did not think prayersof any use!"30AtCapeLa
Hune Harbour, Wix found someof the people"uncouth and rude in their manners,and
some of the females pafircularly coarsein their language."3lAround the Bay of Islands,
on the west coast(nearpresent-dayCorner Brook), the depravity reachedstunning new
heights:
Onewomanwaspointedout to mehere,wlto, in her hasteto attacka quantity of rum, which
shehadbroughtonshorewith herfroma tradingvessel. . . lefi an infont of six monthsold upon
the landwash,andforgot thereher suckingchild, till the bodyof it wasdiscoyered the next
morning,drownedby the returningtide! Thefothe4 immediatelyafier the discoveryof the
awful disaster;
wenton board,un-warned,andapparentlyunfficted, for anothergallonof the
poisonfor the wake.. .32

25.Wix,p.102.
27.Wix,pp.204-21J.
28.Wix,p.81
29.Wix,p.120.
30.Wix,p.lZL
Jl. V/ix,p.136.
32.Wix,pp.I70JI.
ll
re
 \E\\'FOLINDLAND GOTHIC

That woman, Wix reported,had also rolled over and smotheredanother child in
bed while in a drunken stupor, and was now co-habiting with her own nephew.The
habitual conversationof the peoplehere was, he reported, disgusting;the local dialect
was profanity, children sworeat andfrequentlystruck their parents.33"I met with more
feminine delicacy,"he recordedwith dismay, "in the wigwams of the Micmac and
Canokok Indians than in the tilts of many of our own people."3a
If the outports were bad, the caprtalcity was worse. In dedicatinghis lournal to his
wife, Wix observed:
of a largeportion of itsinhabitants,who
. . .you wereliving in a town, which,for thelawlessness
areexcitedtofrequentbreaches of thepeaceby a mostseditiousRomishpriesthood,is aslittle
desirablea placeof residence asmany of the disturbedtownshipsof lreland.ss
The referenceto the "seditiousRomish priesthood"is key.As notedin the discussion
of Quidi Vidi in Chapter One, the population of the St. John'sareawas predominantly
Roman Catholic.Their spiritual leaderwas the charismaticand formidableBishopMichael
Fleming.Fleming remainsone of the mostcontroversialfiguresin Newfoundlandhistory
to this day.To his biographerJ. B. Darcy, he was a champion- indeed,the only champion
- of the poor and downtroddenof Newfoundland.36 To historian Patrick O'Flaherty, he
was an agrtatorwho had almost single-handedlyimported the grievancesof Ireland to
Newfoundland,regardlessof whetherthey belongedthere or not.37Both views canbe
supported- the distinction is really one of emphasisratherthan of fact - but it can be said
with somecertainty that Wix would only haveacknowledgedthe latter position.
To Wix, Fleming and his clergy were dreadedspiritual predators.Inter-marflages
between Catholics and Protestantswere, he observed,"lamentably frequent", and the
Romanist clergyused "every meansin their power to encouragethe natural superstition
They sparedno effort in their attemptsto gain converts:
of the people...."r8
A nunneryhasbeenestablished, wherea varietyof foncy work is taught,to inducetheProtestant
childrento attendthe schoolattachedto the establishment;and no schemeof allurementor
intimidationis omittedto ensnare
thepoor and ignorantinto thetrap laidfor them.3e

33.\fix, p. 171.
34.Wix,p.I73.
35.Wix,p.6.
35.|hDarcy,FireupontheEarth;TheLifeand TimesofBishop AnthonyFleming,0.S..E,
Michael 2003.
St.John's:
)ld Neufoundland,St.John's:1!!!.
37.PaIrickO'Flaherty,
38.Wix,p.X.
l4 J!. V/ix,p.X.
ffi
 CRISIStN THE COLONIALCHURCH

Moreover. in the battle for the souls

of St. John's,the Romanistsseemedto be
winning - and winning in the most visible,
public way possible:architecturally.In the
prefaceto his Journal,Wix noted:
...a secondPopishchapelissoonto beaected
in ourcapital- andthisin a colonywhaethe
stateof societyequals,if it do not exceed,
in
ignorance,superstition,andinsubordination,
the worseparts of lreland.ao
Later, Wix referred to a letter from a
parishioner,which warns that Fleming
hasbeenraising considerablefunds for his
church, and that it is to be "one of the finest buildings in any of the provinces."arWith 2-l - AnglicanParishChurch
two dissentingchapelsaheadyactive, the peopleof St. John'swould soon be left with of St.;ohntheBaptist,St.John's,
Newfoundlan d, pr e-1846.
no choice "between apostacyand infideltty."a2 FromC.FrancisRowe,
In FieldsAfar,St.John's:l!8!.
The lone church-buildingthat the Anglicans could offer as an architectural rebvttal
to Dissentand Romanismwas a wooden church on the site of the presentcathedralthat
TheEcclesiologist(the periodical of the EcclesiologicalSociety)would later describeas
"a wooden shedof the most monstrousdescription."a3 While the Ecclesiologists were
notoriousfor their lack of tolerancefor dissentingarchitecturaltaste,it is hard to denythat
the church in questionwas neither a handsomenor a sophisticatedbuilding (figure 2-I).
Fleming's church, on the other hand, was to be quite formidable.The origins of the
designare murky - it may havebeendesignedby John Philpot Jones,an Irishm an, orby a
ruther mysteriousM. Schmidt, who was likely German.aaAfter severalyearsof gathering
funds and materials,Fleming beganbuilding in May of 1840.as Fleming's church, now
generally rcferred to as "the Basilica", still stands today, having escapeddamagefrom

40.Wix,p. IX.
41.Wix,p.234.
42.V{ix,p.236.
43. "ColonialChurchArchitecture, VI: St.John'sCathedral,
Chapter Newfoundland",
TheEcclesiologist,
number65
(April1848)
newseriesnumber 2),p.275.
44.SeePaulO'Neill,"WhoDesigned theRomanCatholic Basilica?"
Newfoundland volume
Quarterly, LXXXVIII,
No.1,1993, pp.7-13.
45.Darcy,p.165.
l5
re
 NE\\'FOUNDL-{NDGOTHIC

two later fires that destroyedmost of the rest of St. John's (in 1846 and 1892).It was
indeed "one of the finest buildings in any of the provinces", and in fact totally dominated
the skyline of St. John'suntil the twenty-first century (figure 2-27.t0Situatedwell up the
hill north of St. John's Harbour, its twin-towered liturgical west end facessouth and
the harbour, immediately commanding the attention of anyone arriving in the city by
water (which in the period under discussion,of course,was everyone).Following in the
tradition of the Roman Church unbroken sincethe Renaissance,the church is Classical
in style (figure 241.4tThe exterior, while relatively austeredecoratively(undoubtedlydue
to the extremesof weatherexperiencedin St. John's)is immenselyimpressive.The fagade
has a triple pofialbelow triple round-archedwindows, between monumental towers
with emphasizedquoins that are rusticatedat the lower level. The nave and transepts
arc flngedby large round-archedwindows at the upper level, and smaller windows with
shallow, segmented-archwindowsat the lower (aisle)level (figure 2-4). The interior is
richly adornedwith a massive,flat,cofferedceiling aboveanelaboratecornicesupported
by avarration on the Corinthian order (figure 2-5).In its style and monumentality it is
linked to some of the most important churchesin the Roman Catholic world, such as
St. Peter'sand theLateran Basilica in Rome (the latter, like Fleming's church, usesa
grantorder in the interior), two churcheswith some of the deepest,oldestroots in the
Roman Catholic tradition. Monumental and majestic,loudly announcingits affiliation
to Rome, and towering aboveeverything elsein the city, the Basilica would have seemed
to Wix and his contemporariesthe very embodiment of the Catholic menace.
The anxiety amongNewfoundland'sAnglican clergy over what Fleming was building
was not limited to Wix. In the prefaceto a sermonpublishedin England In 1841,Wix's
successoras Archdeacon of Newfoundland, Thomas Bridge, wrote of the necessityof
building a new Anglican church in St. John's(one which, by that time, would have
to serveas a cathedral).In Newfoundland, he reported, religious error was "fearfully
present",and:
...theRomishBishopis aboutto build a so-called cathedral,an Episcopalresidence,
nunnery,
&c., on a vastscale,andat a cost,it is said,of 40,000or 50,000pounds...a8

45. It nowsharesthat distinctionwith "The Rooms",a combinedprovincialart gallery,museum,and archires.

47. fhebuilding, erroneously in thepresentauthor'sview,hasalsobeenlabeled"Romanesque Revival".SeeShannon
Ricketts,LeslieMaitland,andlacquelineHucker,A Guide to Canadian Architectural Stllss. secondedition,
Peterborough: 200J,p. ) 4.
48. ThomasBridge,"The TWoReligions;or, the QuestionSettled,which is the oldestChurch,the Anglicanor the
Romish?"London:1841.o. vi.
l6
ffi
\I-

2-2 (A) - St.John's,Newfoundland,from the south.

2-3 $) - RomanCatholicCathedralof St.John the
Baptist,St.John's,f,lelvfoundland,
exteriorfrom west.
2-4 (C) - RomanCatholicCathedralof St.Johnthe
Baptist,St..lohn's,\eu'foundland,exteriorfrom south.
2-5 0) - RomanCatholicCathedralof St.Johnthe
Baptist.St..lohns. \eri foundland,interiorto east. l/
ffi
 NEWFOUNDLANDCOTHIC

Bridge later wrote about the Catholic cathedral in a letter to the SPG in almost
desperatelydisparagtngterms:
The exteriorof the Romish Cathedralis progressingtoward completion,tho it is an ugly,
unecclesiastical
structure,a glimpseof which would Pugin'slteart.ae
lreak
For Bridge, the urgent need was to build an approprrateAnglican cathedral in
St. John's.Wix, writing a decadeearlier,could only hope for a secondAnglican church
building to relievesomeof the pressureon the "monstrouswooden shed"that servedas
the Anglicanplace of worship on the site of the present cathedral.Wix concludedhis
Journalby explicitly throwing down the gauntletto his affluent English audience:
Youwill, at least,contributeyour mite towardstheerectionof a secondchurchin thecapitalof
this island,where,taking hisstandupontheworld to come,the Christianmissionarymay effea
a moral, a spiritual movement,in the massof ignorance,superstition,idolatry,and various
wickedness by whichhe is surrounded.so
Wix did not indeedcasthis pearlsbeforeswine. Foremostamong thosewho embraced
his causewas the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel - in spite of the fact that
it was the SPG that had suppressedWix's campaign for a new church in St. John's a
few years earlier, for fear that such a specific drive would undermine their broader
fundraising efforts.srThe SPG, and by extensionWix, had acloseally in the periodical
TheBritish Critic, which ran afticles and commentaries of increasingly High Church
sympathiesfrom 1827to 1843(among the periodical's regvlar contributors was the Rev.
John Henry Newman, who would later scandalizethe High Church by making the not
altogetherillogical leap from High Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism). TheBritish Critic
was well establishedas a platform for the SPG, which had aheady in 1831identified
the coloniesas aplace of particular concernrcgardingthe health of the Church. British
North America, it was said, had a deplorablehistory, where:
Wholesettlementswereliving without public worship,without the administrationof the
Sacraments,withoutspiitual instruaionof anykind; in short,bothspeculatively
andpractically,
almost'withoutGodin the world.'s2

4!. ThomasBridgeto Ernest

Hawkins oftheSPG,
August241546. Provincial
Archives
ofNewfoundland
andLabrador,
forthePropagation
Society "G" Series,
of theGospel, Lettersreadbefore
theSociety,
rce1249.
50.Wix,p.257.
51.Wix,pp.237-38.
52."Society
forthePropagationoftheGospeI",
BritishCritic,volume
X,number p.200.
XIX,1831,
]B
ffi
 (T.lsl\ l\ ll ll: c( )t ( )\l \t cl ltlRcll

Other colonists,it was lamented,were nominally Christian but had fallen into error
through lack of qualified spiritual instruction. "Could therebe more pitiable claimants",
it was askedrhetorically, "upon genuine Christianbenevolence?"s3 As well as reclaiming
the
Christian apostates,SPG missionariesin North America had undertakento convert
,,Negroes,,andthe "Indians". A very sympatheticpicture was drawn of the Anglican
missionarieswho undertook theseduties:
the
Nor wouldit bedfficult to drawan ffiaing, yet afoithful pictureof thetoilsand dangers,
privations and sujferings,to which itsmissionarieswereexposed,in prosecutingthe apostolic
work to whichtheyhad devotedthemselves.sa
This was, clearly, fertile ground in which Wix could plant the seedsof his appeal.
Moreover, TheBritish Criticand Edward Wix were clearly of one mind on the subject of
Roman Catholicism, particularly the Irish variety. In a profoundly sympathetic review
of ,,Geniusof the Church of Rome: Ireland. Popery and Priestcraftthe Causeof Misery
and Crim e,, (avery revealingtitle) by J.C. Colquhoun, the Criticfinds itself in complete
agreementwith the author's view that the "disorders of Irelandarcmiserably aggravated
particularly
bV the influence of Roman Catholrc agitatorsand priests."ssThey were
suspiciousof the Roman Catholic clergy in the colonies,noting that:
...in our coloniestheRoman Catholicpriestis oftenoneof the lowestof his order,a mere
adtenturer,orperhapsoutcastfromsomeforeign colony'' 's6

Judging from the simil arity between thesecomments and Wix's assessmentof the
Irish Catholic clergy in St. John's,this was not an uncommon English attitude towards
the Irish.
In 1g36,TheBritishCriticpublishedthe SPG'sannual report for L834-35,which included
a lengthy andlavdatory discussionof Wix's Journal.siThe appealfor funds was reiterated,
andboth the SpG and the publishersof TheBritishCriticwere authortzedto collect money.
in
The appealswere successful,and the result was the building of St. Thomas' Church
more
St. lofrn's (discussedon pages22-24, above).Just over a decadelater,in 1848,a

53.Ibid.
54.Ibid,p.201.
55.TheBritishCritic,volume XX,numberXXXIX,p' 4'
55. "The Church in theWest Indies",TheBritishCritic,volumeXXIX,number LVIII,p'267.
,,Society
for the propagationof theGospel in ForeignParts, Report
Society's BritishCritic,
for.1834-35",The
-57.
xrx, nur6.t'iiivii, rs35,pp. ya-s+.Thisriportalso lflixb
repeats storythattheSPG hadthwarted
itself
volume
hisearlierattempts to funds
raise for a secondchurchin St.
John's. l9
re
 NE\\'FOUNDLA\iDGOTHIC

archaeologicallyliterate generationof Gothic Revivalistswould saythat "the intention

[of St. Thomas'] was certainly better than the effect."s8
Notwithstanding this lukewarm
endorsement,St. Thomas' was the first sign that people of influence and affluence in
England were in fact taking the "crisis" in the Newfoundland Church seriously.
Presumablyhoping to build on this momentdm, the SPG used its 1838annual
meeting to shine abright spotlight on the woes of the colonial Church.seThey began
their "Report of the Proceedings"by stating their conviction that "a stateof crisis has
occurred in the religious affairs of the British Colonies."60
Great Britain, it was pointed
out, had plantedcoloniesin placesas remoteasAmerica, Australia andlndia, but while
enjoying the fruits of her success:
...sheseems almostto haveforgotten that shewasa Christiannation;that theemigrantswhom
shesentout werechildrenof Christianparents,and had needof instructionin God'sHoly
Word... [and] that by the aequisitionof authorityoverheathentribesshecontracted
a sacred
obligationto impart unto themthesavingtruths of the Gospel.6l
Particularly discouragrngwas the situation in the Canadas,Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick, and, most desolateof all, Newfoundland. The report made referenceto the
"dreadful conditions" of many of the inhabitantsthere, and to the documentationof those
conditionsby Wix. Nova ScotiaBishopJohn Inglis (whosediocese,it must be remembered,
still included Newfoundland aswell ashis own province,New Brunswick, Prince Edward
Island, and Bermuda)then gavea speechin which he describedthe.sorrowsof the many
in his seewho did not haveadequateaccessto clergy.He reportedon one occasionbeing
followed from port to port by a small boat, whosecrew attendedevery servicehe gave,so
desperate werethey for instruction and blessing.62In
Inglis' twelveyearsasBishop,he had
consecratednearly a hundred churches,but found that the erection of every new church
speedilyprovidedevidencethat yet anotherwas needednearby.63

58."ColonialChurchArchitecture,
Chapter VI: St.John'sCathedral,
Newfoundland",
TheEcclesiologist,
number55
(April1848)newseries
number 2),p.274.
59.SeeReportof theIncorporatedSociety
for thePropagationof tbeGospelin ForeignPartsfor theyear 18J8,
London: 1838.
60.Ibid,p.zt.
6 t.l b i d ,p .z z .
62.rbid,p.43.
63.tbid,,p.43.
40
il
> I\ TI{E COI.O\I.\L CHLIRCI{
C-RISIS

where he found "a

His greatestconcern,however,was reservedfor Newfoundland,
In some parts, he noted,
destitution most deplorable, andmost difficult of full rehef."6a
Lessimpoverished
poverty was so grertthat peoplewere in frequent dangerof starvation.
with adequate assistance'While
areas,however, could hope to suppott a clergyman'
than wi[ing:
meanswere lacking, the spirit was, he assuredhis audience'more
But thereis nopart of theBritish dominionswheretheservicesof devotedClergymenarernore
and noplacewheresuchservices appearto bemoreeminentlyblessed'
ffictionately i4**rd,
to settlement,and it
I haveseenboatafterboatfollow the visitingMissionaryftom settlement
to beholda morebecomingand cordialregardfor the ministers and ordinances
is impossible
of th, Churchthan is manifestedby this warm-heartedpeople,h is mostdeplorable,thuefore,
instructionwhich
that largenumbersof themshouldbeleft entirelydestituteof thespiritual
theydNre aboveall things,Thousands of themremainforyears,for ten,twentyyears,without
uing a Clergruan,anil withouttheconsolation of the Churchof Christ.65
Evidencemounted
As far asthe SpG was concerned,acrtticalmasshadbeen reached.
upon evidence, andthe time to act had clearly come:
that thingsmustnot
...thereis a strongandgrowingconvictionthat somethingmustbedone;
beforeGod if it
besffired to reiain wherethey are;that this countrywilt bedeeplysinful
poilt, thedependencies of theempiretogrow up in practicalatheism,and in all thewickedness
necessarily resultingfromsucha state" '66
and funds'
The SpG was a consequentialSociety,wielding considerableinfluence
pressing issuesin
As both wix and Inglis had indicated, however,one of the most
church architecture
Newfoundland was the urgent need to build more churches, and
or authority. Their
was not an areawherethe SpG could claim any special expertise
another group whose
cause,however, would Soonreceive enthusiastic support from
Society' And
main concern and expertisewas architectural: the Cambridge Camden
precisely what form
the CambridgeCamden Societywas more than willing to specify
new Church of England buildings in the colonies should take'67

64.I}/id,p.44,
65.tbid,p.44.
56.tbid,pp.23-4.
onthecambridgecamdensocietyFolgengral seeKenneth
introductions, clark,
literature
67.Thereis considerable
grook"s 1999;
Reuiual,iondon: Michael The
Lewis, Gothic
TheGothicn rrrii,-{inoi, tgig;chris , TheGothic
onmorespecific
2002.Forupto datescholarship seeJohn
themes, Elliott,ed,Achurcbas it
Reuiual,Newyork:
2000'
Stamford:
CamdenSocietl'anditsInfluence,
Should'Be:theCambridge l..l
Iffi
 N E W F O U N D L A N DG O T I I I C

As noted in ChapterOne, the CambrtdgeCamden Societywas formed by a group of

Cambridgeundergraduatesin 1839.Their aim was to promoteprecise,"scientific" study
of English Gothic church architecturein order to facilitatethe creationof worship spaces
that would be approprrateto the High Church liturgy advocatedby the membersof the
Oxford Movement (also known as "Tractarians"), While the Tractarians advocateda
return to an essentiallymedievalliturgy, the CambridgeCamden Societyprovided a
parallel architectural movement, promoting the creation and restoration of medieval
worship spaces.According to the CambridgeCamden Society,the Church of England
was the true, holy "catholic" Church (by which they meant "universal", as originally
intended;thus the frequentreferencesto Roman Catholicsas "Romanists" or "Papists",
rather than "Catholics"). Gothic - which was understoodto be the native English style
- was its natural and correct architectural expression.

Theseideaswerenot unique to the CambridgeCamdenSociety.The identification of

Gothic with the English nation and its history goesback at leastas far as the eighteenth
century, and possiblyeven a century earlier. Chris Brooks has compellingly argued
that much that is typically classifiedas "Gothic Survival", such as the Great Staircase
at Christ Church, Oxford (ca. 1640),is in fact "Gothic Revival."68The distinction is an
important one. "Survival" suggestsa non-reflectivehabit; a builder and patron using
Gothic becauseno more "modern" rdeahad occurred to them. As Brooks argues,it is
highly unlikely thatpatrons at Oxford University in the seventeenthcentury had never
heard of the Renaissance.The use of Gothic in such settings,accordingto Brooks, is in
fact a deliberate,consciousaffirmation of continuity with the medievalpast,undertaken
by individuals or institutions whoseauthority is historically rooted in that past.
The political meaning of Gothic acquiredmore layersduring the English Civil War.
For the Parliamentarians,Gothic was seenas the visible, architectural symbol of a
constitutional history in which the authority of the King was legitimately limited by
Parliament.According to this view, Gothic was the architectureof anancient,freedom-
loving, Northern European race thatvalued liberty and rejectedall forms of tyranny -
from invading Roman colontzersto absolute,unfetteredmonarchs.Thus. when Richard
Temple,Viscount Cobham, commissionedJamesGibbs to designhis Templeof Liberty
rn 1741,the stylewas Gothic.6e
Later still in the eighteenthcentury, Gothic cameto be seenas an afftmation of the
continuity of English history in the face of the threat posedby revolution - specifically,

68.SeeBrooks,
chapter
1.
6!. Brooks,
chapter
J.
1.7
ffi
 CRISISIN THE COLONIALCHURCII

the French Revolution. One of the key figures here was the architecturaldraughtsman,
illustrator and polemicist John Carter.1o Carter's rightful placein the history of the
Gothic Revival has been restoredthrough the researchof J. Mordaunt Crook.7lCrook
demonstratesthat it was Carter - not Pugin - who first condemnedthe "heathen"
associationsof Classicalarchitecture.And it was Carter who, possiblyechoing Gibbs'
Temple of Liberty, made the connectionbetween architectureand the continuity of
English history when he embraced Gothic as a refuge from the modernism and
"improvement" epttomtzedby the horrors of the French Revolution.T2
The Church of England had parallel concerns.As Brooks points out, the Church
constantly rrrtated its opponentsby claiming that it was simultaneouslyboth "Reformed"
and "Catholic" - in other words, that it had broken with the corrupting influence of
Popery,but still retainedthe privilegedstatusandmorul authority of the ancient,original,
Catholic Church.73These debateswere unfolding not only in the rarified atmosphere
of the theologicalschools.They were being preachedto the peoplein the parishesof
the EstablishedChurch - possibly even in Newfoundland. On the evening of Sunday,
January3,1841,NewfoundlandArchdeaconThomas Bridgevisited his former parish of
St. Thomas,Dudley, in England. The incumbentbeing ill, Bridge deliveredthe sermon,
and his chosenthemewas, "The TWoReligions;or, The QuestionSettled,Which Is the
OldestChurch,the Anglican or the RomisWl"Ta Given everythingdiscussedin this chapter
thus far, the answerBridge'ssermonwill provide is perhapsself evident;the intellectual
routehe will take to get thereis rathermoreuncertain.Bridgebeginsby explainingwhat it
is to be a "Reformed" church:the term itself impliesthat the Church had, over the course
of the Romanist centuries,strayedfrom its roots and had to be restoredthen - literally -
"re-formed".Moreover, accordingto Bridge,the Anglican Church restsits moral authority
on Scriptureitself,whereasthe Romanists'authorityrestson centuriesof interventionand
mediation by human agents(i.e.,Popes).Thus, it is the Anglican Churchthat is the old
one,the one closestto the church's"primitive purity".Ts

70.SeeJ.M. "Gothic
Frew, isEnglish:JohnCarter
andtheRevivalof
GothicasEngland'sNational Bulletin,
Style",Art
volume54,1982,pp.315-19.
71.J.MordauntCrook,/ohnCarterand theMind of theGothicReuiual,London:W.S.Maney& Sonin association
withtheSociety
ofAntiquaries
ofLondon ,1995.
72.OnthetopicofGothicandEnglishnationalism,
seealsoSimonBradley,"TheEnglishness
ofGothic:Theories
and
interpretations
fromV/illiamGilpintoJ.H.Parker",Architectural
History,volume45,2002,pp.325-46.
73.Brooks,pp.24-25.
published
74.Subsequently as"TheThoReligions:or,TheQuestion
Settled,
WhichIsthe0ldestChurch,
theAnglican
ortheRomish?" London: 1841.
75.lbid,p.14.
/'l
re
 NEWFOUNDLANDGOTHIC

Connecting these ideas to ones akeady establishedabout the ancientnessand

Englishnessof Gothic is not difficult. Religion and architecture areseenascomplementary
streamsin a historical progressionthat affirms the legitimacy of the English nation,
its EstablishedChurch, its native architecture, and their apparentdate with destiny.
The perceivedmain obstacle,inevitably, is Romanism. In his preface,Bridge cited
Newfoundland as a colony "where the errors combatedin thesepages are fearfully
prevalent", and, citing the progressmade on the Catholic cathedraldiscussedabove,76
published his sermon in the hope of raising money for the erection of an Anglican
cathedralin St. John's.77His appealwasaimed at "those pious and benevolentpersons
who wish to strengthenthe Church againsther active and powerful enemy."78
The contribution ofthe CambridgeCamden Societyto this situation was to define,in a
more systematicandexplicit way than had yet beenattempted,just what the architectural
face of the Church of England should look like - and to enforce that definition as
rigorously and relentlesslyas possible.Their goal was to initiate a "scienceof church
architecture and church affangement...the rules of which ought to be followed as strictly
as those of any other science."Te
The Society launched its periodrcal, TheEcclesiologist,
in 1841,in orderto:
...point out defects
in church-building, and infringementsof religiousreyerence
or ecclesiastical
propriety,with theobjectof putting a timelystopto errorswhich,if unchecked, wouldprobabty
multiply, and with thefull dispositionto attributethemto an inconsideratefollowing
of custom,
and thelongdisuseof an adequate studyof soundprincipbsand models3o
With these words began one of the most influential publications in the history of
church architecture.Suchwas the rise of the journal's star that by the beginning of 1844,
the Society could confidently publish a list of "architects approved" (which included,
unsurprisingly,their favouritesWilliam Butterfieldand R.C. Carpenter),and"architects
condemned"(which included Sir CharlesBarcy,co-designerof the ParliamentBuilding at
Westminster).8lThose affthatedto the High Church movementwere their natural allies,
including TheBritish Critic, which noted approvingly in 1843 that TheEcclesiologisl was
proceeding "with increasingspirit and abIlity", and that the periodical was providing

76.Seepp.44-5above.
77.Bridge,pp.
v-vi.
p.vi.
78.Bridge,
79.TheEcclesiologist,volume p. 145.
8, 1847,
80.TheEcclesiologist,volume
1,number1.November, p.iv.
1841,
81.TheEcclesiologisd
volumeIII, April1844.
lL
ffi
 CRISISIN THE COLONIALCHLIRCH

an invaluable serviceby "collecting and analyzrngfacts... and [supplying] judicious

criticisms."82
This is not to say that the CambridgeCamden Society'sviews went unopposed.
Viewing their extraordinarysuccessin hindsight(asCrook said,they had someimpact on
the appeatanceof virtually every Anglican church in the world), it is easyto neglectthe
fact that their views were vigorously contestedby Anglicans who were not High Church
supporters.One vehiclefor the views of thosewho contestedthem - the Low Church
equivalentto TheBritishCritic-was the periodical TheRecord.TheHigh Church Tractarians,
accordingto TheRecord,wereattemptingto separatethe Church of England from its heroic
reformers,and "to unite us to the deadbodiesof the Greek and Romish Churches."83 As
for the CambridgeCamden they
Society, were an enemy of the Church whose unmasking
could not comesoonenough. TheRecord'sviews are summarrzedwith admirableclarity in
abitingletter publishedin 1843,entitled "Doings of the CamdenSociety":
that theChristianpublicshouldbeawareof itsrealaims...It is composed
...1think it desirable
of a numberof assiduous younggentlemen, chieflyin statu pupillan, whooccupytheirvacations
in measuring churchwindowsandchancel-arch mouldingswith leadentape,andthenin Term
time issuinginstructionsto the churchwardens of an empire...theseyoungadeptsat church
architecturearesomewhatsystematicallyseektngto aid the Oxford[Tractarian] movementin
favour of the old superstitions;and in the midstof a greatdealof trashthereis muchalsothat
is reallymischievous...sa
To drive the point home, the letter is signedsimply with the provocativepseudonym
"Latimer", afterthe Protestantmaftyr burned at Oxford (alongwith Ridley and Cranmer)
in 1555.
As the abovequotationssuggest,the most seriousaccusationagainstthe Cambrrdge
Camden Societywas that it was too closeto Popery (i.e.,Roman Catholicism).This
issuewas brought to aheadin 1845,when John Henry Newman, one of the foundersof
the OxfordTractarian movement,was receivedinto the Roman Catholic Church after
an agonizingperiod of indecision(he had resignedhis Anglican vicaragein 1843).The
effectof Newman's flirtation with and eventualdefectionto Roman Catholicism on the
Cambridge Camden Society was electric. TheEcclesiologistcontinued publication, but, in
theory at least, formally separateditself from the CambrrdgeCamden Society."It was

number
XXXI\r,
82.TheBritishCritic,volume 1843,p.522.
LXVIII,October,
83.TheRecord,January number
5,1843, 1.p.578.
84.TheRecord,Jantary 1.p.>79.
),1843.number
/-5
re
 NE\\'FOUNDLANDGOTHIC

found to be a most difficult, if not impossible,task", they explainedwith impressivelycool-

headedevasiveness, to "fairly and fully representthe views of a numerousand fluctuating
Committee..."85 In the Report on the forty-firstmeetingof the Society,in March 1845,it
was recordedthat the Bishopsof Exeter and Lincoln had resignedfrom the Cambridge
Camden Society,and that the formerhadpublicly repudiatedit.86In consequence,the
Committeerecommendedthat the CambridgeCamdenSocietybe dissolved.87 Dissolved
the Societyduly was. It was subsequentlyre-brandedthe EcclesiologicalSociety,moved
its headquartersfrom Cambridgeto London, re-establishedits connectionwith its briefly
orphaned publication TheEcclesiologist, and essentially carried on as before.
One of the next stepswas for the Ecclesiologiststo distancethemselvesfrom Pugin. As
a Roman Catholic convert,Pugin had alwayshad an uneasyrelationshipwith the High
Anglican Church, their total adoption of his architectural principles notwithstanding.
TheBritish Criticheld his architecturein the highest esteem.In a review of severalnew
church buildings in 1840,they noted with regretthat the only one with greatmerit was
a Roman Catholic chapelin Derby by Pugin:
To a memberof the Churchof England this is indeeda painfully beautifulstructure.We
introduceit into our pageswith the intention of communicatingto othersthepain wefeel
and of provingalsothat it is not, asmany appearto think, in somesortphysically
ourselues,
impossibleto build realchurches
in thenineteenth century.ss
The ideasunderlying Pugin'sarchitecturewere anothermatter entirely.In a scathing
review of Contrasfs, they praised the attractivenessof the drawing, concededthat Pugin
was the finest Gothic architect of the age. The arguments in his text, however, were
condemned as childish, inapproprrate (in deliberatecontradiction of Pugin's title,
"...accompanied by appropriatetext"), and "scarcelyworth reading." "Mr. Pugin ought
never to write," they concluded, "when he can draw so infinitely better... Homer was
blind, and Mr. Pugin cannot argve."8e
For the EcclesiologicalSociety,the Newman crisis made the clarification (perhaps
"adjustment" is a more approprrateword) of their relationship with Pugin a pressing
political necessity.They did so in an article publishedin 1846,entitled "The Artistic

85.TheEcclesiologis
t, newseries p.2.
volumeI, 1845,
85.Ibid,p.71.
87.Ibid,p.71.
88.TheBritishCritic,volumeXXVIII,October, pp.512-13.
1840,
89.TheBritishCritic,volumeXXV,number L,I839,p.480.
/-6
ffi
 CRISISIN THE COLONIALCHURCH

Merit of Mr. Pugin." e0They had, they emphasized,greatrespectfor Pugin, but he had
sadly and singularly failed to live up to his potential. No one would be happier than the
Society,they assuredtheir readers,if Pugin could prove himself to be the architectthey
had oncebelievedhim to be,rather than the one his recentworks revealedhim to be. In
short, Pugin had beenvaluableto them, but had outlived his usefulness.Just a few years
later, tn 1852,Pugin conveniently died at the ageof forty.
Although the Societyhad apparentlydodgeda bullet, opponentssuch as TheRecord
always suspectedit of Popery. These suspicionswould even follow it to the colonies.
Amid the chaosand acrimony of the fateful forty-first meeting, it was also reported
that two men had been admitted by acclamationas patrons of the CambridgeCamden
Society:The Lord Bishop of New Brunswick, John Medley, and the Lord Bishop of
Newfoundland, Edward Feild.e1
Having publicly clearedtheir conscienceof too close a relationship with Pugin,
the EcclesiologicalSociety could pursue other weighty matters - one of which was
establishingapproprrateguidelines for the building of churchesin the colonies.They
began the systematictackling of this issuewith a seriesof articles rn TheEcclesiologist
entitled "Colonial Church Architecture", publishedbetween L847and 1850.The series
beganin responseto a requestfrom the Bishopof Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), for
aid in adaptrngGothic for a cathedralin a tropical climate. In addition to Ceylone2,articles
in the sporadicfourteen-partseriesdiscussedchurchesproposed,planned and built in
Tasmaniae3,Adelaideea, Guianaes,Calcuttae6,SydneyeT, Newfoundlande8,Frederictonee
and CapeTown100. The articlesare a seriesof adhoc casestudiesratherthan a systematic
exploration of the topic, but certain generalprinciples do emerye.That the style must
be Gothic is a premise, rutherthan a point of argument. "Middle Pointed" (Decorated)
is preferred, although "First Pointed" (Early English) is certainly acceptableif that is

!0. "TheArtisticMeritof Mr.Pugin",TheEcclesiologist,volume pp.10-15.

1845,
V,numberT,January
March
91.TheEcclesiologist, 1845,p.71.
t, volume7,1847,
92.TheEcclesiologis pp.168-171 pp.88-!2.
; volume8, 1847,
93.TheEcclesiologkt,volume 8, 1847,pp.
86-8.
94.TheEcclesiologist,volume pp.I4I-2.
8, 1847,
95.TheEcclesiologist,volume8,1847,pp.I42-IQ;volume 9,1848,pp. pp.193-4.
10,1849,
181-7;volume
95.TheEcclesiologist,volume8, 1848,pp.265-71;volume 10, p.I93.
1849,
97.TheEcclesiologist,volume8, 1848,pp.Z7I-4;volume 10,1850,pp.327-30.
98.TheEcclesiologis
t, volume8, 1848,pp.
274-9; volume 9, pp.
1849, 215-17
.
volume
99.TheEcclesiologist, 8, 1848,pp.36l-3;volume 10, pp.I)2-3.
1849,
100.TheEcclesiologist,volume10,1849,pp.101-02.
LI
re
 NEWFOUNDLANDGOTHIC

all that funds will allow. While English Gothic models must be adheredto as strictly
as possible,allowancescan and indeed should be made for local climatic conditions
(especiallyin extreme instanceslike Colombo) and the availability (or lack thereof) of
local building expertise and craftsmen. Stone is the itrefercedmaterial, but alternatives
suchasbrick or evenwood canbeusedwhen necessary.If local building traditions offer
any useful lessonsin buildingfor local circumstances, theselessonsshouldbe adopted.
This willingness to adapt to local circumstancesrepresentsa slow shift in the thinking
of the EcclesiologicalSociety.Their earlierwritings were rigidly prescriptiveon matters
of design - medieval models were to be followed as closely as humanly possible.For
example,A Few Wordsto Churchbuilders (1841)contains an eighteen-pageappendix listing
"fonts,windows and roodscreensintendedto serveasmodels.tt10l [1the oppositeextreme
of Ecclesiologicalthought, both conceptually andchronologically,is TheEnglishCathedral
of theNineteenthCentury,written by one of the founding membersof the Society,A.J.B.
BeresfordHope, in 1861.In it, Hope declares:
Wehaveoutgrownthe literal reproduction of theparticularphaseof Gothicwhichprevailed
in Englandbetween 1250and 1370,but weneednot haw outgrownmakingthat ourpoint of
departure,tf it is in itself worthy of the selection.Weneednot beafraid of adoptingit as the
platformuponwhichweareto constructour ownsuperiorstyle...t02
Thesewords would have been unthinkable in 1841.The commentarieson colonial
church-building in TheEcclesiologistfall between these extremes. On the one hand,
English Gothic - particularly Decorated,or "second Pointed" - is unquestionablythe
ultimate exemplarand the perfectembodimentof architecturaland moral virtue. On the
other hand, Butterfield's(unexecuted)designfor Adelaide Cathedralis praisedfor 'Just
the individuality which we admire in our ancient church€s,"103 and a year later George
Gilbert Scottwould be crrticizedfor alackof originality in Newfoundland.l0aThe precise
formula for pleasingthe Ecclesiologistsremained a moving target.
With the developmentsdiscussedin this chapter,most of the necessarypieceswere in
place for Gothic to come to Newfoundland. Edward Wix and John Inglis provided the
necessarysenseofurgency, while the SPG (with support from allies llke TheBritish Critic)

101.Thishugelyinfluential
pamphlet,longoutofprintandveryrare,wasrecently re-published
bySpireBooks.
See
ed.,'Temples...
ChristopherWebster, Worthy ofHisPresence':theEarlyPublicationsoftheCambrirtge
Camden
SogietyrReading: 2003,AFeu Wordsto Churchbuilders is reproducedin facsimile,pp.133-92;
rheappendix
referred
to ispp.159-92.
102.AJ.B.BeresfordHope,TheEnglishCathedralof theNineteenth Century,London:186I,pp.3Z-3.
T03.TheEcclesiologist,volume
8,1847,p.14lr.
104.TheEcclesiologisd
volume8, 1848,p.277.
/'B
ffi
 CRISISIN THE COLONIAL CHURCH

providedaggressive moral support,influencein the Mother Country,and evensome

funds.The intellectualframeworkand designparametersfor the colonialGothic came
from the Cambidge Camden/Ecclesiological Society,drawing on a well established
body of ideascirculatingaroundarchitectureand Englishness. It remairiedfor the
Churchof Englanditselfto seizethe reinsand act.
 T:I:

fltflPTtRTilRtt
The
firtablilhed
fturch
Repondr

At the time when Archdeacon Wix wrote his Journal, Newfoundland was in the
dioceseofNova Scotia,which also includedNew Brunswick, Prince Edward Island,
and Bermuda. This in fact representeda reduction in the size of the diocese,which
had also included Upper and Lower CanadauntillT93.r After raising the alarm so
vigorously in 1838,the SPG announcedwith greatsatisfactionthe following year
"the formation of the provincesof Upper Canadaand Newfoundland into separate
dioceses."2The Rev. Dr. John Strachan(1778-1867), Archdeacon of Toronto, and
the Rev. Dr. Aubrey George Spencer(1795-1872),Archdeaconof Bermuda (which
was now patof the new dioceseof Newfoundland), were to be their respective
bishops.The dioceseof Nova Scotiaremained, however,somewhatunwieldy. In
1843,the SPG was "compelled to acknowledgethat little has been done for New
Brunswick."3They were more pleasedto report someprogressin a proposal to
createa new dioceseof New Brunswick, and by 1845were ableto report:
...thegreateventof theyear is,of course,theseparationof New Brunswickfromthe diocese
of Nova Scotia,and its erectioninto an independentSee,underthe title of the Bishopricof
Fredericton.a

1. Fora usefulfact:ualhistoryof thedioceses

of whatis nowCanada before1!28,seeOwsley RobertRowley,
TheAnglicanEpiscopate of Canadaand Narfoundland,Milwaukee andLondon:1928.
2. IncorporatedSocietyforthePropagationof tbeGospelin ForeignParts.ReportfortheYear1839,London:
1839,p.28.
3. IncorPoratedSociety
for thePropagationof tbeGoEelin ForeignParts.ReportfortbeYear1843,London:
p.XXX.
1843,
4. IncorporatedSociety
for tbePropagationof tbeGospelin ForeignParts.Reportflr tbeYear1845,London:
p.L-LL
1845,
5l
I.
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

3-1- St.JamestheLess,
Philadelphia,
fromthesouth-west.
Photographby
Pierre du Prey.

On Sunday, May4,1845,TheRev.JohnMedleyD.D.(I804-92)was conse$atedBishop

of Frederictonin LambethPalaceChapel,andleft for New Brunswicktwo weekslater.s
Although the dioceseof Newfoundlandhad a six-yearheadstart, it was in New
Brunswick,underthe leadershipof JohnMedley,that Ecclesiological Gothic got its
first footholdin British North America. Indeed,in all of North America, the only
Ecclesiologically correctcontemporarywith the earliestof Medley'swork was the
Churchof St. Jamesthe Less,Philadelphia(built 1846-49)(figure3-t;.0It was John
Medley,alongwith architectFrank Wills, who established the architecturalpath that
Newfoundlandwould very soon afterfollow. Their work marksthe beginningof the
architecturalresponse to the crisisin thecolonialChurchin theAtlanticProvinces. Thus,
it is impoftantbackgroundto - andsometimes an interestingcontrastwith - subsequent
developments in Newfoundland.

5. Ibid,p.LL
5. 0n St.;amestheLess,seePhoebe TheGothicRwiual andAmericanChurcbArcbitecture:
Stanton, an Episode
in Taste1840-1856,Baltimore
andLondon : 1968,pp.)1-127.
5Z
wt
I THE ESTABLISHED
CHURCH RESPONDS

The position of the Anglican Church in New Brunswick was in some important
respectsanalogousto its position in Newfoundland, in that although it was the established
Church of the Mother Country, it was a minority in the colony itself. Gregg Finley has
pointed out that it was not just Romanism, but vigorous Protestantismthat threatened
the position of the Anglican Church in New Brunswick:
...fTheAnglican]Churchwasfracturedinto "high" and "10w"camps,did not enjoyveryclose
Episcopal andwasswampedby
supervision, themoreffiaive ministriesof thePresbytaians,
Baptis8
andMethodistswhosenumbers rapidlyincreases
throughouttheprovinceduringthisperiod,T
As Medley himself put rt rn 1847(in terms that createa striking contrast with the
tone of Edward Wix):
Let usremember that thoughwehavetruth, wehavenot numberson our sidein thisprovince:
it becomesus thereforeto be "modestand humblein our ministration,"not speaktngof other
bodiesof Christianswith a bitternesswhich will do us no good,and the Churchall possible
harm: but letting themseethat we respecttheir zeal,and honourtheirpiety, thoughwe believe
our ownsystemto betruerand moreffiaualfor good.8
Yearslater, in a letter to William Ewart Gladstone,Medley comparedthe situation
of the Anglicans in New Brunswick to that of its sisterChurch in Ireland:
Our Churchin N. Brunswickis,in onerespect,in thesamepositionwith thelrish, that itforms a
smallfractionof thepopulation,and that thelrish andFrencharea majorityof ourpeople.e
Nevertheless,great expectationswere attachedtoMedley's appointment.In1847,tn
an otherwise gloomy article lamenting the lack of architectural expertiseamong colonial
saw one ray of hope:
clergy, TheEcclesiologist
...onePrelate,theBishopof Fredeiaon, ltasbothknowledge
and will, and will doubtless
do a
greatdealin his diocese.lo

7. AlanGreggFinley,NewBrunswi,ck's GothicReuiual:JohnMedleyand theAesthetics ofAnglicanWorship,

unpublished of NewBrunswick,
Ph.D.thesis,University 1989,p. 48.Muchof thematerialfromthisenormously
studywasincluded
valuable published
in a subsequent workbyFinley:0n EarthasIt IsIn Heauen: Gothic
Reuiual
Churchesof VictorianNewBrunswick,Fredericton: 1995.
8.A Chargedeliueredat hisprimary uisitationheldin ChristChurchCathedral, Fredericton,August24, 1847.
ByJohn,Bishopof Fredericton,Fredericton:
1847,p. 2).
9.JohnMedley toWilliamEwertGladstone, April15,1869, add.44420
BritishLibraryManuscripts f.120.
volume
10.TheEcclesiologisd 7.1847.p. 15.
5l
x
 \E\\ t]OLI\Dt,\ND GOTHIC

Medley had come to the attention of the Society severalyears earlier.In the debut
issueof TheEcclesiologkt, they drew attention to the tract "Elementary Remarkson Church
Architectt)re",which Medley (then Secretaryof the ExeterDiocesanArchitectural Society,
as well as vicar of St. Thomas, Exeter)had written'and the Ecclesiologistscould "most
safelyrecommend."llThe "remarks" are indeed, it must be said, "elementaty" - the
publication is really little more than abrtef (thirty-nine page)synopsisof the stylesof
English medieval architecture.t2One of the most intriguing commentsis at the very
beginningof the book. "In the Middle Ages,"Medley wrote, "the Clergywere frequently
the architectsas well as the guardiansof the Church..."13Historically inaccurateas this
may be, it assignsconsiderablearchitectural authority and responsibilityto the clergy.
Although Medley never attemptedto designhis own architecture,he was a singularly
learnedand discriminating architecturuIpatron The combinedjob of clergyman/architect
would in fact be filled by his son, Edward Medley (1838-1910) - as well as two very
significant counterpartsin Newfoundland, who will be discussedin ChapterFive.
On May 9, 1848,John Medley gavean addressto the EcclesiologicalSociety in
which he outlined preciselywhat was wrong with the church architecturethat he found
upon his arrival as bishop three years earlier.laUntil very recently,Medley said, there
were no "correct" (by which he meant Ecclesiologicallycorrect) churchesto be found
in North America, let alone New Brunswick. The typical church building, apparently
"borrowed from the buildings erectedby the Puritans",lsconsistedof a rectangularbox
often forty by twenty-eightfeet,often without a chancel,with aflatroof and no exposed
timbers on the ceiling inside. The tower, which was "poor andthin", often terminated
in a spire. The pulpit usually occupiedthe place of the altar, obscuringthe Iatter from
view. The windows might be square,round-archedor pointed, and were often covered
with "greenVenetianblinds to keep out light and heat." There were usually two stoves,
which "sent their long arms throughout the entire building, meeting in the centre and
going up through the roof." The pews were usually square,and sold by auction to the
highestbidder. The sacramentalplatewas cheap and, accordingto Medley, ugly.
Apartfrom theflatroof, this descriptionwould fit most of the churchesdiscussedin
ChapterOne. Their one redeemingfeature,in Medley's eyes,was that they were mostly
madeof wood, and thereforeunlikely to last long. In his Chargeof 1847,he statedthat it

1,p. 15.
II. TheEcclesiologist,volume
12.JohnMedley,ElementaryRemarkson Church Architecture,
Exeter:
1841.
lJ. Ibid,p.5.
14."ColonialChurchArchitecture. IX."TheEcclesiologist,
Chapter volume8, 1848,pp,36I-3.
15.Ibid,p.351.
54
ffi
 THE ESTABLISHED
CHURCHRESPONDS

had beenhis aim to "raisethe generalstandardof reverentialfeeling...by building a new

Cathedral."16 That project was still incomplete,but he also expressedhis thankfulness
for the chapelthat had beenbuilt in Fredericton,which had "been the meansof leading
personsto attend our serviceswho were systematicallyexcludedfrom them."r7The chapel
rcfercedto is St. Anne's Chapel, Fredericton,which was the first piece of architecture
completedin North America to conform to the principlesof the EcclesiologicalSociety.ls
The "Report on the Quarterly Meeting of the ExeterDiocesanArchitectural Society" (of
which Medley had beenfounder and first Secretary'e) reportedon a perspectivedrawing
of the chapelthat they had received,chancteizingthe chapelas "avery chasteexample",
and "probably the first church finished in America exhibitrng a satisfactory knowledge
of the Pointed Style."20The EcclesiologicalSocietywas, unsurprisingly, ecstatic:
. . .forthefirst time,theinhabitantsof NewBrunswickhave.. . theopportunityof learntngwhat
wastheintentionand truespirit of thosevenerableservices
whichtheyhaveinheritedfromtheir
MotherChurchof England.2l
That chapel,which the Ecclesiologists considereda turning point in North American
architecture, is still extant and remarkably intact. The architect was Frank Wills, an
Exeter native brought by Medley to New Brunswick, who went on to become one of
the most important Gothic Revival architectsin the United States(and an influential
Member of the New York EcclesiologicalSociety22) before his premature death at age
thirty-four in 1857.The cornerstonewas laid on May 30,1846, and the consecration
took placeon March 18, 1847.23 St. Anne's is a two-cell chapel consisting of nave and

15.EdwardMedley,lChargeDeliueredat hisPrimary Visitationheldin ChristChurchCathedral,Fredericton,

August24, 1847,Fredericton: 1845, p.35.
17.Ibid,p.34.Those"whoweresystematically excluded" refersto thepractice pews,
of sellingor auctioning to which
Medley wasvehemently opposed.Hisstrong andwell-argued position onthisdrewgreatpraise fromEcclesiologists.
In
1844,before Medley's
accessionasBishop, TheEcclesiologistmakes mention of"Mr.Medley's strongargument against
pews. , . [in which]hedemolishes thearguments in Mr.Scobell'sFew Thoughts 6c.",volume 3,I844,pp.14S-!.
18.In thePreface tohis1955M.A.thesis, Douglas Richardson makes it veryclearthatSt.Anne's, ratherthananywork
byRichardUpjohn, wasthefirst"complete example of Ecclesiologicalworkin NorthAmerica." SeeDouglas Scott
Richardson, ChristChurchCathedral, Fredericton, Neu Brunsuick,unpublished M.A.thesis,
YaleUniversity:
I)65,p.v.
19,TheEcclesiologist, volume9,1848,p.59.
20,TheEcclesiologist,volume 8,1847,p. 103.
2L TheEcclesiologist,volume 8, 1847, p. 375.
22.TheEcclesiologisd volume9,1849, p.331r
23.SeeWilliamQuintardKetchum, "Chapter VIII: St.Anne'sChapel-LayingFoundation Stone - Consecration
of Chapel- Bishop's Sermon", TheLifeand Workof theMostReuerend John Medley, D.D.. FirstBishopof
Fredericton and metropolitan of Canada,SaintJohn: 18!1.
55
re
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

chancel (figure 3-2). koadly speaking, it

resemblesSt. Michael's, Long Stanton
(figure 3-3) - a church cited by the
Ecclesiologistsas an appropriatemodel for
the colonies - except that aII windows are
lancets(i.e., Early English Gothic rather
than Decorated).The west (figure 3-4) front
has five graduatedlancet windows flanked I

by corner buttresses.A string courseat sill

level runs around all sidesof the building.
The steeppitch of the graduatedlancets is
matched exactly by the pitch of the roof. At
the apexof the fagadeis an openbelfry with
three bells. At the east end, the chancelis
a distinctly separateunit - arl important
3-2-St. Anne'sChapel,
Fredericton,
NewBrunswick, Ecclesiological principle - narrower in width than the nave and with a lower roofline.
exteriorfromsouth. The south side has four lancet windows (with the string courseat sill level) andasteeply
gabledporch, which is the main entrance. The porch has a trefoil pattern (possibly
symbolizing the Trinity) in the gableand an impeccableEarly English Gothic doorway
(figure 3-5), with attachedshafts,moulded capitals, and faultlesslyreproduceddogtooth
ornament in the arch. Every detail is meticulously authentic, from the label stops atthe
end of the hood mould, to the elaboratecurvilinear ironwork on the door itself. The
matertal, according to Medley, is:
...hardgrqt sandstonq
hammer-dressed,
andtheweatheingsandbell-gable
areof hardfreestone
of thecountry.'2{
The dimensions areforty-two feet in height, twenty-one in width, and seventy-seven
feet in length, including a twenty-foot chancel.zs
The interior of St. Anne's does no lessjustice to its medieval models and to
Ecclesiologicaldoctrine (figure 3-6).The naveis toppedby a steeplypitched,opentimber
ceiling, contrastingsharplywith the"flatroofs and no exposedtimbers" that Medley had
decriedin earlierNew Brunswick churches.26 The naveis separatedfrom the chancelby

24.TheEcclesiologist,volume p.362.
8, 1848,
25.\bid,p.362.
8, 1848,p.351-2.
25.TheEcclesiologist,volume
56
iiif
 TIIE ESTABLISHED
CHURCHRESPONDS

3-3(A)- St.Michael's,
LongStanton,
fromthenorth-west.
Photograph
bv MalcolmThurlbv.
3-4(B) - St.Anne's Chapel,
Fredericton,NewBrunswick,
exteriorfromwest.
3-5(C)- St.Anne's Chapel,
Fredericton,NewBrunswick,
southdoor.
3-6 (D) - St.Anne's Chapel,
Fredericton,NervBrunsrvick,
interiorto east.

re
\ l : \ \ I ' ( ) L I \ l ) 1 . \ \ D C ; O TIII C

3-7 (A) - St.Anne'sChapel,Fredericton,

NewBrunswick,chancelscreen.
3-8 (B) - St.Anne'sChapel,Fredericton,
NewBrunswick,chancel.
3-9 (C) - Tbe Greenat Fredericton,
byJamesCharlesArmytageafter William
HenryBartlett, 1842.
Provincial
Archives
ofNewBrunsrvick.
Miscellaneous
photographs,
P37463-1.
 T H E E S T A BI S
I I I : I ) C - I I I R C 'II R I ] S P O N D S

atall chancelarch and an open, intricatelycarvedwooden chancelscreen(figure 3-7)

that announcesthe importanceof the spacebeyond,but doesnot obstructthe view. The
roof, seats,altar screen,altar and sedilraare of butternut. The endsof the seatsdisplay
sixteenvarietiesof tracerypattern.2TThe pulpit standsdiscreetlyto the north of the chancel
arch,maintaining the visual focuson the altarbeyond.The chancel'sslightly raisedfloor
surface(two steps)is decoratedwith patternedMinton28tiles, as is the dado of the east
wall (figure 3-8). Elaborate stenciling on the east wall surrounds the graduatedtriple
lancetwidows. In keepingwith Ecclesiologtcalprinciples, the decorationof the chancelis
noticeablymore elaboratethan that in the nave.
This is a truly revolutionarybuilding for BritishNorth America. Gonearethe flat ceilings
and stovepipesfound elsewhereby Medley,the boxy woodengalleriesof the early Gothic
Revival in Newfoundland, and the flimsy, insubstantralappeatanceof Commissioners'
Gothic everywhere.St. Anne's is Gothic not just in its detailing,but in its proportions,
massing,monumentality(its modestsizenotwithstanding),useof materials, atd liturgical
arrangement.Consideredin the context of Medley's description of New Brunswick
churches,and of everychurchdiscussed in ChapterOne,it is an extraordinarilyconvincing
performance.It remaineda key piecein its architect'sportfolio, andwasgivenpride of place
in his book AncientEnglishArchitecture and itsPrinciples.2e
St.Anne's is a tangibleaffirmation
of Medley'sbelief that the church ought to be a "separateplace,markedout by special
dedication."30In his sermonat the dedicationof the chapel,he expressed the wish:
In thisplacemay many a sluggishsoul bequickenedto a senseof duty, many a wandererbe
recalled,manya consistent
Christianbeedified,manya mournerwipeawayhis tears.3l
Whether or not Medley got his wish is not known; what is known is that many a
church building followed in St. Anne's Ecclesiologicalfootsteps.Even beforeSt. Anne's
had begun, work had started on Medley's Cathedralin Fredericton. On arriving in
Fredericton, Medley inherited a church that would have fit in all too well with those
he describedto the EcclesiologicalSociety (figure 3-9). "The Green at Fredericton",

27.These arefromMedley's
details of St.Anne's
description inTheEcclesiologisd
volume p.352.
8, 1848,
28.Ibid,p.352.MintonwasnostrangertoGothicRevivalarchitecture:
seePaulAtterbury,"Ceramics",
PaulAtterbury
andCliveWainwright, eds.,
Pugin:A GothicPasszbz,NewHaven andLondon1994,pp.143-52.
29.FrankWills,AncientEnglishArchitecture
and itsPrinciples,Appliedto theWantsof theChurch,at thePresent
Day,NewYork 1850.
Theappendix,
whichisaseriesofillustrations
ofWills'works,
includes adrawing
andextended
discussion
ofSt.Anne's.
30.JohnMedley,TheStaffofBeautyand theStaffofBands:A SermonPreached in St.Anne'sChapel,
Fredericton,
ontheDayofitsConsecration,March 18,ls4T,byJohn,BishopofFrederictoz,saintJohn 1847,p.5.
31.Ibid,p.21.
59
re
 Nh\\.FOU\Dl.\\D GOTHIC

a parntrrgby James-CharlesArmytage (ca. 1820-97)after William Henry Bartlett

(1809-54),32showson the right avery box-like structure in the pattern of JamesGibbs'
St. Martin-in-the-Fields, with a low-pitched roof, a pediment above the west door,
rusticatedwindow jambs, emphasizedquoins, and a tower with a needle-likespire
joined to slendercorner pinnacles by arms that bear a curious resemblanceto flying
buttresses.Notwithstanding its Classicaldecorativedetails,it is very similar in massing
and configuration to the Newfoundland Commissioners'Gothic discussedin Chapter
One, and canbe assumedto be similarly arrangedon the inside.
The buildingthat Medley commissionedas a replacementhas been well
documentedby Douglas Richardsonand Gregg Fin1ey.33 The model was
St. Mary's Church in Snettisham,alarge,fourteenth-centuryparish churchin
Norfolk, which Wills had visitedin the winter of 1844-5.3a
The eastend,however,
presenteda problem: the usual parish church affangement,where the chancel
is articulated by a lower roofline, was not consideredsufficiently dignified for
a church of cathedralstatus.Severalsolutionsto the crossingand eastend were
entertained.A curious versionwith transeptaltowersand spires(figure 3-10),
presumablyinspired by Exeter Cathedral, was shown in the IllustratedLondon
Newsin 1849and attrlbutedto the patronageof "The Rev. Dr. Mabley" (sic).35
Medley appealeddirectly to the EcclesiologicalSocietyboth for architectural
adviceand for funding.36 The resultwasthe "kind andgratuitoussuperintendence
of W. Butterfield,Esq.,"who supplieda sketchfor atower and eastend. That
designwas "sent out to many places,"and was "universallyapproved."37 This
was adopted,along with a very grandeastwindow with flowing tracerycopied
from the medievalone at SelbyAbbey in Yorkshire.
The result drew greatpraisein Ecclesiologicalcircles.As late as 1861,it
was still spokenof in glowing termsby A.J.B. BeresfordHope:
3-10- ChristChurchCathedrzl,
Fredericton,
NewBrunswick. Fredericton...,the capital of New Brunswick,possesses acathedral,which, althoughof
Fromthe lllustrated London News,
No.359,Vol.XN, reb.24 1849. small size,is yet of a thoroughlyappropriatecharacterin its architecture,and still morein

32.Provincial
Archives
ofNewBrunswick,PS-217.
33.Richardson,
Christ
ChurchCathedral.
. .;Fin\ey,Neu
Brunswick'sGothicReuiual& 0n EarthasIt IsIn Heauen.
34.Richardson,ChristChurchCathedral...,p.4I,citesTheCourier,jtne2s,Is|sasthesourceforthisinf
35."TheCathedral,Fredericton,
NewBrunswick, NorthAmerica",ThelllustratedLondonNews,number368,
volumeXIV,April281849,
p.276.
36."ColonialChurch
Architecture.
Chapter IX."TheEcclesiologist,volume
8, 1848,pp.35I-3.
37.TheEcclesiologist,
volume p.352;alsoRichardson,
8, 1848, chapter 5:"ModernGothicandtheCompletion ofthe
60 Cathedral".
ffi
 THE ESTABLISHED
C}ILIRCII RTSPO\DS

its services...The building... is very

small, and is destituteof transepts.Still,
from the concurrenttestimonyof all who
haveseenit, it unmistakablypossesses the
cathedralcharacte4while the arrangements
for diocesangatheringsare very ample in
proportionto thegeneraldimensions.3s
Medley's cathedral is not an advance
over St. Anne's in terms of adherence
to Ecclesiological principles (in that
respect, St. Anne's is nearly perfect),
but it is certainly an advancein richness
and sophistication. The west fagade
(figure 3-11),with its triple-archedporch
and magnificent window of flowing
-ChristChurchCathedral,
tracery,is a closecopy of Snettisham.The 3-11(A)
Fredericton,
NewBrunswick,westfagade.
aislesof the five-bay nave (figure 3-12)also 3-12(B) - ChristChurchCathedral,
have generouswindows of flowingtracery Fredericton,
NewBrunswick,
naveexterior
fromthesouth.
in pairs that match north to south, but vary
as one movesfrom west to east.This love ofvariation is a very English feature,
and not restrictedto DecoratedGothic.3eThe secondbayof the south side
of the nave is taken up with a porch. The central tower rises abovea chapel
(to the south) and organ loft (to the north) that read externally as transepts
(figure 3-13).The current spire, avery slenderSalisbury-likedesign,replaced
the original broach-spire(figure 3-14)after aftrein 1911.The small choir (three
short bay$ includes vestries that read externally as aisles,with small, round
openingsat clerestorylevel that, curiously, are not visible inside. The eastend
(figure 3-15)is dominatedby the spectacularSelby-inspiredwindow, which
now presidesaboveMedley's grave.Like St. Anne's, the exterior of Christ
Church Cathedralis a convincing evocationof Gothic, greatlyenrichedby
the variety of tracery patterns.The complex,picturesquemassingis brought
into taut, vertical focusby the central tower and spire (if perhapsslightly more
harmoniouslyby the lessslenderoriginal spire).

38. AJ.B.Beresford
Hope,TheEnglishcathedralof theNineteenthCentury,London:185t,p. !5. !*ts!q6*"-*
39. Forexample,seeMalcolmThurlbl'andYoshioKusaba,"The Naveof SaintAndrewat Stevning:A Studvof Variety
in Designin TWelfth-Centurv
Architecture
in Britain",Gesta,volume
XXX/Z,1991,
pp. 163-15.
6l
ffi
I

T,

3-13(A)- ChristChurchCathedral,
Fredericton,
NewBrunswick,
exteriorfromsouth.
3-14(B) - ChristChurchCathedral,
Fredericton,
NewBrunswick,
historicalphotograph
showingoriginalspire.
Provincial
Archives
ofNewBrunswick,
George photographs,
Taylor P5-2tr.
3-15 (C) - ChristChurchCathedral,Fredericton,NewBrunslick, exteriorfrom east.
3-16 (D) - ChristChurchCathedral,Fredericton,NewBrunsu'ick.naveinterior to east.
3-17(E) - ChristChurchCathedral,Fredericton, NervBrunsn'ick.choil interiorto east.
 THE ESTABLISHED
CHURCH RESPONDS

The interior is a fairly intimate space- as Beresford Hope

pointed out, this is not alarge building - but not without a sense
of monumentality. The tall arcade(thereis no middle story, so the
arcadereachesup to the bottom of the clerestory level) rests on
alternating round andoctagonalpiers (figure 3-16).The clerestory
fits nine windows into five bays, an unusual arcangementwhich
does have the dual benefit of letting in more light and avoiding
the broad expansesof blank wall that would have resulted
from having only five windows (the consequentlack of vertical
continuity would look strange in a French Gothic building, but
not at all out of place in an English one). The nave is coveredby
a steeplypitched hammerbeamroof - afeature of English Gothic
that Wills admired enormously.no
The choir is enteredby climbing three stepsat the east end
of the nave (figure 3-17).Beyond is the altar rail, three more
stepsto the sedilia, and finally three more to the altar. The
choir's colourful, cliff-like walls (figure 3-18)seemto anticipate
Butterfield's A11Saints,Margarct Street,of 1850-59(although the
polychromehere is stenciled,rather thanpermanent - no donor
with the meansof a BeresfordHope was availablein Fredericton).
The very tight, concentratedspatial effect, completelyfocusedon
the very opulent eastwindow, is also very Butterfield-like. It also
illustrates the Ecclesiologicalprinciple that the area around the altar should proclaim its 3-18- ChristChurch
liturgical importance in visible, architecturalterms. Cathedral.
Fredericton.
New
Brunswick.southchoirwall.
Throughout the interior of Christ Church Cathedral,canny use of detail - such as the
thicknessof the window tracery,the massiveroofbeams, and the severeyet opulent sheer
walls of the choir - givesthe buildinga senseof monumentality that beliesits relatively
modestsize.Like St. Anne's Chapel,Christ Church showcasesWills'understanding of
a spatialand structurallanguage,aswell as a decoratle one.With thesetwo buildings,
Ecclesiologyacquired a significant and influential foothold in the Atlantic coloniesof
British North America.

40.SeeWills,AncientEnglishArchitecture,
p.4J.

6l
I, ,
 NE\\'FOUNDL,\\D GOTHIC

The spread of Ecclesiologicallyinfluenced churchesthroughout New Brunswick

has also been examined by Finley and Richardson.4rAccording to Finley, the United
Empire Loyalists entering New Brunswick in the late eighteenthcentury establisheda
small but influential core of Anglicans, who, despitetheir modestnumbers,constituted
a disproportionateshareof the influential professionaland businessclass.a2 For this
Loyalist elite, the Church of England was a "bulwark againstthe cultivation of antiBritish
tendenciesin the northern wilderness."43 The parallel with Newfoundland is striking.
Although the situation in New Brunswick doesnot seemto havehad the sameurgency
- there is no New Brunswick equivalentto the sectarianrhetoric
of Edward Wix - in both coloniesa small but influential elite
coalescedaround a sharedreligious affiliation in oppositionto
perceivedthreatsto the valuesand socialstructuresof the Mother
Country. The Church of England was seenasthe guardian of those
English,middle class,Loyalist values.With the arrival of Medley,
thosevalueshad a distinct and unmistakablevisual identity in New
Brunswick: Gothic. Medley's Gothic buildings in New Brunswick,
and thosethat would follow in Newfoundland,wereto express,in
the words of New Brunswick'sLieutenantGovernorin 1845,"the
genius,the piety, and the glory of England."aa
Three exampleswill suffice to show how that "genius", and
the Ecclesiologicalforms that were understoodto be inextricable
from it, spreadthrough New Brunswick. The Church of St. James,
Long Reach,was begun in the early 1840sand consecratedon
October 30, 1845.4s Although consecratedby Medley, it was
begun before his arrival in New Brunswick, and clearly has
much more in common with the Commissioners'Gothic of its
Newfoundland contemporariesthan with St.Anne's Chapel.The
exterior (figure 3-19)is a simpleaisle-lessbox with three pointed-
arch windows on the sidesand a pointed door beneatha pointed
3-19- St.James,
long
NewBrunswick'sGothicReuiualandOnEarthasIt Is In Heauen.
4T,Finley, SeealsoDouglas
ScottRichardson,
Reach, NewBrunswick,
exteriorfromsouth-east.
"Hyperborean or,wilderness
Gothic: Ecclesiology
andthewoodChurchesofEdward
Medley",
Architecture
volume2,
1972,pp.42:74.
42.FinleyNewBrunswi,ck's three,'JohnMedley
GothicReuiual,chapter andtheReligious of Georgian
Geography
NewBrunswick", pp.99-150.
43 Ibid,p. 10!.
++.Ketchum, TheLi,feand Workof theMostReuerendJohn
Medley.
. .,p.71.
OnEarlhasIt IsIn Heat'en.p.76.
+t. Finley,
6/'
ffi
F
I

3-20- St.James,
long
Reach, NewBrunswick,
interior.
3-21- St.James,
long
Reach. NewBrunswick.
pulpit.

window on the (liturgical) west end. The roof angle, while not as shallow as that on a
Classicaltemple, falls far short of the shapeneededto invoke Gothic verticality. The
tower and spire provide somevertical accentto a massingthat is otherwise decidedly
earthbound. There is no chancel. According to Finley (whose source is the vestry
minutes),the original appearancewould havebeen even lessGothic than what we see
today,with a lower pitched roof and squarewindows.a6
The interior (figurc 3-20)is analogousto contemporariessuch as St. Peter's,
Twillingate. The barely curved, closed ceiling is similar to those at Twillingate,
St. Thomas (St. John's),and St. Paul's (Harbour Grace).A gallery sits abovethe main
entranceof the building, and may possiblyhaveoriginally run along the sidesas we11.a7
The dominant feature of the interior is the colossalpulpit at the east end (figure 3-21).
The detailing is entirely Classical,with Ionic columns, an Ionic pilaster, and dentiled
cornices.Towering aboveits surroundings,the pulpit is enteredby climbing two short
flights of steps(the secondone winding) and squeezingthrougha tiny, hinged doorway
into what feelsmore like a cockpit than a pulpit. From there the minister could survey

45.Themild"Gothicization" tookplace in 1887.Finley,

0n EarthasIt IsIn Heauen,p.76.
47. Agallerythatranaroundthreesides
wasbyfarthemorecommonconfiguration atthistime,andwouldalsoaccount
fortheotherwise unnecessaryarcade heightof thepulpit- whichwouldberoughlvlerel
piersandextraordinary
withfull galleries,
makingvisualandorulcommunication Suchgalleries,
easier. whichwereparticularly
disliked
byEcclesiologists,
couldhavebeenremoved in the1887renovations.
65
re
 \ E \ \ F O L I \ D L A N DG O T H I C

his flock, spreadout beneathhim like passengersin a spiritual vesselof which he - not
the altar,nor the Eucharist- was in command. This pieceof furniture speaksvolumes
aboutthe sermon-based, Low Church liturgy that it was clearlydesignedfor, as opposed
to the ritual-based,High Church liturgy brought by Medley.
By the time All Saints,McKeen's Corner, was built in 1861,much had changed.
BishopMedley had arcived,andwith him the High Church and EcclesiologicalGothic.
A11Saintswas designedby his son, Edward Medley, a clergyman who had had the
benefit of architectural training from William Butterfield.a8McKeen's Corner was his
first church.Although modestin scale,and cleadynot the product of abundantfinancial
resources,it is a conciseand eveningeniousapplicationof Ecclesiologicalprinciples.The
exterior (figure 3-22)is a rectangtlar box not altogetherunlike Long Reach, although
longer in relation to its width and with a much more steeplypitched roof - in other
words, properly Gothic in its proportions. Its cornparativeverticality is emphasizedby
Medley'suse of vertical wooden paneling on the exterior.Gothic windows of two lights
below a trefoil opening adorn the sides.An open belfry with a pointed spire is raised
abovethe roof near the entry porch. The chancelis not articulatedby a separatewall or
roofline (this would undoubtedlyhavebeenmore costly),but is marked by a distinctive
quatrefoilwindow on the sideand the building's only three-lightwindow on the eastend
(figure 3-23).The interior consistsof a single,continuousspacebeneatha steeplypitched,
open timber roof (figurc 3-24).The font sits near the entranceunder a canopythat also
doublesas structural support for the belfry. TWostepslead to the level of the short choir,
with the pulpit discreetlyoff to the north side,and athirdstep leadsto the altar ratl and
altar beyond (figure 3-25).Although in a somewhatmangled state,patternedmedievalist
tiles - possiblyby Minton, judging from their resemblanceto thoseat St. Anne's chapel
- decoratethe floor near the altar.The altar, simplereredos,and three-lighteastwindow
directly above,are the dominant interior features.Like St. Anne's, All Saintsis a small
chapel;but in the latter's caseneither stone,nor money,nor Frank Wills was available.
Nevertheless,Medley has managedto createa satisfyingfacsimile of Ecclesiological
values,using entirely local materials and workmanship.
All Saintswas Edward Medley's first church, but his most ambitiousby far was his
own parish church of Christ Church, St. Stephen,which was consecratedbyhis father
on September28,1864.4e Like A11Saints,Christ Church is made entirelyof wood, with
vertical board andbatten panels,although Christ Church boastsfar more elaborate

"Hyperborean
48.Richardson, .",pp.48-!.
Gothic..
4!. Finley,
OnEarthasIt IsIn Heauenp.207. "Hyperborean
SeealsoRichardson, Gothic.
.;',pp.66-7t.
66
ffi
3-22(A)- All Saints,
McKeen's Corner,
NewBrunswick, exteriorfromnorth-rvest
3-23$) - All Saints,
McKeen's Corner,
NewBrunswick, exteriorfromnorth-east.
3-24(C)- All Saints,
McKeen's Corner,
NewBrunswick, interiorto west.
3-25@) - All Saints,
McKeen's Corner,
NewBrunswick, interiorto east.

6l
GfE
 NEWFOUNDLANDGOTHIC

carpentry. The exterior of Christ Church is a large but unified

nave of six bays,with aisles,and a chancel(figure 3-26).A tower
on the south side of the church was blown down in a gale in
1869.s0A steeplypitched roof risesabovea very tall clerestory.As
Richardsonhas pointed out, the tall, compactvolumesrecall the
work of Medley's teacher,William Butterfield, atchurchessuch as
A11Saints,Margaret Street.The polychromatic paint scheme,in
which a darkercolour is usedfor the fuamingelementsand alighter
grey for the board andbatten panels, also recalls Butterfield's
polychromy, although of coursehere it is an expressionof structure
rather than a reflection of the materials. Entry is through a
polygonal west porch beneath alarge rosewindow (figure 3-27).
The interior is a remarkable"medley" of Gothic forms reahzed
3-26- ChristChurch, in woods of gently differing hues. The nave (figure 3-28)consistsof a lofty main arcade
St.Stephen, NewBrunswick, with trefoil openingsin the spandrelsbeneathvery largestar-shaped clerestorywindows.
exteriorfromnorth-west.
The roofbeams are massiveand bold, their triangulation injecting an emphaticverticality
into the space.A massivearch with open work rosettesin the spandrelsseparatesthe nave
and choir; a similar arch with a more elabonte rosewindow pattern in relief separates
the choir from the chancel.Betweenthem, rising from a floor level three stepsabovethe
nave and occupying the spaceequivalentto one navebay, is a pointed arch sub-divided
by two remarkably slender shafts with moulded capitals and delicately moulded arches
beneathtwo quatrefoil lights (figure 3-29).The chancelis marked by a more ornate roof
structure of cuspedarches, and a singularly elaborateeastwindow of five lights with
flowing tracery (figure 3-30).No individual detail is unrecognizableto anyone familiar
with English medieval architecture.Yet the ensembleis wholly original, not leastbecause
of the material. Lessthan aquarter of a century afterSt. James,Long Reach,was begun,
New Brunswick could boast Gothic of maturity and originality, while still remaining
true to Ecclesiologicalteachings.
By this time, the battle for the High Church and Gothic style in New Brunswick had,
evidently, akeadybeenwon. As early as 1852,Medley had reportedto the ExeterDiocesan
Architectural Society that "the prejudiceswhich had naturally existed,in reference
to a new style of architecture, had almost disappeared."stBuoyed by the triumphs of
St. Anne's Chapel and his Cathedral, and ardedby supporterssuch as the Rev. James

"Hyperborean
50.Richardson, Gothic.. .",p.67.Figure21,onp.58,shows
thechurchbefore
thetowerblewdown.
t, volume13,1852,
51.TheEcclesiologis p. 292.
6B
ffi
3-27(A)- ChristChurch, St.Stephen.
NewBrunswick, westfagade.
3-28(B) - ChristChurch,St.Stephen,
NewBrunswick, interiorof naveto east.
3-29(C)- ChristChurch, St.Stephen,
NewBrunswick, interiorviewintochancel.
3-30(D) - ChristChurch,St.Stephen,
NewBrunswick, chancel.
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

Hudson,s2a clergyman/architectwho was busily "Gothicizrng" the Miramichi Valley,

Medley's achievementsand momentum were "warmly applauded"by the Society.s3
By comparison to the triumphant march of Gothic through New Brunswick,
architectwal progressin the six-years-olderdioceseof Newfoundland seemedrcther
slow. Severalfactors could account for this. New Brunswick is considerablysmaller
than Newfoundland, and interior communication is greatly facrhtatedby the location of
settlementsalongmajor riverssuchasthe SaintJohn and the Miramichi. By comparison,
Newfoundland is full of exceptionallyremote- andimpoverished- communities, spread
over a prohibitively large area.The Newfoundland climate also presentsa formidable
obstacle.But evenin Newfoundland'scapital, St. John's,significantbuilding was slow to
start. The most likely explanation is that the first Bishop,Aubrey GeorgeSpencer,was
no match for John Medley as either a connoisseuror patron of architecture.
Aubrey Spencerwas born in London in 1795.sa His backgroundwas aristocratic:
he was a great-great-grandson of John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough, and the
oldest son of the Honowable William Spencerand SusanJennison,Countessof the
Holy Roman Empire. In spiteof his high birth, he chosethe life of a missionary,and was
ordainedin 1818.The SPG appointedhim missionaryfor Ferryland(Newfoundland)the
following year,and he was transferredto Trinity Bay in 1820.The Newfoundland winters,
however,proved rather taxing, and after somerecuperationin England he requesteda
transferto Bermuda. In 1821,firmly ensconcedin Bermuda, he informed the SPG that
he would not be returning to Newfoundland. He was madeArchdeaconof Bermudaby
Nova ScotiaBishopJohn Inglis, in whosedioceseBermuda fell. Inglis attemptedto lure
Spencerback to Newfoundland in 1829with the promise of the Archdeaconry there,
but Spencerreplied that the spiritual and educational needsof the black Bermudians
remainedhis first commitment.The offer to becomeNewfoundland'sfirst bishopproved
a dtffercnt matter: Spencermanagedto put aside his concern for the Bermudian poor
and apprehensionof the Newfoundland climate, and was consecratedby Archbishop of
Canterbury William Howley in Lambeth PalaceChapel on August 4, 1839.

52,OnJames Hudson, seeIbid,p.294;alsovolume12,I85I,pp.23-4;seealsoFinley,

0n EarthasIt IsIn Heauen,
chaptersix,"TheMiramichi Valley:
A Case Study
ofStyleandSensibility pp.235-79.
in Worship",
53.TheEcclesiologist,volume p. 296.
T3,1852,
54."Spencer,Aubrey George",Dictionarltof CanadianBiographl,Onlinehttp://wwwbiographi.calEN/ShowBio.
asp?Biold= I 9397
&query=
/0
ffi
 THE ESTHBIISHEDCHURCH RESPO\Ds

In an article of 1836,it was arguedin the pagesof TheBritish Criticthat:

...in old times,whenthe Gospelwassentto any country,itsministerswerea bishop with his
clergy; and thefrst employment of theirfundswasto build a Cathedral.ss
The urgent duty to fashion an approprrateepiscopal church was also evident to
Spencer.Shortly after his arrival in Newfoundland, Spencerreported to the SPG that
his church building, which was over forty yearsold and made of very frarlmaterials, was
in such a drlaprdatedstate thatrcpairing it would prove more costly than erecting a new
church.s6Given that he was "surroundedby a Roman-Catholicpopulation numerically
superior,and of a most proselytizing spirit", Spencerthought it advisablethat any new
church "partake of a cathedral character" in order to project the right rmageto the
public.sTSuch a buildin5,he believed,could be built for around f4,000, a qvafier of
which the colony might be expectedto raise itself. As the church of St. Thomas had
absorbedsome of the numbers formerly trying to fit into the original church, Spencer
recommendedthat a smaller building constructedfrom durable materials (i.e., stone)
would bepreferableto abigger one that would be vulnerable to fire and "the deleterious
qualities of thesehyperboreanclimates."58
The SPGReportof the following year(1841)recordedagiftof f500 "fot anew church
In January of that sameyear,Newfoundland ArchdeaconThomas Bridge
at St. John's."se
deliveredhis sermon,"The Two Religions..."(discussedin ChapterTwo).Proceedsfrom
salesof the publication were to support the building of Spencer'schurch, and Bridge's
"Notice" at the beginning of the publication reported:
This opportunityis embracedfor tnformingthoseinto whosehandsthis discourse may come,
that theautltor'sdiocesan,theLord Bishopof Newfoundland,is anxiousto erecta cathedral,to
servealsofortheparishchurch,(thepresentone,not onlyaffordinsinsufficient
accommodation,
especiallyforthepooribut,from havingbeenbuilt of WOODmorethanfortyyearsago,being
in a stateof decay,)in thecapitalof that Colony...60

55.TheBritishCritic,volumeXIX,numberXXXVII, p.420.
55.Incorporated SocietyforthePropagation
ofthe Gospelin ForeignParts.ReportfortheYear1840.London:
1840, pp.LXX-LXX.
57.Ibid,p. LXX.
58. p.
Ibid, LXXI.
J). IncorporatedSoci,ety
for thePropagation
of theGospelin ForeignParts.Report
for theYear1841.London:
1841, p.XXXIII.
50.Thomas "TheTkoReligions..
Bridge, .",p.v.
/l
re
 \ t:\\.FOUNDI-ANDGOTHIC

Bridgegoeson to cite the dangerof the Romanist errors,and the impendingpresence

of a new Romanist chapel,cited in ChapterTwo. To set the appealin a sufficiently urgent
context,it is mentionedthat the sermonwas preached"the Sunday afterthe opening of
a new Romish chapel,dedicatedto 'Our Lady and St. Thomas a Becket."'61
Spencerhimself launched a further initiative through the publication of another
sermon, TheChurchof God,in 1842.62 "To thosewho call themselvesChristians," wrote
Spencerin his preface,"the constitution,privileges,andthe dutiesof the visible Church
of Christ, can neverbe consideredas a topic of inferior interest..." Foremostamong
those duties at the time of writing, of course,was the building of a new church. The
scriptural passagechosenfor the sermonwas Acts 20:28:"Feed the Church of God,
which He purchasedwith His own blood." Both the Church and the act of feedingbeing
encouragedwere far frommetaphorical. Lest anyonemiss the point, Spencerbeganhis
sermon with referencesto "these failing walls" in which they had gathered,"the dim
and drlapidatedbuilding" in which he was addressinghis audience,and to his looking
"forward with confidenceto a nobler structure."63 At the conclusionof the sermon,
Spencerreiterated:
...thenecessity of uectrnga newandmorecommodious ParishChurchwithin thistown,andof
uestingit with the Cathedralcharacterwhichour ecclesiastical
positionseemsnow to require.6a
The issueof the new cathedralwas addressedeven more explicitly in an appended
addressto the membersof the Church of England in Newfoundland.In it, Spenceragain
referredto the "drlapidatedstate" of the existing church, and its "totalunfitness for the
metropolitan Church of a populous and extensiveSee."6s Indeed,the church was "so
deplorableas to divestthe serviceof religion of much of [its] venerationand dtgnrty."66
Progress,however,hadbeen made. The SPG and Societyfor Promoting Christian
Knowledge(SPCK) had, betweenthem, pledgedf1,000.67Donations from the Queen
Dowager, the Archbishop, and Bishopsin England had come to f200, and "several
hundreds"of poundshad beenraisedthroughthe effortsof ThomasBridge, "after sermons

51.bid,p.vii.
62,AubreyGeorge
Spencer,
TheChurch XX.28,preached
ofGod:a sernnnonActs in theParishChurch
ofSt.Johns,
Neufoundland,onGood Fri,day,
1842,byAubrey LordBishop
George, ofNeufoundland, St.
John's:1842.
p.6.
53.rbid,
64.tbid,p.zo.
65.tbrd,p.z3.
65.tbid,p.z3.
67.thisandthestatistics
thatfollow
arefromSpencer,
TheChurchofGod.. .,pp.25-6.
n
ffi
 THE ESTABLISHED
CHURCH RESPONDS

preachedby him in various Churchesof the Realm"

(of which his The TwoReligionswas presumably one).
Newfoundland Governor Sir John Harvey had given
f 100 out of his own means, as had Spencerhimself.
A building committeewas formed, consistingof eleven
members,with final decision-makingauthority held by
the Bishop.68The searchfor an appropiate cathedral
for Newfoundland had begun.
The architect chosenwas JamesPurcell, whom we
have encounteredaheady in connection with Christ
Church at Quidi Vidi. Purcell, an Irish stonemasonand
architectfrom Cork, would soon(1846)be commissioned
to build the Colonial Building, which was to serveasthe
seatof the Newfoundland government.6e A two-story
Classicalbuilding with a giant order temple fagade,
the Colonial Building doesnot necessarilyrecommend
its architect as an appropriatechoice for the Anglican
Church in the dawning years of Ecclesiology.Nor, for
that matter,doesPurcell'searherwork at Christ Church,
Quidi Vidi. The designPurcell produced for Spencer's
cathedraldoesnothing to easethesereservations.
Purcell's design(figure 3-31)is a rectangularbox,
with no chancel,no aisles, and a medium-pitchedroof. The windows are all pointed. 3-31- AnglicanCathedral
A tower atd tall, pointed spire mark the entranceat the west end. Spindly pinnacled of St.JohntheBaptist,
St.John's,Newfoundland,
corner buttressesflank the tower and four corners of the church, while equally flimsy unexecuted designby
wall buttressesnominally divide the box into aisles.The formula is familiar enough,but it JamesPurcell.
belongsnot to the emerginggenerationof the Ecclesiologistsand John Medley, but to the
previousgenerationof Commissioners'Gothic churchesdiscussedin ChapterOne. John
Keble had launchedthe Oxford Movement in 1833.The CambridgeCamden Societyhad
beenformedin 1839,andbeganpublishrngTheEcclesiologistby thebeginning of 1842.Yet
this growing movement,which representedthe future of Anglican liturgy and architecture
world wide, seemedto havepassedby Purcell, Spencet,andtheir new cathedral.

6a.hid,p.z7.
69.0n;amesPurcell
andtheColonial
BuildingseeHarold
Kalman,A HistoryofCanadianArchitecture:
uoilumeI,
Toronto:
1994,pp.102-3;
alsotheNewfoundland
Historic
Trust,lGiftofHeritage, 1t!8,pp.50-1.
St.John's:
R
re#
 NEWFOUNDLANDGOTHIC

The explanationlikely lies lessin ignoranceof the new movementthan in Spencer's

lack of enthusiasmfor it. In the prefaceof TheChurchof God,he remarks:
...1 couldhardlyavoidsomeallusionto a certainparty in theAnglicanChurch,whosewritings,
howeyercharacterized by an ardentpiety, a depthof learning,and afervour of Charity,which
I couldwish to seemoregenerallyadopted,Itaue,at leastin onelatepublication,tendedto a
reconnectionwith someof theequivocalusages of the Churchof Rome.70
Clearly not of the High Church persuasion,Spencerwas perhapsa curious choiceto
be the first bishop of a new seein a Church where the Tract aian movement,while by no
meansubiquitous,clearly had greatmomentum.In fact Spencerhad alreadyinformed the
SPG eighteenyearsearlierthat he neverintendedto return to Newfoundland.Moreover,
as a builder of churches,Spencerwas not an outstandingsuccess.Purcell's designwas
selectedin 1842.In 1843,1,800tons of cut limestonewere shippedfrom Cork.TtLater
thatyear, the cornerstonewas laid, andthatwas as closeas Spencer'scathedralwould
cometo beingbuilt. The projectlanguished,and so too, apparently,did Spencer.In 1843,
his health agarnpoor, Spencerwas offered,and accepted,the bishopric of Jamaica.He
remained in Jamaicauntil 1855,when he returned to England, again due to ill health.
He died tn 1872,in his seventy-eighthyear.7z
Finding areplacement for Spenceras bishop in what TheEcclesiologist would shortly
call "one of the most cheerlessof [the Church of England's]seats"73
would not be a simple
matter. According to Spencerhimself, who was in a position to know, the job would
require a man with:
...strengthof constitutionto supporthim undera climateas rigorousaslceland,a stomach
insensible pedestrianpowers
to theattacksof sea-sickness; beyondthoseof an lrish Gossoon, and
an ability to restoccasionally
on thebedof afishermanor thehardboardsin a woodman's tilt.
With thesepltysicalcapabilitieshemustcombinea patient temper,an energetic spirit, afacility
to adapthisspeech to thelowestgradeof intellect...anda thoroughpreparationforcontroversy
with theRomanist...7a

p.4.
70.Spencer,
71.Newfoundland Trust,p.66.
Historic
72.SeeOwsleyRobert Rowley,TheAnglicanEpiscopate of Canadaand Neufoundland,pp.214-5; also"Spencer,
Dictionaryof CanadianBiographyOnline.
AubreyGeorge,
p.278.
8, 1848,
73.TheEcclesiologist,volume
74.Quotedin H.V/.Tircker,
Memoirof theLifeand Episcopate of EdwardFeild,D.D.Bishopof Neu,foundland
1844-1876,London: 1877,p.2!."Gossoon"istheIrishtermforwhatin England
wouldbecalleda"I^d."
il,
ffi
 THE ESTABLISHED
CHURCH RESPONDS

The man eventuallyselectedfor thejob wasthe Rev.EdwardFeild (1801-76).Born

in Worcester,Feild had receivedhis B.A. and M.A. from Oxford,Ts
the birthplaceof
the Tractarianidealsof the Oxford Movement.That movement,andits architectural
equivalent,the CambridgeCamdenSociety,had had a profoundimpacton Feild- and
theywereaboutto havea profoundimpacton Newfoundland.

p.217,
75.Rowley,
/5
re
 (|{flPTIRIOUR
fdruard llb(athedral
feildand

t Edward Feild, his biographertells us, had anunremarkable childhood. He was,

ffi however,an excellentstudent, and won a Latincomposit ronpizewhile at Rugby,
the well-known English Public School.l After his ordination around Christmas
of 1827,he becamethe Rector at Kidlington, Oxfordshire. He quickly acquired
a glowing reputation for his concern for children, and as a founder of schools.
This was the time of the "Swing Riots", when agricultural workers, fearful that
farm machinery was taking awaytheir livelihood, rioted and destroyedmany of
those machines.2Calm in the face of the crisis, Feild deliveredand subsequently
publisheda lecture arguing against the rioters.3He beganby appealingto the
people'spatriotism, pointing out that in a civilized country such as England men
must not live in fear of their lives and property. Moreover, Feild argued,destruction
I of property would only increasethe people'sdistress:
Yousayliberty! liberty! andI sayliberty! liberty!But what liberty is that whena man may not
keephis ownproperty,or usehis own machines,or enrichhimself by his own inventions?a
The machine, he argued, would in fact ultimately benefit the poor, by making
manufacturedgoodscheaperand thereforemore accessible.There are, of course,counter
argumentsto this, but the fact is there were no riots in Kidlington.
In 1834,Feild becameVicar of English Bicknor, in Gloucestershire.He stayedthere
for ten years,and further enhancedhis reputation in the field of education.According
to the Rev. J. Burdon, one of Feild's successors
as vicar of English Bicknor:

p.2.
1.Tircker,
p.5-5.
2. Tbcker,
p.5.
3. Tircker,
p.7.
4. Tircker,
n
x
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

His great influencewas throughschools,which he built at a time when nobodytroubled

themselyes aboutsuchthings,and he exercisedwonderfulinfluenceoverthe children,though
of theschool.Theywereafraid of him, yet theylikid
strict evento sevuity in his management
him verymuch.s
When Spencerleft Newfoundland in 1843- his departurewas "welcomedas archef
from a burden under which he was evidently sinking"6 accordingto Feild'sbiographer
- the Church took over a year to selectand send areplacement.As Spencerhimself had
warned, this was not a job for the faintof heart. It is not known who first recommended
the vicar in the small town of English Bicknor - amanrenowned for bringing education
to the ignorant, and for talking down rebelliousrabblesthrough sheerstrength of reason.
Feild must have seemedideal for Newfoundland. He was consecratedatlambeth Palace
Chapelon April 28,1844.The sermonwas preachedby the Rev.RichardDavtes,Rector
of Staunton.His text, rather ominously,was Revelation8:10:"Here is the patienceand
the faith of the saints."7
Feild left from Liverpool on June4, 1844.8He traveledto Newfoundland via Halifax,
from which he departedfor St. John'son July t,1844.eVery earlyin his episcopate,Feild
resumedactivity in the areaof education,opening up a school for the upper classesto
"prevent the establishmentor mitigate the evil of a public academyon liberal principles."lO
Education, of course,requiresbooks,and thesewere in short supplyin St. John's.While
still in Halifax, he thanked his friend and fellow-clergyman Cecil Wray, of Liverpool, for
"books providedttll, arrdvery soon after arriving in St. John'smade numerous appeals
in his lettersfor more books.l2

5. Ttrcker,p. 12.
6. ftcker,p.29.
7.T\xke4p.32.
8. Tbcker, p.33.
9. Letters of Edward Feildto Rev.CecilYlruy,1844-6T,LambethPalaceLibrary, MS1504.Thisletterwaswritten
onJulyI, 1844,on theoccasion youngdaughter,
of thebirthdayof V/ray's whichwouldindicatea fairlyclose
friendship between thetwoclergymen. Hethanked Wrayforhissupportduring"thaI grealtrialofseparation
from
aIlthatisnearanddeartomein thisworld",andmentioned thathewasduetoleave forSt.John'sat3:00PMthat
afternoon.
10.Ttrcker, p, 35.
11.FeildtoVrray, July1,1844.
12.Forexample, FeildtoWray,August 5,1844and0ctober31,1844.0n atleastoneoccasion,heexpressedhisgratitude
witha gift of Newfoundland fish,which"shouldbekeptin waterthreeor fourdaysbeforeit is cooked;threedays
if it bebakedmaysuffice, butfourdaysif it befried- andthewatershouldbechanged everyday."(FeildtoWray,
January26,1847).
/B
;=il
 ED\\ARD FEILDAND HIS CMHEDRAL

He may not havefound many books in St. John's,but he did find two churches,One
was his titular cathedral- the "wooden shedof the most monstrousdescription" described
rn TheEcclesiologkt.The other was the church that Wix built, St. Thomas'.Feild'sresponse
to St. Thomas' was summanzedby his biographer,H.W. Tucker,in L877:
In St.Thomas'Churchtherewasnofont; andpulpit, desk,and clerk'sdeskoccupied thecentre
of thechurch,obscuringthealtar: asa visitationof thedergyand an Ordinationwereto beheld
in this churchin September5the bishopdeterminedat onceto makesuchalterationsas might
"exhibitto thetlngy theproperarrangementsfor a churclt."t3
In fact, architecturewas on Feild'smind evenbeforehe arrived in St. John's.While
still in Halifax, he wrote to his closefriend and fellow clergymanWilliam Scott, Vicar
of Christ Church, Hoxton:
I shall very much want plans of churches for I find the Cathedralin St.John'sis not yet
begun...Youwoulddo mea verygreatkindnesstf you wouldprocureformeall usefulmodern
ecclesiastical
booksof architecture...especially
anygooddaignsof woodenchurches.ta
"Good designsofwooden churches"could,evidently,includeNorwegianStaveChurches,
drawingsand designsof which had beenpromisedto Feild by a Mrs. Penmoreof Rugby.ls
ThesedrawingsneverreachedNewfoundland,but the problemof woodenchurchesremained
a pressingand fascinatingone,which will be discussedfurther in ChapterFive.
Very earlyin his episcopacy,Feild expresseda desireto transform St. Thomas' into
a more Ecclesiologically acceptableconfiguration. "If I had any means," he wrote to
William Scott in August of 1844,"I would certainly adda chancel.. . and take away the
gallery now over the altar."16In October of that year, he consideredthe possibility of
having aprefabricatedwoodenchancelsentto St. John's,basedon a designthat he had
"lately seenin the English Newspapers...in the Parishof St. Pancras."l7
The designFeild
referredto was madeby PeterThompsonfor a "tempotary" wooden church, which was
discussedin TheBuilder in 1844 and The ChurchBuilder as late as 1865(figure 4-1) (see
also ChapterFive).18

13.Ttrcker,pp.34-5.
14.LettersofBishopEdwardFeildtotheReverend
WilliamScott,
DiocesanArchives
ofEastern
Newfoundland
andLabrador,
100.43Box2,File4.Transcribed byTimPowerunderthedirection
ofShane0'Dea.
LetterdatedJuly
I,1844.
15.rbid.
15.FeildtouflilliamScott,
August (undated),
1844.
i7. FeildtoWilliamScott.
October 24.1844.
18.TheBuilder,volume 11,I844,p.470-l,"TheSt.Pancras
ChurchExtension
Fund:a Retrospect",
IheChurch
Builder,
No.XVI,1865, pp,152-163.
l9
x
 \I.-WFOUNDLANDGOTHIC

Feild'smost urgent architecturalproblem, however,

was his cathedral- or rather, his lack of one. "With
respectto our Cathedral," he wrote to Scott, "the
prospectsare dark and disheartening."tnThe main
problem, unsurprisingly, was money. A considerable
sum had aheady been spent by Bishop Spenceron
materials.Accordingto Feild, f3,764.14.3had been
patd for cut stone,with a further f500 still owing on
the last instalment.2O This stone - akeady cut into
windows, doors,pinnaclesand buttressesaccording
to JamesPurcell'sdesign- had been imported from
keland.2tAt this stage,Purcellwas still under contract
as cathedrul archttect,a position that he maintained
until Octoberof 1844.22 By this time, both money and
will seemto have evaporated."The fact is there are
trlr?olalt crgrcnr gtN?tsH ?olrd. no more meansto completeor proceedwith it," Feild
4-l - "Temporary wrote to Scott, "and I can seeno dispositionon the
woodenChurch" part of the people to come forward with addttronal subscriptions at aII adequateto the
Illustrated london Neus,
Vol.V, 1844.
object."23 Or, as Feild put it rather more colourfully to the SPG:
OurprojeuedCathedralseems to havedieda naturalor unnaturaldeaththroughwantoffunds,
and of love.Thesubjectnow is neverraisedevenin talk.2a
While Feild doubtlessregrettedthe want of funds, he wholeheaftedlysharedin the want
of love. As a High Churchman and supporterof the CambridgeCamden Society,Feild
found Purcell'sdesignto be completelyinadequateandlamentedto his friend Scott:
No pillars arecontemplated,
but aflat roof of 100fi. by 501no chancelor choir,nofont, no
traceryin any windows.zs

19.FeildtoWilliamScott,July II,1844.
August22,1844.
20.Feildto\filliam Scott,
21.FeildtoWilliamScott,August (nodate)1844.
22.Thomas Bridgeto Ernest Hawkins, Secretary forthePropagation
of theSociety of theGospel
in Foreign
Parts,
ProvincialArchivesofNewfoundland "G"Series:
andLabrador, letters
Read
before
theSociety:
reel249.Letterdated
August 24,1845.
23.FeildtoWilliamScott,August (nodate)1844.
24.Fei\dtoErnest Hawkins, June l),1845.
August(no date)1844.
25.FeildtoVrilliamScott,
BO
ffi
 EDWARDFEILDAND FTIS
CMHEDR.\L

What Feild describedwas essentiallya stone-cladversion of the Commissioners'

Gothic aheady familiar in placessuch as Harbour Grace, Twillingate, and St. John's
itself (St. Thomas'). Indeed, only in its facingmatenal and apparentlack of stovepipes
was it significantly superiorto many of the examplesdeploredby John Medley in New
Brunswick.
With optimism that suggestsmore enthusiasmthan experience,Feild sought
adviceon how to modify the plan so as to make use of the existing materials in a more
Ecclesiologicallyacceptablechurch, at no additional cost and with no loss of interior
space.26 Economy was of courseof the greatestimportance. Nothing overly elaborate
could be contemplated,and Feild suggestedthat the Cathedral Church of St. Magnus,
Kirkwall (Scotland),might be an appropriatemodel due to its "solidity andsimplicity."2T
Feild struggledmightily and sometimesingeniously with the problem of how to convert
his presentassetsinto an acceptablecathedral,suggestingthat the windows be shortened
and the tower omitted so that the materials thus savedcould be made into a stone
choir and awooden chancel.28 Even this, however,might proveprohibitively expensive.
ExecutingPurcell'sdesign,evenwithout the "improvements"about which Feild clearly
felt so strongly,would probably cost "at least f5,000", and Feild had "not much above
1,000promised.""Here is a pretty colonial mess,"he wrote to Scott, "out of which at
presentI cannot seehow to escape."2e
In the meantime,the Roman Catholic cathedralwas, to Feild's dismay,progressing
fairly rapidly. It was, Feild reported to William Scott, "to be an immense building of
the cruciform shape."3O Unlike Feild, the Roman Catholic Bishop, Michael Fleming,
seemedto havevirtually unlimited financial resourcesplacedat his disposalwhenever
needed:
Dr Flemingtheir bishopis not here,but is expected
shortly,and will no doubtcomewellsupplied
with money.Indeedlteseemsto commandsumsfor anypurposehepleases...Theircathedral
will costfullt50,000 whencompleted andfittedup,3l

25.FeildtoWilliamScott, (undated)
August 1844.
27,FeildtoWilliamScott,August(undated)1844.OnKirkwall,seeMalcolmThurlby,"Aspects
of theArchitectural
Historyof KirkwallCathedral",
Proceedingsof theSocietyof Antiquariesof Scotland,volumeI27, 1997,
pp.855-88.
28.FeildtoWilliamScott,
August22,1844.
29.FeildtoWilliamScott,
August22.184+.
30.FeildtoWilliamScott, (undated)
August lSrr+.
31.FeildtoWilliamScott, (undared)
August l8+i.
BI
re
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

The ever-present
Romanistthreat was made all the more alarming by the high profile
flirtations with Romanism(or outright defections)of prominent Anglicans like John Henry
Newman. "Here all our difficulty is with Romanistswho steal awayour flocks by all
methodsand means,"Feild wrote to William Scott.'And what can we sayor do when we
are told that someof our bestand most devotedmen write, speak and actfor them."32
Feild appealeddirectly to the CambridgeCamden Society for architectural advice,
sendingthem drawings of Purcell's designin 1845.Their responseis now lost, but the
crux of it is clearenough from this letter from Feild to William Scott:
I havenow to begyou to conueymy respectfuland earnestthanksto the Committeeof ye
CamdenSociety,whomadeandforwardedthereporton thedrawingsof our Cathedralby Mr.
Purcell.I of courseanticipatedye sentence.
No onewho had eyerseena decentchurchcould
toleratesuchan abortion.33
Purcell'sdrawingshad apparentlybeenassessed by Benjamin Webbhimself, one of the
foundingmembersof the CambridgeCamdenSociety.3a Insteadofpursuing Purcell'sdesign,
Webb suggestedthat Feild adoptthe church of St. Michael, Long Stanton,as a model. As
indicatedin ChapterThree, this church was very much a standardrecommendationof the
Camdenianswhen facedwith the questionof churchesin the colonies.Feild doubtedthat
they could even affordto emulatethis modestmodel, and expressedincreasingfrustration
at the Society'sinability to assiston the questionof how to make use of the existing
building materials in a more Ecclesiologicallyacceptablechurch:
Theffirmation whichI receivedfrom theCamdenSocietywasnothingmorethanI myselfknau
before
I consulted them-viz that theplanswerein everyrespect
abominable, Thiswasthesumand
substanceof all ye ffirmation I got - andthisI needed
not;but whatI mightdoor attemptwith
themateriak(whichI desiredto know)on thispoint I got no informationor adviceat all.3s
By all indications,Feild was making every attempt to follow the prescriptionsof the
CambridgeCamdenSociety.His lettersrecordreceiptofbooks from the Society,including
the first volume of InstrumentaEcclesiastica.36
This useful pattern book of designsfor
liturgical instrumentshad its genesisrn1842,when William Butterfield wrote a letter to
TheEcclesiologistexpressinghis wish that somebodywould supplygoldsmithswith suitable

32.FeildtoWilliamScott,
September 18,1845.
33.FeildtoWilliamScott,
May20,1845.
34.rbid.
35.FeildtoWilliamScott,
March10,1845.
BZ 36.FeildtoWilliamScott,October
24.T844.
.il
 EDWARDFEILDAND HIS CATHFDR\I

designsfor liturgical vessels."By April of the following year,the Societyannouncedthat

it had commissioned,unsurprisingly,William Butterfieldto producethesedesigns.3s The
resulting volume was reviewed - very favourably,it may be added -by TheEcclesiologist
in May of r844.3eJust three months later,a copy was in Feild'shands.
Notwithstanding all of Feild's efforts,progresswas worsethan slow.In addition to the
lack of funds, there was a lack of skilled workmanship.Moreover,not the leastof Feild's
obstacleswas that his High Church vision, and its Gothic architectural manifestation.
were meetingwith considerableresistancein the colony of Newfoundland.Indeed,Feild
met with resistancepracttcallyfrom the moment he arrivedin Newfoundland - andsome
of that resistancewas from his own clergy.In his first Chargeto the Clergy of his new
diocese- deliveredrnlS{ and aptly titled Orderand Uniformityin thePublicServices of the
Church,Accordingto the Useof the UnitedChurchof Englandandlreland -Felld gaveexplicit
instructions regardingboth the liturgy and placementof crucial furnishings such as
the pulpit and altar.The previous month (this Chargewas deliveredon the feastday of
St. Matthew, which is September21), Feild had aheady complained to William Scott
about the arrangementof the typical Newfoundland church:
Thefittingup isgenaallyexecrable, And besides thegallerieswhichrun to theveryeastend(thae
bet g no chancel)wehavenarrowhtghpews,running up alsoto theEastend,and anchoring
the rails of the alta4 thepulpit, readingdeskand clerksseatstandingin the middteaisle,not
smallby degrees and beautifullyless-but risingfroma hW clerksdeskto thepreachers towering
eminence... All of theseof courseareimmediatelyinfront of ye altar and eastwindow,ao
Although Feild had not yet been to TWillingate, his description - particularly the
"towering eminence" - fits perfectly. His preferred affangement,of course, followed
that of the Oxford Movement and CambridgeCamdenSociety,who privilegedthe ritual
around the altar over the man in the pulpit. In his first Charge,he carefully explained
the "error" of the typical Newfoundland arrangement:
A short time beforethis Chargewasdelivered,the Pulpit, ReadingPewand Clerk'sDeskhad
stoodin the middlepassage;and, beinga largeand lofiy pile, wry much obstructedthe view
towardstheeast,and threwall the Services
of theHolv Tableinto theshade,al

37.TheEcclesiologist,
volume 2,1842,p.25.
38.TheEcclesiologist,volume2,1843,p. 117.
39.TheEcclesiologisdvolume3, 1844.p. I0-
40.FeildtoWilliamScott,August(undated). l8++.
41.Edward Feild,"OrderandLniforntitrin thePublicSenicesoftheChurch,
According
totheUseoftheUnitedChurch
ofEnglandandIreland: thesubstance oi I Chargedelivered
totheClergy
oftheDiocise
ofNewfoundland",
1844,p.8.
St.John's: B]
re
 NEWFOUNDLANDGOTHIC

The situation, at leastin St. John's,had beensomewhatrectified by the enlargementof

the spacewithin the communion rails, the re-positioningof the readtngdeskand pulpit,
and other adjustmentsthat Feild was also clearly expectinghis clergy to adopt.
Feild did not deliver another Chargeto his clergyuntil 1847.From this text it is clear
that neither his clergy nor their flocks embracedFeild's reforms wholeheartedly.Feild
reiteratedhis beliefsconcerningliturgy and liturgrcal affangements- "opinions... not
lightly formed, or hastily propounded" -but struck a slightly more conciliatory note that
revealsboth the incompletesuccessthat he had met and his frustration with his clergy:
It is uerytrue that thefew changesI recommended, in orderto bring ourpracticeinto nearer
conformityto our rules,werenot sogenerallyaccepted by the ClergyasI desired;and,partly in
consequence did not, wltereattempted,succeed
of this want of concurrence, in gaining on the
part of thecongregations generalapprottal.a2
Had the clergy done as they were told, Feild went on to explain, their congregations
would most likely havedone so aswell. Although his feelingson the matter were clearly
quite strong,losing clergymenwas one thing Feild could emphaticallynot afford to do.
Indeed, finding sufficient clergymento fill his huge and remote diocesewas already an
impossibletask - "Can you by any possibility find any men", he wrote to Cecil Wray in
1845,"who, for love of souls and Christ's sake,will come over and help us in this most
forlorn and forsakencolony?"a3 Unable to risk alienating the meagerclergy that he did
have at his disposal,Feild struggledto strike the diplomatic note that evidently did not
come particularly naturally to him:
I pray not to beinterpreted
ashinting any condemnation of suchamongyou, asdid
or censure
not adoptmy recommendations or wishes;forthey werebut wishesand recommendations-
nothingmore.aa
Consideringthe resistancemet by Feild'sHigh Church position evenamong his own
clergy,one can imagine the electric impact of the news of his appointment as a Patron
of the CambridgeCamden Society(seepage60-1above).Feild could imagine it too, and
the thought filled him with horror - particularly in light of the factthatthis appointment
had comewithout his consentor evenknowledge.TheEcclesiologist had broken the news
in March of t844; that samemonth, an otherwisepreoccupiedFeild had a hasty letter
sent on his behalf to William Scott:

42.EdwadFeild,'A Charge Delivered

to theClergy
of theDiocese bvtheBishop,
of Newfoundland, at hisSecond
Visitation, ontheFeast
dayof St.Matthew,1847",
St.John's, , p.7.
1847
43.Feildto CecilWray, September26,1845.
4 4 .l b i d ,p .7 .
B/.,
ffi
 ED\\l{RD FEILDAND HIS CATHEDRAL

. . .hisLordshiphasheardwith muchsurpiseandregretthat hehasbeenappointedor nominated

a Patron or Vicepatron of the Cambidge CamdenSociety.As he hasneverintimatedto any
onethe leastwish or desireto beso appointedor nominatedhe hopesyou will bekind enough
to contradictany reportwhichmay havebeenspreadabroadto thecontrary,and alsostatethat
hehasno intentionof accepting anysuchhonouras
Feild, who was on a visitation at the time, managedto write to Scott himself that
sameday, and agarnexpressedhis "surprise and regret" atthe news.a6Scott evidently
took the matter straight to Benjamin Webb himself, who wrote in responsethat he had
objectedto the appointment of a Bishop whose wishes were not known, but had been
overruled by the President.aT In the same letter, Webb discussedthe deepeningcrisis
in the CambridgeCamden Society,which had had sevenrecent secessions, with more
expected.In May, Feild explainedto Scott in more detail why he neededto keep a safe
distance(at leastin public) from the CambridgeCamden Society:
Youcan easilyunderstandwhat suspicionsandjealousieswould beexcitedin this country if
I werereportedas vicepatronor Member(newlyeleued)of the CambridgeCamdenSociety.
Youknow how shamrfullyandperseveringly that Societyis attackedin theNewspapers which
areye authoritiesltere,and do all ye mischief...I hearthat I hayebeenattacktdin theRecord
Newspaperforhavinga regularTractarianCurate... and that chargealonewould alienate
I knowhow manyof theseignorantand excitedfishmongersfrom meandye Church.a8
Indeed the "wicked newspapers"Ae had stirred up such feelingsamong the fishmongers
that Feild fearedthat contributions to the building would soon passfrom inadequateto
non-existent.A month later Feild was still deeplypreoccupiedwith the matter, explaining
to Scott that his connectionto the CambridgeCamden Societywould "createall sorts
of fearsand suspicionsand jealousiesin this place."s0 He was duty-bound,he explained,
to think and feel not for himself, but for his flock and charge:
Wearedealingrememberherewith cold,coarse,calculating,coyetous colonists- a raceof men
not seenor understood
in England.sl

45.HenryTtrckwell toWilliamScott,March26,1845,
45.neildtoV/illiamScott,March25,1845.
47.Benjamin Webb toWilliamScott,May15,1845.
48.FeildtoV/illiamScott,May20,1845.
49.tbid.
50.FeildtoV/illiamScott,
June5,1845.
51.rbid.
B5
re
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

With or without the taint of the Cambridge Camden Society,Feild was facingan
uphill struggle in his attempt to mould Newfoundland to his High Church will. The
congtegationin St. John's requesteda return to Low Church services,which Feild,
naturally, denied.s2The strain was showing. Even Feild's stalwart Archdeacon, Thomas
Bridge- affectionatelyreferredto by his grateful Bishop as "iron" Bridge-was beginning
to "sink."s3Ina commentthat strikesat the very heartof the political sideof the colonial
bishopric,Feild wrote to Scott:
PerhapsI oughtnot to besurpisedor ffinded that thepeopleherearenotyetpreparedfora
Bishop- and theproximity to Americagivesthemnotionsof interference
and resistance,
which
do not or did notfind muchencouragementin England.sa
By October of 1845,Feild reported to the SPG that the feelingsin St. John'swere
so negativetowards the Church and himself that the only viable option seemedto be
temporary withdrawal to that most remote (at least from Newfoundland) part of his
diocese,Bermuda.ssAlthough Feild found the Governor of Bermudauncooperative,he
hadhad enough of the opposite problem in Newfoundland:
Herethe Governoris my warmestfr'iendand thepeoplegenerallydespise
or dislikeme.s6
By the beginning of 1846, &ny dream of an Ecclesiologicallycorrect Anglican
cathedral in St. John's must have seemedhopelessto Feild. Many among his own
clergy were his ideologicalopponents,and those who were not were near the point of
exhaustion. Congregations, apparcntly dangerously empowered by American-style
notions of resistance,were recalciftant. The existing building materials for the cathedral
were ill-suited to the job, no viable alternative design existed, and in any caseFeild
had no money with which to build. Feild's fundraising potential was severelylimited
by his enormous unpopularrty. The organization most able to assistwith architectural
advice,the CambrrdgeCamden Society,was one with which Feild daredmakeno public
admissionof affiliation. A11the while, the Romanist cathedralprogresseddayby day,
with what seemedto Feild to be unlimited financial resources.Never in the colony's
history had a potent symbol of English and Anglican power and authority been more
needed- andneverhad the possibility seemedmore remote.It was indeed,as Feild had
said, "aptetty colonial mess",with no end in sight.

52.FeildtoWilliamScott,
May20,1845.
53.Ibid.
May20,1845.
54.FeildtoWilliamScott,
55.Feildto Ernest
Hawkins,October
9,1845.
55.rbid.
B6
frT
 I : T ) \ \ , \ R t I) ] E I I - D
A N D I I I SC A T H E D R , \ I

In an extraordinaryplot twist, Feild's

- sostH staE HtLL}
opportunity arrivedby stealth,cloakedin
rPE

I o!'! 5
olt ttl! t

a social, economic,and matertaldisaster

unparalleledin the history ofNewfoundland.
On June9,1846,at approximately 8:00a.m.,
a fte was started by an overflowing glue
pot in the shopof one Hamlin the cabinet-
maker,on GeorgeStreet.sT The fire quickly
spreadto QueenStreet,where the wooden
buildings servedas readykindling. A brisk
westwind spreadthe flamesto "Bennett's
and Stewart'soil vats"58, at which point it
was realized that virtual.annihilation of
the city was inevitable.Attempts to create
fire-breaksby blowing up buildings were
Fra$r or 8r. JoEr's, lrErgtou!{Da4!!D' gEoilE|c rE! Ellnlt of t:E3 oasAr sE os lgp }Ig oF JU$E,
unsuccessful.By nightfall, the city of
St. John'swas largely destroyed(figure 4-2), althoughcoincidentallyneither the Roman 4-2- 1-rea destroyed byfire
Catholic Cathedralnor Wix's Church of St. Thomaswas damaged.Remarkably,the only in St.John's,Newfoundland
deathswereoneartilleryman and two civilians who perishedattemptingto blow up a house Illustrated london Neuts,No. 218,
Vol.IX. hrlv4 1846.
as a fire-break.The human toll was otherwisecolossal;it is estimatedthat 12,000people
wereleft homeless,and forcedto huddletogetherout of doorson the Barrensuntil temporary
shelterscouldbe erected.Fortunately,the weatherwas warm.
GovernorJohn Harvey was quick to act. On June 10,he wrote to Prime Minister W.E.
Gladstone,reportingthat an estimated2,000houses,with 12,000inhabitants,had been
destroyed,andthattotal losseswereestimatedto be betweenf600,000and f 1,000,000.5e
Gladstone immediately releasedf5,000, and appealedto the other colonies of British
North America to give generously.From Montreal,Earl Cathcart,Commander-in-Chief :
of the Forcesof British North America , advancedf2,000 from the Canadian treasury.
Governor W.M.G. Colebrookof Frederictonpledgedto raisemoney by subscription,
as did Governor Sir HV. Huntley of Prince Edward Island.60Earl Grey, the recently

57.D.!f.
Prowse,l
/-^
History
ofNeufoundland,originallypublished
St.John's:
18!5;
re-published
PortugalCove:2002,
D.4)6.
iS. inis account
istakenfromthe.^/e
utfoundlander quoted
ofJune18,1846; pp.458-).
in Prowse,
59.Houseof Commons Papers.Reports
6c,volume
XXXVI,number1,p. 1.
60.rbid.
B/
ffi
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

appointedSecretaryof Statefor the Colonies,announceda further grant of f25,000 on

July 18.61
Sympathywas widespread.TheRecordreportedthat:
Unlessthepowerfularm of theparent Governmentis mercifullyand bountifullystretchedforth
to supporthereldestborncolonialoffspring,itsfotewill bedeplorable...62
Initially at least,Feild felt the enormity of this calamity as strongly as anybody."Is
it a judgement for our sins?"he askedScott. 'Alas! how well deserved."63 Both Feild's
wooden cathedral and the building materials for Purcell's cathedralwere totally lost in
the fire. Inept and rnadequateas both seemedto Feild, they were an embarcassmentof
riches comparedto what was left.
The silver lining for Feild was that he could, at least, start planning a new church
unencumberedby his predecessor's intentions. To do so, of course,would cost money,
and consideringthe scaleof the destitution in St. John's,there was no reasonto believe
that there would be much avatlable.Feild set his sights correspondingly low:
What I meanto attemptis a mereoblongbuilding(withouttower5or belltunet)from 120to
n5 rt. bng andfrom 58 to 60 wide inside- a clerestoryand two aisles:with a largearch in ye
Eastendfora chancelat somefuturetime.I think the Churchof St. Wifuid in Pugin'sbookis
nearlywhatI shouldattempt- minusthetower,cltancel,etc.6a
Remarkableas it may be that he should havebeen familiar with it, the book by Pugin
to which Feild refers is ThePresentStateof Ecclesiastical
Architecturein England,published
in 1843and containing three illustrations of St. Wilfrid's, which Pugin was building at
Hulme, nearManchester.6s Feild also made referenceto St. Wilfrid's in correspondence
with the SPG, stating that its ground plan and elevation seemedto him "the best
adaptedtoour purposeof any I know."66St. Wilfrid's (figures4-3 & 4-4)is a modestbut
meticulously correct Gothic parish church with nave, aisles,clerestory,chancel, and
a tower on the north-west corner. The style is Early English Gothic. While not at all
cathedral-like,St. Wilfrid's did have the virtue of being built, according to Pugin, for
only f5,000. Feild estimatedthat, due to the scarcity of skilled labour andmaterials in

61.Houseof Commons Papers, 6c, volumeXXXVI,number11.p.20.

Reports
52."Destruction of St.John's, Newfoundland,byFire",TheRecord,
July2,1845,
number1,962.
53.FeildtoWilliamScott, June23,1846.
54.lf,id.
55.AW.U.Pugin,0n ThePresentStateof Ecclesiastical Architecture
in England,London:1843.St.Wilfrid'sis
in plates
illustrated III, VII& XN.
65.f'eildtoErnestHawkins, June12,1846.
BB
ffi
 EDWARDFEILDAND I'IISCATHEDRAL

Newfoundland, costswould be doublewhat they were

in England.6T ConsideringFeild'simmediate plan was
to build a version of St. Wilfrid's without a tower or
chancel,his fundraising expectationswere obviously
(and understandably)quite modest.
Somehelp, however,was forthcoming. TheRecord
(not, it may be recalled,in any respectanenthusiastic
supporterof Feild) reprinted aletter from Feild to the
SPG in which he speculatedthatat leastf8,000 would
be necessaryto build a plain church in stone. It was
announcedthat the SPG had, in response,openeda
"Special Fund for the rebuilding of the parish church
of St. John" (sic).68
It was subsequentlyannouncedthat
the StandingCommittee of the Societyfor Promoting
Christian Knowledge had placed 82,000 at Feild's
disposal for the re-building of his church, the one
condition being that at least one third of the seatsin
the new church be set asidefor the poor "in such a
manner as the Bishop may deem most expedient."6e
The Archbishop of Canterbury,William Howley, also
made a "most liberal donation" towards the building
of new church.To
With these modestly encouragingdevelopments,
sT. wtLFRlD',S, *lAilCHEST€fi .
Feild continuedto considerthe questionof how the
(N - st.wifrid's,
new cathedral ought to be built. He appealedto the SPG for "an experienced,honest 4-3 plan,
Hulme, fromAV.N.
architect or builder, who can understandour difficulties, modify plans, and adaptour Pugin,On ThePresent
materials."7lFor the funds avallable,which was expectedto be lessthan f10,000, Feild Stateof Ecclesiastical
Architecturein England,
envisagedbeing able to create"a plain oblong building, 50 or 60 feet by 120 or 100."72 london:1843.plateIII.
The exterior,he concluded,would haveto be "of a simpleand severecharacter",,butthe 4-4 (B) - St.Wilfrid's,
Hulme,exterior, fromA.V/.N.
Pugin,On TbePresent
67.r'eildtowilliamScofi,June23,1846. Stateof Ecclesiastical
65.fheRecord,July 11,1846,number1,965. Arcbitecturein England,
london:1843, plateVII.
69.TheRecord,August 13,I934,number 1,972.
70.ReportofthelncorporatedSouetyforthepropagationof theGospelinForeignParts,fortheyear
1838,London:
asa tributeto therecently
1848.Feildwasofferingthisrecollection deceased
Howley.
71.Feild toHawkins,June12.1846.
72.rbid.
B9
G
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

interior must still be meticulously adaptedfor the High Church liturgy.T3Looking closer
to home for assistance,Feild wondered, "Could brother Fredericton spareMr. Wills?
I know not."74Apparently brother Fredericton could not, as Wills never entered the
discussionagarrl.At somepoint in the summer of 1846,the SPG sent drawings to St.
John's for consideration as designsfor the cathedral.The drawings do not survive, but
the responseto them of Archdeacon Thomas Bridge, who was acting on Feild's behalf
while the latter was on a visitation, does:
Theplansarein themselves pretty,but,if I maygivean opinion,thestyleof thechurches
represented
in themis tooruralfor a metropolis(andsuch St.John'sis)whichmay reasonabty beexpected
to
bemuchimprovedin respect of thecharacterof churchbuildings,on itsbe@ restoredJs
This seemsto strike a discordantnote with the modesty of Feild's expectations,which
consistedof an incompleteversion of Pugin's St. Wilfrid's. Bridgehad,however, reason
to believethat the financial prospectsof the project might be brighter than he, or Feild, or
anyoneelse,had darcdto believe.Rumours of a financial windfall had reachedSt. John's,
andBridge was very cannily positioning the Church such that they might catch it.
Shortly after the fire, a Committee for the Relief of the Sufferers at the Late
Conflagration at St. John's, Newfoundland, had been formed in London, headedby
the Lord Mayor John Johnson. On July 27, the Committee sent a petition to Queen
Victoria, asking her to "commandthata collectionbe made in all churchesand chapels
for the relief of the sufferers."76
On September3,EarlGrey wrote to the Government of
Newfoundland:
I haveto acquaintyou that Her Majestyhasbeenpleasedto issueHer Royal Lettersto the
Archbishopsof Canterburyand York,authorizingtheir Gracesto adoptpropermeasures for
promotingsubscriptionsin their respective
provincesforthe relief of the sffirers by the recent
fires at St.John's,Newfoundland.TT
Word of this reachedNewfoundland while Feild was on a visitation. The initial
responsecame from Bridge, in the letter cited aboveto the SPG. His argumenttouches
a nerve apparently still as raw as it had been in the time of Edward Wix:

73.FeildtoHawkins,
August
7,1846.
74.rbid,.
75.Bridge toErnest
Hawkins,
August
24,1845.
75.Houseof Commons PaperqReports
6c, volumeXXXVI,number54,p.59.
77.Houseof Commons Papers,
Reports
6c, volumeXXXU,number30,p.43.
90
TI
 EDWARDFEILDAND HIS CMHEDRAL

It is believedherethat thereis to bea Queen's Letter... I hopeit may bepossibleto makesome

arrangements for the disposal of the Collections underit, by which a portion of themmay be
appliedto the restorationof the church.That, I think, would beright andjust, seetngthat the
greatbulk of thosewho will sharein the Relief suppliedforthosewho havesufferedtemporal
lossby the latefire, will not belongto our Communion,whilst all the contributionsundera
Queen'sLetter will, of course,comefrommembersof it.78
In short, this was Anglican money, and there was a limit to how much of it should
go to Roman Catholics,howeverdestitute.
One month later, Bridge wrote againto the SPG to expresshis disappointment that
the Queen'sLetter had beenissuedwithout a stipulation that a portion of it be set aside
for the rebuilding of the church. He reiteratedhis main argument -thatthe funds raised
would be entirely contributed by members of the Church of England, while the vast
majority of the St. John'sresidentswho stood to benefit from them would be Roman
Catholics.Te Moreover, Bridge pointed out, the Board of Commissionersappointed
in St. John'sto dispenserelief money could not be counted on, as they consistedof
two Romanists, one Presbyterian,and three Congregationalists.Even if they were so
disposedto do what Bridge consideredthe right thing by the Anglican Church, they
would be equally incline d to appropriate an equivalent sum for the rebuilding of the
Roman Catholic convent, which was the only other religious building destroyedin the
fire. On this point there could be no doubt:
I presumeit wouldnot beagreeable
to our Brethrenat ltome,andI confess
it wouldnot beto me,
that anyportion of a Colleaionmadeexclusivelyin our Churchesshouldbesoapplied.so
Bridge concluded:
Would it bepossiblesincethe Queen'sLetter has beenissued,without the stipulation in it
which is sodesirable, for somestepsto betaken,beforethe Colleaionsget into the handsof the
"Philistines"ltere,that aportion of themshall beappropriatedto therestorationof our church?
TheRomanistsamongussuppose that the Queen'sLetter is to bealtogetherforthe Church;
manyhavesaid so to me.81

78.Bridge Hawkins,
toErnest August
24,1846.
79.BridgetoHawkins,
September
7,1845.
80.rbid.
81.rbid.
9l
rc
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

Feild, meanwhile,had returnedto St. John's,and, having doubtlessbeeninformed by

Bridge of the magnitude and urgency of the opportunity, decidedto travel to England.82
While still in St. John's, Feild drew up a memorial to be sent to Earl Grey, in which
it was argued that the only place of worship destroyedin the fire was the Anglican
church(technicallytrue, if one doesnot consideraconventi"placeof worship"), that the
subsequentdestitution of the Anglican community in St. John'smade it impossiblefor
them to fund a replacementbuilding themselves,that the special appealmadein England
on behalf of the church was undermined by the larger appealbeingmade on behalf of
thosewho had sufferedtemporal loss,and finally (but perhapsmost importantly of all):
...the collectionsto bemadeundertheauthorityof the Queen's Letterwilt begatheredwholly
from members of the Churchof England,whilst a verylargemajority of thoseto whosebenefit
theywill beappliedherewill not beof that communion.s3
Promising news had aheadyreachedBridge. In October he reported to Hawkins that
he had received"cheering intelligence" regardingthe Queen'sLetter contributions.saBy
mid-December,Bridge was rejoicing that Lord Grey had determined that aportion of
the Queen'sLetter funds should go toward the church, and thatwhile he would leaveit
to the government in Newfoundland to determine the amount, he would recommend
that a portion not exceedingone third of the total be so used.8s
The final deal was struck during Feild's trip to England. No official record of the
meetingbetweenFeild and Grey exists,but a letter of December 2l informed Feild that,
while Lord Grey was "very much engaged"that day, he would be happy to meet with
him at 3:00p.m. the following afternoon.86A subsequentletter from Grey to Feild, dated,
December22, states:
...underthecircumstances, asI am awarethat thepartieswhoappliedfortheQueen's Letta did
mentionthe rebuildingof the churchasoneof the objexsfor which the collectionwasdesired,
and alsothat it wasoneparticalarly referredto by many Clergmen in their Sermons preceding
the Collections,I shall think it nght to directthe Governorto reserve
for thispurposeonehalf
of thetotal amountof the Collections,sT

82.BridgetoHawkins, September
10,1845.
83.Houseof Commons Papers,
Reports
6c,volume
XXXVI,number35enclosure ,p.45.
84.Bridgeto Hawkins,
October26,1845.
85.BridgetoHawkins,December 16,1846.
85.Diocesan Archives
ofEastern
Newfoundland
andLabrador,#668,
box4, file4,letter9.
87.Ibid,letter
10.
9t
il
 EDWARDFEILDAND HIS CATHEDRAL

It is difficult to assessto what degreethe argumentsgiven may be taken atfacevalue.It

is clearfrom Bridge'slettersthat the Queen'sLetter itself containedno stipulationregarding
the rebuilding of the church.Indeed,the one surviving transcription of the original petition
to the Queenby the Lord Mayor's Committee doesstatethat the Collectionwas needed
"for the reliefof the sufferers,and for rebuildingthe Episcopalchurch."88 That would sebm
unequivocal,but the issueis muddiedby the factthatthat petition is insertedinto the House
of Commons PaperqReports&c not in its proper chronologtcalplace,which would be July
7846,but in Novemberof that year- immediatelyafterthememorialto Grey that pointed
out the non-Anglican affiliations of the majority of the fire sufferers.This is not to say
that the original petition was tamperedwith retroactivelyin orderto support anargument
that had suddenlygrown heated,but it would be reassuringto haveearliercorroborative
evidenceon record. As for the claim that many of the clergymenwho raisedthe funds
had mentionedthe rebuildingof the churchin their sermons,it is impossiblewith existing
documentsto get to the truth of that matter. One wondershow much closerFeild and Grey
cameto that truth from insidethe latter'sLondon office.
One thingthat can be ascertainedfor cefiain is that somecitizens of St. John'sdid
not find theseargumentsconvincing. Among the first to voice his displeasurewas the
Roman Catholic Bishop,Michael Fleming. In a letter to aMr. J. O'Connell, which was
subsequentlyforwarded to Lord Grey, Fleming pointed out that the Anglican building
that had burned was to be replacedanyway, andthatit "was not intrinsically worth f200."
In return, Feild was to be given half of the Queen'sLetter funds, which atthatpoint (May
1847)totaled f29,000 and was still climbing (thus making Feild'ssharef 14,500).8e Lord
Grey instructedthe Governor of Newfoundland (by this time Sir GasparLe Marchant)
"to ascertain...to what extentthe information receivedby BishopFleming... is accurate
or erroneous",and to "afford the Bishop of Newfoundland [i.e., Feild] every necessary
opportunity for controvertingor correctingBishopFleming'sstatements."e0 Feild replied
that, while it was true that a new church had been planned, the fire had wiped out the
meansof thosewhosesubscriptionswould havebuilt it. Moreover,Feild argued:
It is not true that our old churchwasnot worth f200. Thisstatementis veryfar indeedfiom
beinga correctone.Toprovethat it is not correct,it may sffice to say that the churchwas
accommodated with decentand sfficient pew sittingsfor 800persons,and wassuppliedwith
all usualand necessary appendages andfurniture.el

88.Houseof CommonsPapers,
Reports
6c, volumeXXXU,number54,p. 59.
89.Houseof CommonsPaperqReports
6c, volumeXXXVI,number59,p.53.
90.rbid.
9I. Houseof Commons
PaperqReports
6c,volume XXaXVI,number76,pp.84-5.
9l
re
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

It is a mystery why Feild failed to make the potentially more compelling argument
that the building materials from the planned church could not have survived the fire,
and thus all the project'sassetswere effectivelywiped,out. However, his remarks seem
to have satisfiedLord Grey, who raisedno further objdctions.
The Relief Committee in St. John's, however, still had objections.It was "with
feelings of much regret" that Governor Le Marchant was required to forward to Lord
Grey another objection to the approprration,which he then proceededto undermine by
explainingthatonly elevenof forty membersof the Committee had beenpresentto draft
it, and only nine of those elevenhad supportedthe petition, and all of those nine were
either Romanists or Dissenters.e2The petition attemptedto arguethat the Queen'sLetter
moneys would be better spent on those made destitute by the fire, andthat a "building
in every way adequatemaybe erectedfor a reasonablesum" of f5,000-f6,000.e3Grey's
perfunctory reply was that hefound no argumentthat "requiresor would justify a change
in the decisionwhich I have akeady communicatedto you.. ."ea
The Committee tried one more time, sendinga memorial to Lord Grey that seethed
with indignation. Entitled "The memorial of certain of the Middle Classin St. John's,
Sufferersby the Conflagration of 9'hJune",the precisionand vigour with which it presents
its objectionsmerit quotation at length:
...Your memorialistsnow havethe unpleasanttask of remarkinguponthe etctraordinary
procedureof the EpiscopalBishopof St.Joltn's,in reference to the moniesraisedunderthe
Queen's Letter... [T]hat the replacingof an old woodenbuildingovervalued at 5001,,which
wasto havebeentakendownwithin a year or two, by a stonecathedral,thefoundation-stone of
which waslaid nearlythreeyearsbeforethefire, at which timeBishopSpencerreturnedthanks
to theAlmrghtyfor inclining the heartsof his churchto contributethe meansfor itserection,
the materialsof which werepaidfor and on thespot;that BishopFeild, should,underthese
circumstances, haveplacedthedistressof 12,000personsin equalbalancewith theobjeaof his
ambition, is a matterof surpriseto all, of injusticeto many of his own denomination,and of
seriousrnJuryto the causeof religionhe is sworntoprotect.es

92.Houseof Commons
PaperqReports
6c, volumeXXXVI,number79,p.88.
93.Houseof Commons
Papers,
Reports
6c, volumeXXXVI,enclosure
1,number70,p.95.
94.Houseof Commons
PaperqReports
6c, volumeXXXVI,number80,p.!6.
95.Houseof Commons
PaperqReports
6q volumeXXXVI,enclosure
2,number81.
94
il
 ED\\ARD FEILDAND HIS CATHEDRAL

Lord Grey politely acknowledgedreceipt of the memorial, saying that he hadlard

the petition beforethe Queen,but for reasonspreviously stated,was not able to advise
her Majesty to comply with it.e6
Doubtless,the issuewas beyondargumentby this time. The final decisionhad been
made almost ayear earher,during aprlate meetingbetweenLord Grey and the Bishop,
in the first dark afternoon following the winter solstice.A11subsequentdialogue was
diplomatic showmanship.Where all elsehad failed, fire would at last succeed.Edward
Feild would get his cathedral.
Having procured funding for a reasonablyambitiousbuilding, Feild neededan at least
equally ambitious architect.He found one in GeorgeGilbert Scott (1811-78). How Feild
made the acquaintanceof Scott is not known (he was no relation to William ScotteT),
but it was probablythrough mutual contactsat the CambridgeCamden Society,which
at this time viewed Scott as an architect of considerablepromise. GeorgeGilbert Scott
openedhis independentarchitecturclpracttcein 1835.e8 Much of his earlywork, including
St. John'sCathedral,was donein partnershipwith William Moffat, whoseexpertisewas
primarily in planning and building rather than architectural design.The firm enjoyed
fair successas builders of workhouses,although Scott - the son, grandson,nephew,
brother, cousin,and uncle of clergymen- becameincreasinglyattractedtoecclesiastical
commissions.His first church commission was for a parish church in Lincoln, about
which he would later observe,"I cannot sayanything in its favour, exceptingthatit was
better than many then erected."ee It was built in 1839,the sameyear thatthe Cambridge
Camden Society was founded,leading Scott to reflect "I only wish I had known its
Six more church commissionsfollowed - "all agreed...in the
founders at the 1i1ns.rt100
meagerness of their construction",ScottIater confessed- beforehe was stirred to a more
seriouscontemplationof Gothic by the work of the CambridgeCamden Societyand
the writings of Pugin. A meeting with Benjamin Webb, occasionedby Scott'srage over

q5. bid.
97.The architecthad a brother,alsonamedWilliam Scott,alsoa clergyman.The twoWilliam Scottsare,however,
differentpeople- GeorgeGilbert'sbrotherwasvicarof Abthorpe,while Feild'sfriendand colleague
wasvicarof
ChristChurch,Hoxton.
!8. Strangely,no recent,comprehensivemonographhasbeenwritten on Scott.The standardreferenceis DavidCole,
TheWorkof Sir GilbertScott,London:
1980.Basicdataon Scottandhis descendents canbefoundin Geoffrey Fisher,
GavinStamp& others,Catalogueof theDraai,ngs Collectionof theRoyal Institute of Britkh Architects:TheScott
Family,pp.13-16. AsGavinStamphassaid,thebestbiography on Scottremainsthearchitect's own:George Gilbert
Scott,Personaland ProfessionalRecollections,firstpublishedLondon:1879;neweditionStamford:1995.
p. 85.
99. Scott,Personaland ProfessionalRecollections,
100.Ibid,p.86.
95
ffi
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

the projected demolition of the medieval St. Stephen'sChapel, Westminster, resulted

in an impromptu lecture on the necessityof chancels.Scott found himself in complete
agreement,andimmediatelybecamean avid rcaderof TheEcclesiologist.r0tPugin's writing
stirred him evenmore:
Pugin'sarticlesexcitedmealmostto afury, and I suddenbfound myself
like a personawakenedfroma longfnerish dream,which had rendered
him unconscious of what wasgoingon abouthim.102
Scott used his crusadefor St. Stephen'sas an excuseto write
to Pugin, and to his great delight was invited to call:
He wastremendously jolly, and showedalmosttoo muchbonhomie ro
accordwith my romanticexpectations.I veryrarelysawhim again,though
I becamea dnoted readerof his written, and visitorof his erectedworks,
andagreedyrecipientof everytaleabouthim, andreportof whathesaid
or did.to3
Scott's newly learned devotion to Gothic brought him the
commission for the Martyr's Memorial in Oxford (1842-44),
resulting in a design that Scott later found imperfect, but still
believed "was better than any one but Pugin would then have
procured."r04 In the sameyears Scottbuilt what he consideredto
be his first truly good church: St. Giles, Camberwell (figure 4-5).
A lithograph of the design was sent to the Cambridge Camden
Society, which deemed it (in TheEcclesiologist) a "magrrificent"
design.l0sTheir praise was not unqualified: they objected to
the shortnessof the chancel, remained unconvinced of the
appropriatenessof the hexagonalapse(Lichfield being the only
English medieval precedent),and objected to the placement of
the transept doors, the size of the windows in the north porch,
the pitch of the roof, the pinnacles at the base of the spire, the
4-5- St.Giles,Camberwell, arrangementof the spire lights, the belfry windows, and the
London,exteriorfrom
thenorth.
101.Ibid,pp.87-8.
102.Ibid,p.88.
103.Ibid,p.89.
104.Ibid,p.!0.
105.TheEcclesiologist,volume
1,number
4,I)42,p.68.
96
:I
 FD\\ARD FEILDAND FIISCATHEDRAI

placementof the flying buttresses.By the standardsof TheEcclesiologist,

however,this
was a glowing review.
Scott's reputation as a Gothic designerwas consolidatedby his triumph in the
competitionfor the Nikolai-Kirche in Hamburg (1844).It establishedhim asthe foremost
Gothic architect of the day (savefor Pugin), but it also got him into trouble in The
Ecclesiologist:
. . .Now this building,asdesigned for the worshipof oneof the worstsectionsof an heretical
sect... hordb comesunderour notice.Mr Scott'slithographpresents a north-westview,and we
areboundto confess that thespireis beautiful,andwellmanaged...But thequestionarises,how
mustwecharacterize thespirit thatprostitutesChristianarchitectureto suchan use?t06
This stinging rebuke - entirely on ideological grounds, not architectural ones -
introduceda note of tensionbetweenScott and the EcclesiologicalSocietythat never
disappeared.In fact, as Gavin Stamp has observed,t\T Scott was held in particularly
high rcgardby the Society,but he was alwayshypersensitiveto criticism - and therewas
also sometruth to Scott'scomplaintthat the Ecclesiologistsrepresentedanuneasymix
of constantly shifting ideals and unshakablebelief in their own infallibility. In spite of
the fact that they frequently changedtheir minds in matters of taste andpropriety,they
were alwaysequally convincedthat they were right. "There was no classof men", Scott
wrote, "whom the CambridgeCamdenSocietyheld in suchscorn,asthosewho adhered
to their own last opinion fs1 ens.trros
The middle of the 1840sfound Scott in the early bloom of a carcerthat would rise
to spectacularheights,and end in burial in WestminsterAbbey upon his deathin 1878.
In between, professionalhighlights would include Exeter College Chapel, Oxford
(1857);Kelham Hall, Nottinghamshire(1853-62)(figure a-O; the Albert Memorial,
London (1864-68)(figure a-7); the Midl and Grand Hotel at St. Pancras,London
(1869-72)(figure a-8); and the restoration of countlessmedieval cathedrals(including
an appointmentas Surveyorof WestminsterAbbey in 1849).He also roseto the rank of
Professorof Architecture at the Royal Academy.
Scott'sviews on the national and denominational meaningsof Gothic were ideally
suitedto the situation in Newfoundland. What that colony neededwas an emphaticvisual

105.TheEcclesiologisd
volume4,1845,p. 184.
107.GavinStamp,"GeorgeGilbertScottand the CanbridgeCamdenSociety",inA Churchas it ShouldBe:
TheCambridgeCamdenSocietl,anditslrtfluence.Donnington:2001.
p 106.
108.Scott,Personaland ProfessionalRecollectiotts.
9t
G
NE\VFOUNDLANDGOTHIC

4-6 (A) - KelhamHall, Nottinghamshire,

exterior.
4-7 $) - Albert Memorial,London.
4-8 (C) -Great Midland Hotel,St.Pancras
Station.London.exterior.
 I]D\\'ARDFEILDAND HIS C,\TIIEDR,\I

statementof England andits EstablishedChurch, and for Scott,that was preciselywhat

Gothic provided. Scottwas a prolific writer throughout his career,and his encyclopedic
knowledgeof medieval architectureleft him in no doubt that England, primarily through
the Church, had developedits own distinct Gothic idiom, and that this idiom was
the national style. "England produced a style of her own", wrote Scott (quoting E.A.
Freeman),"inferior to none in purity of Gothic principle, and surpassingevery other in
the matchlessbeauty of its detall."t0elndeed Gothic was, for Scott, "the only [style]which
we can, as Christians or as Englishmen,call our own..."110 In Remarkson Secularand
Domestic (1857),Scott observedthat the Gothic Revival was "the revival of our
Architecture
own national architecture",lll andthat it had brought church architecture "back to our
true national type",tt2and was "essentially national"(his italics).ll3Of particular interest
is an essaycalled "On the claims of Romanists(assuch)upon PointedArchitecture."ll4
Publishedin 1850,it must have been written some time in the late 1840s,making it
exactly contemporarywith the construction of Scott's cathedralin St. John's.Thus, it
is a reflection of Scott'sideasat the very moment his first cathedralwas being built. In
it, Scott argved that, contrary to the impressionthat may be formed by the superficial
observer,Gothic was not the style of the Roman Church. Admittedly, Gothic arose
during the Roman Church'sgreatestperiod of domination, but Scottwas "not... shaken
in my conviction that it arose ruther in spite of, rather than as a consequenceof, that
usurpeddomination and its accompanyingerrors."lr5Gothic, afterall, was a product of
countriesnorth of the Alps, and it was Rome herselfthat setup a"Pagan standardbefore
the eyesof the world"rr6by replacing Old St. Peter'sBasilica, an act which completed
the "unchristianizing" of artbegun in the Renaissance. In England,by contrast,this
"pagantzation" of art was much slower to take hold, and:
...we accordinglyfind,at Oxfordandelsauhere,buildingsdesigned in medievaltastedatingdown
to the GreatRebellion...clearlyshowingthat it wasstill heldby manyto bethearchitectureof
ourownchurch...1r7

10!.George Scott,"0n theQuestion

Gilbert oftheselection
of a single
variety of Pointed
Architecture
formodernuse,
andofwhichvariety hasthestrongest
claimsonsuchselection",IPleafortheFaithfulRestorationofourAncient
Churches... to whichareaddedsomeMiscellaneous Remarks on othersubjects...,London: pp.95-5.
1850,
110.bid, pp.II2-Ii.
111.George GilbertScott,
Remarkson Secularand Domestic Architecture, London:1852p. 10.
II2.Ibid,p,12.
113.Ibid,p. 16.
114.Scott,,4PleafortheFaithfulRestoration
of ourAncientChurches,. , to whichareaddedsomeMiscellaneous
Remarks on otherSubjects...,
London:1850.pp.39-51.
115.Ibid,p.40.
116.Ibid,p.43. 99
II7.lbid,p.44. Iffi
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

Finally, Scott concluded:

I think, then,it canhardly bedenied,that the influenceof Romehad no concernin the riseof
pointedarchitecture;that the increasingcorruptionof theRomanChurchwasaccompanied by
a declinein thepurity of our Northern architecture;and that itsfinal extinctionwasbrought
aboutdirectlyby the exampleand influenceof Romeherself.tls
As a piece of polemics,this is not perfectly convincing. Indeed, one merely has to
disentangleScott's apparentlywillful conflation of "Rome" as the geographicalseat of
the Popesand "Rome" as an ideologically unified belief system,and the whole argument
begins to unravel. In the tortured ingenuity of its arguments,not to mention the sheer
unlikelinessof its premise,Scott'sessayparallelsArchdeaconBridge'ssermon, The Two
Religions;or, The QuestionSutled, Which Is the OldestChurch,theAnglicanor theRomish?
This similarity of outlook is one of the things that made him the perfect architect for
Feild's Cathedral. Whereas Bridge staked the Anglican claim for authority based on
venerability,Scott stakedits claim on the venerableGothic style. Gothic, in short, was not
the architecture of Rome: it was the architecture of England and of the English Church,
andhad stood historically in direct oppositionto Rome. This is preciselythe statement
that neededto be made, in visual, architecturalterms, by the Anglican Cathedralin
St. John's - particularly in light of the lengthening shadow of the Classical, "pagan"
Romanist cathedralthat continuedconstruction,unscathedby the fire of 1846.
Analysis of Scott's design for St. John's Cathedral is made more difficult by the
building's complicatedhistory of building and re-building campargns.Construction was
begun in 1847,and the nave, which was to servefor thirty years as the entire church,
was consecratedin 1850.There was no further activity until 1880,by which time both
Feild and Scott were dead.By 1885,the crossing,transeptsand choir had been completed
under the direction of GeorgeGilbert ScottJr., the original architect'sson.The younger
Scott'swork appearsto have followed his father'splans quite closely(seeChapter Six).
The nave, meanwhile, was destroyedrn affue of 1892,eventually to be re-built by C.P.
Hopson of Toronto in 1902-03.Once again, Sir Gilbert Scott's original plan seemsto
havebeen followed quite closely,although not, as we shall see,in every detail. Thus, the
cathedral as it stands today is very much a building in the spirit of Sir George Gilbert
Scott, but to gain abetter understanding of the letter of his intentions, it is necessaryto
examine some of his surviving drawings of the building.

118.Ibid,p.44.
r00
'il
 EDWARDFEILDAND HIS CMHEDRAL

What may be one of Scott's earliest

designs for the cathedral in St. John's
is shown on a floor plan labeled
"Newfoundland. Plan showing proposed
affangement" (figure 4-9). It is signed
"Geo. Gilbert Scott.Architect. 20 Spring
Gardens,London." Undated,it is a modest
oblong with aisles, chancel, vestry and
south porch. Its strong resemblanceto
Pugin's St. Wilfrid's suggeststhat this
model was still in Feild'smind - which, in
turn, suggeststhat this drawing may date
from before December 22, 1846(the date
of Feild's momentous meeting with Lord
Grey). It is probably safe to assumethat
the aisles,chancel and vestry would have
been clearly articulated on the exterior, as
the Ecclesiologistswould have demanded,
and as they arc at St. Wilfrid's. Therc appearsto be little in the way of elaborate 4-9- "Newfoundland,
articulation. The nave piers consistof round coreswith four attachedshafts.The most Planshowingproposed
affangement."
intriguing feature of the drawing is the relatively massivecompound piers of the chancel Drawingby GeorgeGilbert Scott,
arch.Immenselybrggerthan the navepiers,they would seemto be intendedas support CathedralArchives,Cathedralof St
John the Baptist,
for a tower, although there are no correspondingpiers at the opposite corners of the 600.02-ARCH 002.

chancel, and in any event this would be a very odd location for a tower, completely
without medieval authority. Most likely, thesepiers reflect the plan explained in Feild's
letter quoted on page 106above:
What I meanto attemptis a mereoblongbuilding (without tower,or bell turret)from 120to
D5 rt. bng andfrom 58 to 60 wide inside- a clerestoryand two aisles:with a largearch in ye
Eastendfora chancelat somefuturetime.rte
The main function of the massivepiers is probably not to support the chancel arch,
but to becomethe westerncrossingpiers of a future easternarm.

119.FeildtoWilliamScott,June
23,1846.

t0l
ffi
 Other drawingsby Scott,preserved
in the DrawingsCollectionof the Royal
Institute of British Architects, show
increasinglyambitiousplans.A drawing
entitled"St. John'sNewfoundland.First
Designfor Church" (figure4-10),shows
a long nave,with aislesand southporch,
apparentlyaisle-less transeptsof full height,
a monumentalcrossingtowerwith a squat
spire,anda choir with what maybe aisles
(ormaymorelikely bea vestry).Substantial
4-10- "St.John'sNewfoundland. buttresses articulatethe baysand cornersof the building.The stylethroughoutis Early
FirstDesignfor Church," EnglishGothic.
byGeorge GilbertScott. ,
RIBA Drawing
Library Collection, Additional drawings show someof the detailsthat Scottplannedfor the cathedral.
scccs[1rg]1.
Figure4-11is an exteriorelevationof the north side.Detailsare suggested ratherthan
explicftlyrendered,andwereevidentlystill in theprocessofbeingworkedout. The choir
is substantiallymoreelaboratethan the nave(thisis in strict observanceof Ecclesiological
principles),with cuspedandmulti-lightwindowsasopposedto the latter'slancets.The
transeptfagadeboasts a four-lightwindow with threequatrefoilsabove- very Decorated
(that is, dating from the middle phaseof EnglishGothic) in conceptionbut still using
platetracery.
A similarly imprecisedrawing (figurc 4-12)showsScott'sintention for the choir,
which was a two-storyelevationwith the secondstory sub-dividedso as to suggest
a third. Two-storyelevations,while rare in EnglishmedievalGothic, canbe seenat
PershoreAbbey and SouthwellCathedral.This basicconfigurationwas adoptedby
GeorgeGilbertJr.in the 1880s,andcanstill be seenin the choirtoday.
In a much more preciselyrendereddrawing of the navepiers(figure 4-13),it is
possibleto geta clearerideaof exactlywhat Scott'sbuilding wasto look like. The most
striking characteristicof thesepiersis their unmistakableEnglishness. The capitalsare
moulded,which Scottconsidered to be oneof the greatfeaturesof EnglishGothic.l2o
More interestingly,eachcapital'sprofile is subtlydifferentfrom everyother,in a textbook
displayof the loveofvariety scioftenseenin Englishmedievaldesign.l2l Thesameis true

120.SeeGeorge 0n tbeRiseand Deuelopment

Lectures
GilbertScott, Architecture,
of Gothic London:
1878,
pp.157-8.
121.
Seechapter p.72,note38.
three,
t0z
m
4-ll (A) - AnglicanCathedralof St.JohntheBaptist,St.John's
Newfoundland. Exteriorofnorth elevation,byGeorgeGilbertScott.
RIMtibraryDrawing Collection,
SCGGS [l19]4.
4-12(B) - AnglicanCathedralof St.JohntheBaptist,St.John's
Newfoundland. Interior of choir elevation,byGeorgeGilbertSc<itt.
RIBA libraryDrawing
Collection,
SCGGS tl19]3.
4-13(C)- AnglicanCathedral of St.JohntheBaptist,St.John's
Newfoundland. Navepierselevationandsection,byGeorgeGilbertScott. t0l
RIBAtibrary DrawingCollection,SCGGS
[l 19] 12. x
 N E\\'FOLI\Dt-AND GOTHIC

of the piersthemselves.The basicconfiguration - an octagonalcore,with four attached

shafts- is common enough,but the real ingenuity lies in the variety of forms, one pier
having round shafts,the next filleted ones, and the third nibbed. The filleted shaft is
interestingtoo in that the fillet runs not only up the shaftbut through the necking of the
capital and the lower part of the moulded capttal itself. This is another quotation from
Early English Gothic, but the geographrcalrangeis narrowing: this feature is most likely
to be found from Lincolnshire northward, and is ubiquitousat, for example,the choir of
SouthwellMinster (begun ca.1234)(figure 4-14).Thesepiersdemonstrateanexquisitely
precisegraspof Early English Gothic, both in overallconceptionand in detail. While not
all of theserefinementshavebeenincorporatedinto the presentnave,photographstaken
before the 1892fire show that Scott'snave as built followed this drawing (figure 4-15).
The surviving photographsof the interior of Scott'snave(figures 4-15& 4-16)reinforce
the senseof the "Englishness"of the design.The proportions are low andbroad,rather
than high and uprrght. There is no continuous vertical articulation: the shafts of the
piers end atthe capitals,and the shaftsmarking the bays of the clerestoryare corbelled
out. The main arcadeis thick and richly moulded. Fortunately,all of thesefeaturesare
retainedexactlyin Hopson's1902re-building,so the presentnaveis as decidedlyEnglish
a spaceas its predecessor.
This strongly English quality is equally evident on the exterior of Scott'sdesign
(figures 4-17& 4-19).The eastend (not built until after Scott'sdeath)is a sheer,cliff-like
mass,reminiscentof northern modelssuch as LincolnandYork Minster. The graduated
lancetsof the west end recall northern English prototypessuch as the famous "Five
Sisters"windows in the north transeptof York Minster (figure 4-18).The deeplyrecessed
but relativelydiminutive west door is also an English type, seenat such placesas the
Cathedralsof Wells, Ripon, andYork Minster.
The Englishnessof the designneedsemphasizingfor two reasons.First, it is preciselythe
solutionrequiredby the situationthat so troubledWix and other Newfoundland clergymen
who found themselvesisolatedin a seaof Popery.The Roman Catholic cathedralmight
havebeenrising longerand higher,but at last the establishedChurch had a strongpublic
symbol and identity - a visual brand, if you will - that was demonstrablyEnglish and
Anglican. Second,St. John's Cathedralstandsat the tail end of a phaseof Ecclesiology
that was heavily antiquarian - copyist, in the languageof the duy -rather than innovative.
Scott'snavewas finishedin 1850,the sameyearthatWilliam Butterfieldwould beginwork
on A11Saints,Margaret Street,a buildingthatwould vastly enlargethe formal paletteof
the EcclesiologicalSocietyand the Church of England.Both Italian and Early French
r04
ffi
4-16(A)-AnglicanCathedral
of St.JohntheBaptist,St.John's
Newfoundland.Naveinterior,pre-1880.
CathedralArchives,Cathedralof St.John the Baptist,
C l /l.16l LocationAl33 (photographerunknown).
4-15$) - AnglicanCathedralof St,JohntheBaptist,
St.John'sNewfoundland.
Photograph of nave,pre-1892.
Centrefor NewfoundlandStudies,C,all- 137,2.02.012.
Seehttp ://www.library.mun. calqeiilcns/photos/geogfi ndaid.php#Arrange
4-14(C) - SouthwellMinster,detailof capitals
of choir pier six,southarcade.

t05
re
^il, 2

*
"'.".#
4fi': +
rffir1l$

+-17(A) - AnglicanCathedral of St..fohn theBxptist,St.John'sNervfoundlantl.

Exterior,ple-lflt)2.
(lathrdntl
lrchrves.(lathedlal
ofSt..lohn
theIlaptist, l,oc.,\0.19
C,\l/1..19.
( p h o t o g r a p h c fL r n k u o un ) .

+-18(ll) -York Minster,York,exteriorof north trrnsept,"The l'iveSisters."

4-19(C) - r\nglicanCathedlalof St..|ohntherIlaptist.St.John'sNculimndland.
lllttstrated Lottrktii .\crr'.s.\ol, \l\'. ltl-+9.
 ED\\ARD FEILDAND HIS CATIIEDR,\I-

Gothic would soon leavea strongmark in the designsof such Gothic Revival architects
as Butterfield,GeorgeEdmund Street,r22 and evenScott himself.l23Indeed,in one of the
very few scholarlyreferencesto St. John'sCathedral,David'Brownleehas referredto the
"French spirit" of Scott'sdesign.r2aSucha characterization,however,can only be rooted
in a very imperfectknowledgeof the medievalmodelsupon which the building is based,
and of the social,religiousand political circumstancesthat causedit to be introducedinto
Newfoundland. Scottwas confusedabout neither.According to him, adaptabilitywas a
hallmark of Gothic, but it shouldneverloseits national and spiritual essence:
Our architecture shouldeverywhere bebothEnglish and Chrtstian, but shouldhayein it that
intrinsicprinciple of hfewhichwouldadmit of itsreadyadaptationto theclimateof thetorrid
or thefrozenzone,to thescorched plantationsof Jamaicaor the icy rocksof Labrador Thestyle
shouldbeessentially one,but it shouldpossess
an elasticitywhichwouldrenderit suitableto the
mostyariedexternalconditions.t2s
Scott apparentlyrcgardedSt. John's Cathedral as something of a showpiecein his
portfolio. It was displayedin the Architecture Room at the exhibition of the Royal
Academy in 1848,126 exhlbrted agatn at the Free Architectural Exhibition in 1849,127
and also appearedin the IllustratedLondonNewson June 23, 1849(figure 4-t9). That
illustration is perhapsthe best surviving impressionremaining of Scott'splans for the
whole cathedraLThe pure Early English of the earherdrawing, while perhapsappropriate
for the rugged,hyperboreanenvironment of Newfoundland, had beentransformedinto a
more complex aftangementof tall lancetwindows (the definitive characteristicof Early
English) and more expansivewindows in the eastend inspired by DecoratedGothic
models suchas the eastwindow of Lincoln Cathedral.Scott'sdesign, admittedly,is not
"ptJre" Decorated: the tracery is of the heavy "plate" type rather than the more slender
"bar" variety - possiblya concessionto the rigours of the Newfoundland climate.

I22. 0n G.E.Street,andon the influenceof earlyFrenchGothicon the EnglishGothicRevivalmoregenerally,seeDavid

Brownlee,TheLau Courts:thearchitectureof GeorgeEdmund StreedNewYork,Cambridge,Mass.:1984.
I23. At,for example,the polychromestoneand brick MidlandGrandHotelat St.Pancras.
I24. DavidBrownlee, "VictorianOfflcePracticeandVictorianArchitecture: The Caseof Sir GilbertScott,"TheArtist's
Workshop: Studiesin theHistoryof Art 38,Washington, D.C.:NationalGalleryof Art, 1993,pp.I55J3.
I25. G.G.Scott,"0n the Question of theselection
of a singlevarietyof Pointedarchitecture.. .", p. 115.
I25. TheEcclesiologist,volume 8, 1848,p. 360,comments,"Wecannotconceive whythehangingcommitteeshouldhave
placedthis designin the highestrow,while somanyworksof far inferior merit and interestoccupyadvantageous
positions."
127.This wasapparentlyan exhibitionsetup by and for architectsin responseto the exhibitionof the RoyalAcademy,
whichwaswidelyconsidered bytheprofession not to do architecturejustice.SeeTheEcclesiologist,volume 9,1849,
p.303.
l0/
ffi
 NEWFOUNDLANDGOTHIC

In 1848, Scott's design was the subject of a lengthy article in TheEcclesiologist.t2s

The article beganwith abrref summary of the history of Anglican church buildings
in St. John's.The original church, which had becomethe cathedralin 1839,had been
"a wooden shed of the most monstrous description."t2e Archdeacon Wix had been
responsiblefor the building of another wooden church (St. Thomas'), "of somewhat
better form... though the intention was certainly better than the effecl.t'l3O After the
creation of the Dioceseof Newfoundland, a cathedralwas commissioned,"piously, we
own, rutherthan decorously,by Bishop Spencer."l3r It was, unfortunately, "a sham Gothic
conventiclea few degreesworsethan the church in.. . S. Pancras"r32 illustratedin Pugin's
Contrastsand discussedon page 27 above.The far superior church under construction
in the aftermath of the fire of 1846was "a remarkableillustration of the actual value
of severetemporal visitations."133 After the fire, half of the money from the Queen's
Letter had been "quite properly" apportionedby Lord Grey for the cathedral, "yet not
without sundry reclamations,especiallyfrom the noisy Hiberno-Romanists,who form
the majority of the Newfoundland colonists."l3a
then proceededto analyze andcomment upon the designitself. "The
TheEcclesiologist
style", they noted, "is First-Pointed [Early English] of the latest phasein the nave and
transepts:transitional towardsMiddle-Pointed[Decorated]in the choir."r3s This stylistic
combination had, in fact, come about initially at the urging of William Scott, as G.G.
Scott explainedin a letter to Feild written in 1847:
Subsequent toyour Lordship'sdeparturesomelittle discussionaroseasto thestyle,Mr. William
Scottthinkingthat a somewhatmoreadvanced periodof GothicArchitecturemight with some
modificationhavebeenpreferable,
andI wasledto takemoretroublein designingthearchfteaural
featuresof the choirfrom a wish to shewhow a progression in point of ornamentalcharacter
mtghtbeobtainedin theparts not now undertaken, and that thoughthepresentportion of the
workmtghtbemoresimpleand lessdeveloped thancouldbewished,thisobjectmryhtbeavoided
in proceedingeasrrvard.t36

8, 1848,pp.272-).
128.TheEcclesiologist,volume
129.\bid,p.274.
130.Ibid,p.275.
131.Ibid,p.275.
132.lbid,p.274.
133.Ibid,p.271.
134.1bid,p.275.
135.Ibid,p.277.
135.G.G.ScotttoFeild,
August3,1847.
r0B
ffi
 EDWARDFEILDAND HIS CATHEDRAL

For Scott (i.e., the architect, not the clergyman),this blend of Early English and
Decoratedprobablyrepresentedan rdealsynthesisratherthan a compromise.While he
consideredDecoratedthe apogeeof Gothic (asindeeddid Pugin and the Ecclesiological
Society), Early English was, in his view, a style that "may well be the pride of
Englishmen."t37 Thus, Scott concluded,"rt may be reasonableto wed the grandeurof
one with the eleganceof the other.ttr38 $ss11would also have been well aware that an
earltermedieval navejoined to alater eastend was by no meansan unusualarcangement
in English cathedrals,Lincoln being perhapsthe most notable example(in addition to
the one closestin designto Scott'scathedralat St. John's).
The-review in TheEcclesiologist was generally favourable,although they expressed
disappointmentin the design'slack of originality - a criticism that would have been
unimaginablejust a few years earlierwhile the Ecclesiologistsstill favouredcopyism over
innovation (Scott'scomplaint ofthe Society'scontemptfor anyonewho "adhercdto their
own last opinion but one" evidently had somejustification). The Societyconcluded:
Thewallsareof immense thickness:
andthechurchby itsdurabilityandsolidsize,aswellasby its
unmistakableEnglishandauthenticated
character,
will, whenit is completed thepresent
accordingto
designs,
fully and verycreditably
represent
our Church in oneof themostcheerless
of itsseats.t3e
Be that as it may, completing the cathedralto Scott'sdesignswas never going to be
an easymatter. Scotthimself neversetfoot in Newfoundland. To act as Clerk of Works,
he sent the ScotsmanWilliam Hay (1818-88),who had trained under John Henderson
in Edinburgh. Hay would remain for severalyearsin British North America , andhave
a very successfulcareerthat would include work in Newfoundland, Ontario, Bermuda,
and his native Scotland.r4oHe was also a committed Gothicist who would contribute a
heartfelt obituary of Pugin to the Anglo-AmericanMagazinein 1853.141
Feild reported to
the SPG in 1847that Hay had arrived in St. John's, "but single handed except for his
wife - no mason or labourer."142 Hay and Feild seemedto maintain a good working

I37.G.G. "0n theQuestions...",

Scott, p.95.
138.Ibid,p.98.
139.Ibid,p.278.
140.0n some ofHay'sworkin 0ntario,seeMarionMacRaeandAnthonyAdamson, HalloaedVhlls; Churcharchitecture
of UpperCanada, Toronto: 1975.
Onhisworkin Bermuda,seeBarryMagrill,"'Development'
andEcclesiology
in the
0utpostsoftheBritishEmpire:
WilliamHay'sGothic forChurch
Solutions Building in Tropical (1840-1890)
Climates ",
Journalof theSocietyfor theStudyofArchitecture
in Canada,volume2!, numbers I &2,2004,pp.15-26.
141.V/illiamHay,"TheLateMr.PuginandtheRevival ofChristian
Architecture",
Anglo-American Magazine,January-
July1853, pp.70-3.
142.FeildtoHawkins, May10,1847.
t09
re
 NEWFOUNDLANDGOTHIC

relationshipthroughout the building campargn."His ambition, I believe",wrote Feild,

"is to do the work well."143
Although Scott produced drawings for the whole cathedral,the intention from the
start was to completethe nave only and leavethe rest to another generation.laa That the
cathedralwas thus "commenced in faith" was warmly praised by TheEcclesiologist.las
Even on the nave,however,progresswas halting. By January of 1848,Feild reported to
Cecil Wray that the south aisle walls, although they had beenbuilt to a height of some
fifteen feet,still only reachedthe level of the navefloor due to the steepsouthwardslope
Moreover, the climate was provinga formidable challenge:
of the site.146
I am sorry to saythat thefrosthasalreadydoneconsiderable damageby splitting manystones,
which it seemed impossible couldeveaarbreakor split... Thebuilderwho is a cleversensible
Scotchman wouldnot bepersuaded thefrost wouldhavethepowerand ffict whichhe now
witnesses and deplores.taT
By the spring of 1849,money was running out. Feild believedthat the day would soon
come when he would have to dispensewith William Hay's services,"merely becauseI
cannot pay him."148He was, however,hopeful that Hay's place might be taken by the
newly arrived Rev.William Grey, a clergymanwith considerablearchitecturalexpertise
and talent.t'nBy late 1849,Feild reported to Ernest Hawkins that the walls were complete,
the aisleroofs finished, and that the naveroof would be done "in about three weeks."150
Money remained a problem, and more fundraising was needed:
I havetold Mr. W ScottI shouldtry to sendyou a sketch;will not our walledup aisles,and
boardedtowerarclt,and no moremoneyawakesympathy?tsl
By this time, the entire shareof the Queen'sLetter money (in excessof f16,000), as
well as donationsfrom numeroussourcessuch as the SPG and SPCK (andvery possibly
severalothers whose records are lost) had produced not a cathedralbut a nave - and

25,1848.
143.FeildtoHawkins,July
M4. Acertain amountofconfusionseemed ScotttoFeildon
upin a letterfromG.G.
tooccuroverthis,butwascleared
August 3,1847.
p.278.
8, 1848,
145.TheEcclesi,ologist,volume
25,
146.FeildtoWray,January 1848.
r47.rbid.
May2I,184).
148.Feildto Hawkins,
149,rbid.
150.FeildtoHawkins, 17,1849.
October
151.FeildtoHawkins,November15,1849.
il0
ffi
 EDWARDFEILDAND HIS CMHEDRAL

an incomplete one at that. Here perhapswas "the patience and the faith of the saints",
alluded to in the sermon delivercdat Feild's ordination as Bishop.
In June of 1850, TheEcclesiologist
triumphantly reported:
Wearehoppyto beableto announcethegreatforwardness of thecathedralof Fredericton,and
the naveof S. John'scathedral,Newfoundland,which is to befitted with a temporarychoir at
itseastendforimmediateuse.ts2
Finally, in October of 1850,Feild was ableto report to Lord Grey that the cathedral
in St. John's (or more precisely,its nave)had been consecratedon St. Matthew's Day
(September21, the sixth anniversary of Feild's "Order and Uniformity" Charge to his
clergy),and was now "in constantuse."rs3 The cost had been great,and indeed Feild
had only beenableto completethe task thanks to recentdonationsof considerablesums
by private friends and the SPCK. Feild assuredLord Grey that all the funds had been
"faithfully (I dare not say in every casewisely) spent".154He enclosedan accountof the
consecrationfrom TheTimet which boastedthat, were the church everto be completed
accordingto its architect'splans, "no ecclesiasticalesdificein British North America
could rival i1.rtlss
In reply, Lord Grey declaredthat it affordedhim "much satisfactionto
learnthat the cathedralchurchat St. John'shasbeenconsecrated,and that the building,
though not completed,is now in constantuse."156
Officially satisfiedLord Grey may havebeen,but unofficial opinion in the office of the
Secretaryof Statefor the Coloniesappearsto havebeenlessthan universallyimpressedwith
the processby which Feild establishedhis Gothic foothold in Newfoundland.In January
of 1850,Newfoundland GovernorLe Marchant sent aletter to Lord Grey accompanying
Feild's report on the nearly complete,yet still cash-strappedcathedraLlncluded was a
report from William Huy, detailing fI,446 worth of work remainingto be done.rsT On the
backof Marchant'sletteris a hand-writteninternal memo from Arthur Blackwood,Senior
Clerk, to H. Merivale, Under-Secretaryof Statefor the Colonies.It reads:

152.TheEcclesiologist,volume p.54.
11,1850,
T53.Houseof Commons Papers,
Reports6c,volume XXXVI.
enclosure
in number101.
154.rbid.
I55.TheTimesand GeneralCommercial Gazette,
Saturday,
September28,1850,
number78.
155.Houseof Commons Papers,
Reports6c, volumeXXXVI,number102.
I57.Houseof Commons Papers,
Reports6c, volumeXXXVI,number99.
ill
re
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

Mr Merivale
It wouldseemthat thef 16000whichhasbeenspenton the Cathedralis insufficientto complete
the Building & that the Bishopdoesnot know wherethe restof the tnonE)is to befound to
TwogoodStoneChurchesmrght havebeenbuiltfor
-finish the interior & makeit semiceable.
that monqt.
Acknowledge?
AR 23/ 1/ 50ts8
To a civil servant comfo rtably ensconceain Victorian London, the job of building
a thirteenth-century English cathedral on a rocky, remote, windswept, impoverished
north Atlantic island must have looked fairly easy.It is tq be hoped that this chapter has
demonstratedotherwise.

Office,ColonialOfficeCorrespondence,
158.PublicRecords 3, 1850,"Erectionof NewCathedral".
number548,January
ilz
$il
 rc
0{flPTtRftl|t
Gothic
0naflilrionand
fiillionariel
of6othic:
The ofGothic
lpread Duringfeildl[pircopate

A number of singular circumstances- its status as seatof the diocese,the direct

il
ffi influence and intervention of Feild, the fire of 1846,the Queen'sLetter - converged
to make the building of a Gothic church in St. John'spossible.It was largely through
tales of the outports, however,that Wix had originally raised the battle cry, and
they remained a formidablebattlefield. The outports were (and indeed remain)
far from the centresof wealth and power, sparselypopulated,inaccessible,and
impoverished.Spreadingthe Anglican brand through Gothic church-building
I would be an enormouschallenge.
Severalobstaclesstood in the way of the spreadof Ecclesiologyto the outports.First
and most obviously,there was lack of money.Funds could be raisedthrough organizations
suchas the SPG,but Outport churcheswould alwayshaveto be very economicalaffans.
There was also a needto adaptEcclesiologicalGothic to a different buildtng matenal
from what had been used in the cathedral.There is plenty of rock along the coast of
Newfoundland, but with no affordableway of extracting it, focus would have to shift to
the other availablebuilding matenal,which was wood. In addition, lack of architectural
expertise,particularly in the principlesof Ecclesiology,presentedan additional obstacle.
TheEcclesiologistbeganto grapplewith theseproblemsin1847.In a discussionof the
Visitation Journal of the Bishop of Australia, it was pointed out that while the Society
could theortzefrom the Mother Country, it was ultimately up to thosewho were actually
in the coloniesto create acceptablechurch architecture.l "What is wanted," they decided,
"is that our Colonial fellow-Churchmenshouldlearn Ecclesiology."2 The colonial Bishop

1. "Church-Building - TheBishop
in theColonies. ofAustralia's
VisitationJournal",
TheEcclesiologist,volume
7,
1847,pp.15-9.
2. Ibid,p. 15.
ill
r
 NEWFOUNDLANDGOTFIIC

would also have to be a church-builder,and as a church-builder,study of the scienceof

Ecclesiologywas part of his duty.3There was, of course,a limit to how much a Bishop
would also be able to function as an architect,which made it desirablefor him to have
somethinglike an archrtecturaldeputy:
It would be mostdesirableif eachcolonialdiocesehad somequalifiedpersonto whom the
conformto the
Bishopmryhtentrusttheveryimportantfunctionof makingreligiousstructures
proprieties
ascertained itecture.a
of church-arch
In the meantime,the Societyurged all thoseconnectedwith the coloniesto circulate
accuratedrawings of Ecclesiologicallycorrect churchesand church furnishings.
The need to adaptEcclesiologicalprinciples to wooden building in the colonies
referenceto Guianatn1847. While no specific
was first raised rn TheEcclesiologisrwith
solution was considered,it was decidedthat the creation of acceptabledesignsfor wooden
churcheswould be beneficial.sJohn Medley's addressto the EcclesiologicalSociety
deliveredon May 9,1848,raisedthe issueagatn:
[The Society]mtght... aid memuchby smallplain woodenmodelsforwoodenchurches in the
to build of stone,from thefrightful expense
country.In manyplacesit is absolutelyimpossible
of materialsand workmen...And mostof the menbeingcarpenters in somesort,theyeasily
get out theframesof our churches.6
The Societyrespondedquickly. Just one month later, on the evening of June 7, Bishop
Feild's closefriend, colleague, and sympathizer,William Scott, read apaper to the
Society called "On Wooden Churches."Publishedin volume 9 of TheEcclesiologist, tt rs
a seminal theoreticaltext for the adaptationof Gothic to wood.7
Scott began his discussionby affirming the symbolic importance of wood as a
construction matertal in the history of the Church (particularly the English Church).
Old Testamentlaw, he reminded the Society,was containedin a wooden chest(the Ark
of the Covenant).The emblemof the Church was the ship - a wooden vesselwhosevery
structure was mirrored in the "inverted hull" of wooden church ceilings.Moreover, the
image of the ship was meant to recall that most important of ships - "that greathold
of Christian souls- Noah's Ark".8 Thus, Scott concluded,"rt would be thoughtlessin

J. Ibid,p. 18.
4. Ibid,p. 18.
5. "Colonial Church Chapter
Architecture: V.Guiana",TheEcclesiologi,st,vohsmeS,l\Q,pp.142J.
5. "ColonialChurchArchitecture: volume8, 1848,pp.562-3.
IX",TheEcclesiologist,
Chapter
7. William "0n
Scott, \ffooden The
Churches", Ecclesiologist,vohtme),1848,pp.14-27.
8. Ibid.o. 14.
il4
ffi
 GOTHIC ON A MISSIONAND MISSIONARIES
OF GOTIIIC:THE SPREADOF GOTHIC DURING FEILD'SEPISCOPATT

ourselvesto concludethat [the] material of

wood were not investedwith somepeculiar
claims upon Christian consideration."e
Apartfrom thesesymbolicconsiderations,
Scott, in true Ecclesiologicalstyle, was at
pains to construct an archaeological(or
"scientific", as he called it) argumentfor the
use of wood in church-building.While he
wishedto establisha respectablepedigree for
wood in the contextof medievalarchitecture,
he was careful to distancehimself from the
" pretty and sentimentaltheory",particularly
espousedby Sir JamesHall, that Gothic
was "only a kind of fossilizedbasket-work",
derived directly and immediately from
the forest setting of primitive Christian
worshippers.loThere was, however,plenty
of solid archaeologicalevidencefor the
venerability of wood as a building matenal,
and moreovera building material of some
importance in the Middle Ages. Gothic architecturewas, after all, descendedfrom 5-l (A)-AllSaints,Earls
Barton,Northamptonshire,
Romanesque,which was itself a descendentof the Roman Basilica,which followed the westtowef.
ancienttemple- which, in such stylized featuresas triglyphs and guttae,were (and still 5-2(B) - St.Peter's,
Barton-on-Humber,
are)seento reflect long lost woodenprototypes.For the EcclesiologicalSociety,however, lincolnshire,westtower.
the ultimate sourceof architectural authority was not to be found in ClassicalAntiquity,
but in the Middle Ages - particularly the English Middle Ages. Fortunately,there was
ampleevidence(and indeedsurvival) of the use of wood there too. Scott cited the long and
short work (quoining consisting of alternating long and short stones)and the trrangular
headedwindows and doorwaysof Anglo-Saxonbuildings asexamplesof "stone carpentry,"
analogousto the petrified beamsand pegsof the Classicalentablature.Thesefeaturescanbe
seenon the westtowersof Earls Barton and Barton-on-Humber(igures 5-1& 5-2).Whether
or not their ultimate formal sourceis woodenhas beendebated,but the current scholarly

!. bid, p. 14.
10.bid,p. 15.OnJames Hall,seealsoJoseph
Rykwert,
OnAdam's Housein Paradise,Cambridge,Mass.:I972,pp.82-8.
Hall'sideaswereoriginallypublished
in SirJames
HaIl,Essays
on the)rigins, Historyand Principlesof Gothic
Architecture,
London:i813.
il5
T;:
 consensushasreturnedto the opinion heldby Scottin the aftermath
ofMeyer Schapiro'sessayon the topic,originallypublishedin 1959.1t
In addition to long and shortwork, Scottpraisedthe openwooden
ceilingsof medievalchurches,particularlythe "Suffolk opentimber
roof" (such as the one at Blythburgh, figure 5-3) as a form that
"competes,and somethink not unsuccessfully, with vaulting itself
in pictorial effect."l2He might have addedthatwoodenribbedvaults
were in fact quite common in medievalEngland, and were often
considereda viable alternativeto stonevaulting evenamongpatrons
of considerableprestige. 13

Wood, then, was dignified both by symbolic associationsand

by its being "unquestionably the primitive elementof all practrcal
construction."laWhile he plainly did not attempt to argue for the
supremacyof wooden churches(quitethe opposite,in fact), Scott
did assertthat a "stone church implies and assumesthe wooden
idea."tsTherefore:
...if we would build woodenchurches properly,we mustproceedby
analyzingour existingstonechurcltes,and endeavourby successively
throwingoff the accidents,the long array of elaboratebeautiesand ever-
yarytngcombinations whicharepeculiarto a stoneconstruction, to arrfue
plan, whichseems
at lastto thearchetypal wooden.t6

_ HolyTrinity, lthough they may havebeenthe archetype,Scott also argued

5_3
that wooden churcheswere alwaysthe exceptionrather than the rule, that stonewas used
Blythburgh,'interioi.
wheneverpossible,and that throughout the English Middle Ages (including the Saxon
period) wooden churchesarose:
...in poorerplaces,deficientin materials,quarriesand roads,just as they are requiredin
Canadianforests,or at Newfoundland fishing-stations.l7

11.Re-printed in Meyer 'A NoteontheWallStripsof SaxonChurches",

Schapiro, LateAntique,EarlyChristianand
Medieual pp.243-8.
Art,NewYork:1979,
12.Scott,p. 15.
13.SeeM.F.HearnandMalcolm Thurlby,"Previously
Undetected Ribbed
Wooden in Medieval
Vaults England",Journal
pp.48-58.
Association,Cl7997,
of theBritisbArchaeological
14.Scott,pp.15-15.
15.bid,p. 15.
15.bid, p. 16.
17.Ibid,p. 18.
il6
il
 GOTHIC ON A MISSIONAND MISSIONARIES
OF GOTHIC: THE SPREADOF GOTHIC DURING FEILD'SEPISCOPME

5-4- St.Andrew's
Cullompton,
Devon,
chancelscreen.

Examples of such wooden churchesremained relatively easyto find, and spanneda

vgidechronological andstylistic rangeof English medievalbuilding. Scottcited Greensted,
Essex,and Nether (now "Lower") Peover,Cheshire,as examplesfrom Anglo-Saxon and
Decorated("Middle Pointed", as he called it) examples.As Decoratedwas consideredby
Ecclesiologiststo be the "perfectionof Christiar art,"t8the latter was particularly useful
as a model for new wooden churches.
According to Scott, the first principle of wooden architecture had to be that its forms
be intrinsic to the matefial, ruther than imitations of forms that are unique to stone.
There were few forms, however, that Scott believed lay exclusivelyin the domain of
stone, and medieval precedentsprovided him with wooden models for nearly every
form necessaryto church building. Roofs survived in abundance;patterns for piers and
archeswere to be found in lychgates,the wooden "rows" at Chestet, and in even old
barns; Greensted,Nether Peover,and Norwegian StaveChurchesfurnished examples
of wall construction. Medieval rood screens(as, for example,the one at Cullompton,
Devon; seefigure 5-4) demonstratedthe degreeto which evena very intricate decorative

18.Ibid,p. 18.
il/
x
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

vocabularywas suitableto both materials.Wooden belfriesand campanilesalso appear

in Hampshire, Essex, Surrey, and Sussex.Collectively, these features seemnearly to
exhaust the forms and featuresneededfor an acceptablechurch. Even flowing window
tracery,although lacking in precisemedievalprecedent,would be allowableunlessone
were happy to disregardthe many models of such work in wooden medieval screens.
Although almost anything was possiblein wood, and the United Statesand British
North America had abundant examplesof wooden Gothic, Scott concededthat "their
chief value to us will be in the way of a warning, sincethey practically exemplify almost
every error which is possible."leThis comment was followed by a lengthy description
quoted from Feild, in which the typical wooden Newfoundland church was described
in much the sameway Medley had done for New Brunswick. The descriptionis largely
taken from a letter of Augustl8[A, and, althoughpresentedas a verbatim transcript, is in
fact a compositeassembledfrom severalsources(oneof which seemsto havebeen Scott
himself). The many inadequaciesthat Medley had cited in New Brunswick were also
describedby Feild, including the lack of chancels,low-pitchedroofs, coveredceilings, and
ubiquitous galleries (although the last, Feild pointed out, did have the benefit of bracing
the structure of the church against the Newfoundland gales).Scott then describedthe
"Log Church" of Canada,which he said was basedon "the old heathentemplesof the
Canadian Indians."2o
In addition to the many obvious shortcomings of the buildings describedwas
the fundamental problem of the predominant horizontality of both clapboard and
log constructions.Scott recommendedlog churchesas best suited to the climates of
Canadaand Newfoundland, and describedan ingenious,insulated double-wallsystem
of vertical logs that he believedwould be effective, affordable,and respectful of the need
for verticality in Christian architecture. Although considerableadaptationswere made
due to climate, the inspiration was the Anglo-Saxon church at Greensted, the nave
wall of which consistsof a seriesof short, vertically placedlogs. Even if planks were to
be used instead of logs, Scott arguedthat the churchesof Norway provided models for
their vertical disposition, concluding "there seemsto be no reason for the horizontal
affangementwhich prevails in America."2l

1!. Ibid,p.20.
20.lbid,p.22.
21,Ibid,p.23.
ilB
il
 GOTHIC ON A MISSIONAND MISSIONARIES
OF GOTHIC: THE SPREADOF GOTIIIC DURING FEILD'SEPISCOPME

Scottthen outlined what he consideredto be the "chief requisitesfor agood wooden

church."22 As in the StaveChurches,the pitch of the roof shouldbe steep- apartrcularly
important feature,Scott pointed out, in a climate where snow could causethe collapse
of a flat roof. Wooden buttresseswere possibly acceptable,basedon a referencefrom
The VenerableBede (ca. 673-735)that seemedto indicate their presenceon a wooden
church.23Window tracery was deemed appropnate,with the caveatthat not all kinds of
wood were equally amenableto intricate carving. Overly large windows, however,which
tend to take on a life of their own rather than remaining subordinateto the architecture
(the huge eastwindow at GloucesterCathedralis singledout as an offender),were to be
discouraged.Indeed, the common affangementin Italian Gothic churchesand modern
Canadian ones- small, high windows that keep out the weather,hot or cold - was seen
as a useful pattern to emulate. Chancelswere of courseto be distinct, and bell towers
shouldbe anchoredsecurelyto the navefloor lest they collectthe wind and shift (asdid,
Scottremindedthe Society,the whole of St. Thomas' Church rn1846;seeChapterOne).
Cruciform plans were thought to be too complex and to presenttoo many constructional
difficulties to be practicalin a wooden church. In sum, the exterior of the wooden church
was to be modestand simple,relying upon good massingand proportion for its dignity.
For the interior, the wooden church at
Nether Peoverwas agarncitedasan exemplar,
with its piers and arches"not too ambitious
either in spanor height" (figure 5-5).24
The
piers could also be decoratedwith robust
carvings like their counterpartsin Stave
Churches,particularly in regions like New
Zealand, where "great powers of wood
carving seemnatural to the people."2s
Clearly, Scott's remarks were made
with a close eye on his friend's diocese
in Newfoundland. The theme of wooden
churchescameup regularly itt their letters,
and Feild first solicited Scott's advice on
5-5- St.Oswald, Nether
2 2 .L b id, p. 20. Peover,
interior.
Photograph
by MalcolmThurlbv
2 3 .L b id, p. 24.
2 4 .L b i d, p. 25.
25.lbid,p.27.
il9
I
 NEWFOUNDLANDGOTHIC

the matter within two months of arriving in

St. John's.26Feild evensuggestedhaving a
wooden church, or parts of one,constructed
in England and shippedto Newfoundland
in order to serveas a mode1.27 Feild also
enquired about "the person [who] makes
wooden churchesfor exportation and...
hasjust put one up at Kentish Town in the
parish of St. Pancras."28This is certainly
a referenceto Peter Thompson, whose
temporary church for the congregation
of Kentish Town Chapel appearedin the
IllustratedLondonNewsrn 18442e (figure 5-6),
as well as in the architecturalperiodical,
TheBuilder,tnthe same year, along with a
plan and crosssection(figure5-1.10Having
evidently createdconsiderableinterest,
Thompson's church appearedmuch later
ftil"otttT gs8rfE, *xr\iftt* ltl$tf.
tn The ChurchBuilder,which reported that
5-6-Temporarywooden Thompson, "had advertisedWooden Churchesamong other buildings preparedfor
churchbyPeterThompson.
rondor;;;,,,exportationto the Coloniesfor the use of emigrants."3lIn May of 1845,Feild mentioned
rrus,ated
vol.v, 1844.having receivedsome drawings of wooden churchesfrom the Oxford Architectural
Society,but addedthat they would not be suitablemodelsfor Newfoundland.3zInalater
letter, he told Scottthat he would be gladto pay for somedrawings of wooden churches,
but that they would be of no use unlesspreparedby someonefamiliar with the "means
and methods" of the Newfoundland Church.33

26.FeildtoWilliamScott,
Augusr22,1844.
27.FeildtoVrilliamScott,
August(undated)
1844.
28.FeildtoWilliamScott,
October24,1844.
29.ThelllustratedLondonNews,volume Y,1844,p.I55.
J0."TemporaryChurches",TlJeBuilder,volume
II, number84,
September14,T844,p.470.
31."The St.
PancrasChurch Extension
Fund:A Retrospective",
The Builder,number
Church p. 154.
XVI,1855,
32.FeildtoWilliam Scott,
May 20,1845.
33.FeildtoWilliamScott,
September18,1845.
tz0
ffi
 OF GOTHIC:THE SPRI\D (.)TCOTIIIC DTIRINGFEILD'S
GOTHIC ON A MISSIONAND MISSIONARIES EPISCOPATE

On the samenight that William Scottreadhis paper

to the EcclesiologicalSociety,it was reportedthat:
TheSub-Committee appointedat therequestof theBishop
of Fredeiaon, to considerthesubjectof woodenchurches,
havebeenable,by Mr. Butterfield'said, topromisesome
drawingsearlyin August.sa
August duly arrived, but the promised drawings did
not. For reasonsthat remain mysterious,Butterfield
never produced the drawings, and TheEcclesiologist
never mentioned them agarn. The project finally
seemsto have been consummatedtwo years later,
not by Butterfield, but by Richard Cromwell
Carpenter (1812-55),another favourite architect
of the Ecclesiologists.35 In 1850, The Ecclesiologist
announced that Carpenter had completed designs
for a wooden church on the south Atlantic island of
Tristan da Cunha.36The drawings were "so much
approved"by the Society thatitwas decidedto publish
them in the next volume of InstrumentaEcclesiastica,the
Society'sseriesof pattern books of correct liturgical
designs.That volume was published in 1851, and
Carpenter'sdesignswere subsequentlyincludedin the
secondcompilation volume of InstrumentaEcclesiastica
in 1856.37The setof drawingsincluded a ground plan;
west,eastand south elevations;a longitudinal section;
two transversesections;an exterior perspectiveview
from the south-west;and severaldetails.
The plan of this model wooden church (figure 5-8)
showsa three-baynave,with flanking aisles and entry
porchesto the north and south, a deepchancel,and a
5-7- Temporarywooden
churchbyPeterThompson.
34. "Ecclesiological
lateCambridge CamdenSocietr"',
TheEcclesiologist,vohtme
10,1848,p. 4!. TbeBuilder,Vol.II, No.84,
35.A comprehensive monographon this importantbut neglectedarchitecthas not yetbeenpublished,but may be september14,1844.
expected
soonfromJohnElliott.
36. "Ecclesiological
lateCambridge CamdenSociety",TheEcclesiologist,volume
11,1850,pp.248-52.
37,Instrumenta Ecclesiastica, secondseries,London:1855.
rzl
re
 5'8 ('\) - Vootlen(lhurch.(it'tlttndPl'.ttt. lttslruttrettltt
I:t'clesinslit: u. secondserits,Londorr:lfi5(r.platt \lX
5 - 9 ( l l ) - W o o c i eC t th t r r c hP, c r s p t c t i i c\ i o u , I l o m t l t c
S<rtrth-Vest. I nstn nt en Iu llccIesi t sI i t:tt. secrtntlst'tit'r.
l , o n c k r n1:8 i 6 ,p l a l c\ X V l .
5 l0 ((l) - Woodel(lhulch,SouthIrltralir>n, lttslrttnrettlrr
tlcclesitstit'o,secondserics,Londttn:ltl5(r.platt X\.
5 - l l ( l ) ) - W o t t t l t n( l l t u l c h L , o n g i t u d i t rS tlt'clitxt.
I n stnt nten tu EccI esinsti t:n.secottdset'ics.
l . o n t l o nl:f t i ( r .p l a t eX X l l l .

l',r*)ii,r*h,$ ;jrnriirrr !,ii

,ia1r' --ir. r,,' J.y. ., n,\,{) /

rzi
I $i ii
 GOTHIC ON A MISSIONAND MISSIONARIES
OF GOTHIC:THESPREADOF GOTIit( t)tlRl\G FEILD'S
EPISCOPME

sacristyon the north sideof the chancel.The most striking characteristicof the exterior
(figure 5-9)is the vertical boarding,which puts William Scott'stheory into practice.This
clearly had considerableinfluence on Edward Medley in New Brunswick (seeChapter
Three),but would havelittle impact in Newfoundland.No window tracery is attempted,
but the widows and wall arcadeson the north and south porchesemploy cuspedarches
that adda strongdecorativeaccent.The roofline is uniform, which is presumablysimpler
and lessexpensiveto build than the Ecclesiogicallyapprovednorm of separaterooflines.
The Society,however,would have preferredthat the division betweennave and chancel
be markedexternallyby the placementof the belfry atthatpoint in the roof.38The chancel
is, at least,identified externallyby the end of the aislesand consequentincreasein wall
height (figure 5-10).
The interror arrangementis best seenin the longitudinal crosssection(figure 5-11).
The nave is separatedfrom the chancelby a one stepincreasein height and what appears
to be a chancel archwith a rich and complexprofile. The navearcadesare, as Scotthad
recommended,not too ambitiouseither in spanor height. In their proportions and open
spandrels,they are stronglyreminiscentof thoseat Nether Peover.The relativeliturgical
importance of the chancelis acknowledgedby cuspedblind arcadingon the wall, while
the altar itself is raised(asusual) three additional stepsabovethe chancel.
Evenbeforethesedrawingshad beenpublished,someof the EcclesiologicalSociety's
ideasabout wooden churcheswere akeadybeing put into practicein Newfoundland, with
varying degreesof success.Early rn 1849,TheEcclesiologist
published an account of two
new wooden churchesin Newfoundland that had originally appearedin the Times (of
Newfoundland) on December6,1848.3eThe article was prefacedwith abrief comment
on the importance of the topic:
Theappreciationof thenecessity of realizinga nationalstyleof woodenChristianarchitecture,
and theattemptto meetit, of whichthesecondchurchffirds theproof,arepeculiarlyimportant
ftttt. Weshouldbeveryglad to bein possession of moredetailedinformationon this head.ao
The first of the two churches,at Petty Harbour (the dedication is not given), was
praisedfor its chancel,"a new featurein the churchesof this diocese,and one which, we
trust, will be copied andadoptedin every possiblecase."4lThe church doesnot survive,
although somesenseof its appearartcecanbegleanedfrom a drawing done in the summer

38.Ibid,plateXIX.
39."Colonial Church
Architecture. - Newfoundland."
ChapterXL TheEcclesiologrsl
volume9,1849,pp.2I5-I7,
40.bid,p.215.
41.Ibid,p.2r5.
rzl
re
 of 1857by the English-born clergyman and
architect,William Grey (figure 5-I2).a2The
church in this drawing has a west tower
and distinct chancel,although little else
canbe discernedabout its appearance.The
church and indeedthe town are dwafiedby
a monumental landscape.
The greatestpraise is reservedfor the
secondchurch, St. Thomas, Pouch Cove.
Again, the building does not survive,
but the description tells of a "new and
beautiful" church in which:
Someattemptshavebeenmade... to returnto
the original characterof woodenbuildings,by
5-12- PettyHarbour,
byWilliamGrey,
introducingnarrowwindowswithpointedangularheads,insteadof arches...Thepitch of the
tromSketches of roof is alsoverysharp,theffia of whichinside...is strikinglygrand.a3
Newfoundland and
Labrador,Ipswich:1857. The writer went on to praise the "commodious chancel", which was much more
in proportion to the rest of the building than that at Petty Harbour. The major flaw
of the building was the external height, which, due to a departure from the original
plans, was "unreasonably,we might almost say painfully, exaggerated."Nevertheless,
the writer concludedthat "S. Thomas of Pouch Cove [is] the bestpattern... for wooden
churches,which has yet beenexhibitedin this diocese."The architectis not named.The
furnishings, however,were all designedby William Hay, and consideringthe dearth of
Ecclesiologicalexpertisein Newfoundland in 1848,it is highly unlikely that the church
could havebeen designedby anybody else.
The question of who authored the article in the Timesis an intriguing one. It
demonstratesa strong graspof Ecclesiology- indeed it would haveto, or TheEcclesiologist
would not have reprinted it. That fact alone narrows the list of possiblecandtdates.It
could have been Hay himself, although his presenceat the consecrationwould not be
automatic. Moreover, Hay would have been unlikely to belabour the building's main
aestheticshortcoming, which was the unsatisfactory exterior proportions. The other
possible(and probably more likely) candidatewas a recent arcwalin Newfoundland who

ofNeufoundlandand Labrador,lpswich:
42.williamGrey,Sketches plateV.
1858,
43.Ibid,p.2I5.
t24
ffi
 GOTHIC ON A MISSIONAND MISSIONARIES
OF GOTHIC: THE SPRE.\DOF GOTHIC DURING FEILD'SEPISCOPATE

was about to take aleadrngrole in the spreadof Gothic architecture through the colony:
the ReverendWilliam Grey.
William Grey (1819-72),an Oxford graduate ordainedby the Bishop of Salisbury
in 1843,arrived in Newfoundland in 1848as Feild's domestic chaplain.aaApparently
preferring missionary work, Grey offered to go to Labrador in 1849.Feild refused,
however, noting that Grey had qualities that would be "eminently serviceable"in
St. John's, and that he could even replaceWilliam Hay as Clerk of the Cathedral Works
if and when, as seemedinevitable, the day came when Feild could no longer pay the
Scotsman.as Instead, Feild made Grey principal of Queen'sTheolo grcalCollege in St.
John's, and Diocesan architect. In the latter capacrty,Grey designedseveral Gothic
churchesand contributed a fascinatingwritten 'snapshot'of the stateof ecclesiologyin
Newfoundlanda6beforereturning to England in 1853due to his wife's ill health.aT On a
return visit in 1857,he made a seriesof sketchesthat remain one of the most valuable
and beautiful recordsof mid nineteenth-centuryNewfoundland, publishedthe following
year as Sketches of NewfoundlandandLabrador.as
After returning to Bngland, Grey settled for a time in Allington, Dorset, where,
accordingto his acquaintancethe Rev. T. Mozley, he servedas curate while lodging with
"an old farmer and his wife."aeHis lifestylewas exceedinglymodestfor one of his social
class,afactwhich Grey's sister,visiting from an opulent estatein India, frequentlypointed
out.50Grey re-built the church of St. Swithun at Allington accordingto Ecclesiological
principles,resultingin a churchthat was, accordingto Mozley (himselfno Ecclesiologist),
"as dark, and dull, and cheerlessas before".slFrom Allington Grey returned to Exeter,
where ill health forcedhim to retire. After lingering for a considerabletime he died of a
throat ailment - probablycancer- which Mozley attributed to the scraping,dusting and
painting involved in his renovationof Exeter'sSt. Mary-Stepschurch.

44.DCB)nline, http://wwwbiographi.calEN/ShowBio.asp?Biold=
39132&qtery=.
45.Feildto Ernest
Hawkins,
May21,184).
45."TheEcclesiology
of Newfoundland",The
Ecclesiologist,volume
14,1853,pp.155-5I.
47.FeildtoHawkins,August
3,1853.
48. Grey,
Sketches.
49.Rev.T.Mozley,Reminiscences,
Chieflyof TounqVillagaand Schools,
volumeII, second
edition,London:1885,
pp.344-46.
50.Ibid,p.344.
51.Ibid,p.345.
rz5
re
 NEWFOUNDLANDGOTHIC

"The Ecclesiologyof Newfoundland" was

originally aletter written by Grey to the Secretary
of the Oxford Architectural Society, and was
subsequentlyprinted as an aftrcle rn TheEcclesiologist
in 1853.s2 In rt, Grey followed the well-established
tradition set by Medley and Feild of bemoaning the
current state of church architecture in the colony.
Decent church-building,he lamented,beganandso far
endedwith works done under the authority of Bishop
Feild. Even his master-work,the cathedral, went
almost entirely unappreciatedby the people atlarge
"they seeno beauty in it, becauseit is not finished"
(figure 5-13;.srOther than the cathedral,accordingto
Grey, the most promising church building project of
the recent past was Pouch Cove, a church "in many
respectsvery pleasing", although the walls were too
5-13* Cityof St.John's,
high (the very criticism madeby the anonymouswriter
byWilliamGrey, in the Times)because"too many cooks spoiledthe broth."tn Apparently,if the designer
fromSketcbes of
Newfoundland and was Hay, he did not have a completely free hand. Hope for the future lay not in the
Iabrador,Ipswich:1857. arrlaI of a greatchurch architect- Grey knew that Newfoundland would be one of
the last cornersof the empire to attract such a person- nor in the supplying of designs
by architectural stars in England, who, however skilled and noble in their intentions,
would not be sufficiently aware of the conditions of climate and materialsunder which
the Newfoundland church builder laboured (for this very reason, Grey dismissedthe
use of StaveChurchesas useful models- "we haveno such timber as that of Norway."ss
Rather, the way to improve the state of Ecclesiologyin Newfoundland was for the
clergy themselvesto be the church architects,as Grey himself had done. In this, he
was echoingthe sentimentsof the Ecclesiologists,when they said that colonial church-
builderswould haveto learn Ecclesiology.s6 The Societyhad expressedthe desirabilityof
every colonial Bishop having "somequalified person" to consult on architectural matters;
Grey becamethat person in Newfoundland. Feild appointedhim DiocesanArchitect,

parishof Portugal
52.TheoriginalletterwaswrittenfromGrey's Cove, 13,1853.
datedJ^il)aty
53.Grey,p.156.
54.Ibid,p. 158.
55.Ibid,p. 158.
55."Church-Building in theColonies",The
Ecclesiologist,volume 18.
7,1847,p.
t26
ffi
 GOTHIC ON A MISSIONAND MISSIONARIES
OF GOTHIC:THE SPRI.\I) OF GOTHIC DURING FEILD'S
EPISCOPME

and Grey did everything possibleto spreadhis architectural expertiseby lecturing on

architecturetwice per week to theologicalstudentsof Queen'sCollege.s7 The only way
he saw to further the causeof correct Anglican architecturein Newfoundland was for
'Junior membersof our University to qualify themselvesfor
Holy Ordersby apractical
knowledgeof architecture."s8
In his capacrtyas DiocesanArchitect, Grey reported that he had designedeight
entire churches,one of which was in Nova Scotiaand two of which were in Labrador.se
None of thesechurches'wasidentified explicitly, nor did he distinguish between what
was designedand what was actually built. Due to the stressesof frost, thaw, wind and
poor materials,thesechurcheswere necessarilyfairly simple affairs. Indeed, the elaborate
battlements,pinnacles,etc., that were common in England would be "either ludicrous,
or dangerous,or both together" in Newfoundland.60
On the subjectof materials,Grey was of the opinion that stonecould perhapsbe used
more often than was presentlythe case,although the only stonechurchesthat preceded
Feild's cathedral were St. Paul's in Harbour Grace and the Roman Catholic cathedral
in St. John's.While concedingthat those stonebuildings had experiencedconsiderable
difficulties with the crumbling of mortar in the Newfoundland climate, Grey believed
that Roman Cementwould survive the test of time. As for wood, he advocateda more
ornamental approachthan had hitherto been tried in the colony, including both the
honzontal and diagonal placement of c1apboard.61
In the summer of 1845,Feild wrote to the SPG in the hope of determining whether
or not Labrador was part of his diocese.62 Having discoveredthat it was, Feild made it
thetargetof his first major missionary effort He visitedLabrador in the autumn of 1848.
As far as the Church was concerned,it was virgin territory. "The thing most resembling
a Church," he wrote to the SPG, "is a beautiful iceberg,with a beautiful tower, and
buttresses,and pinnaclescomp1ete."63 Although there were no churches,there were plenty
of people:Feild reported finding nearly one hundred ships atBattle Harbour. He provided

57.Grcy,p. 159.
58.Ibid,p. 159.
59.Ibid,p.159.
50.rbid,p. 159.
61.rbid,p. 160.
62.f'eildtoErnest
Hawkins,
June5,1845.
53,Churchin theColonies.
No.XIX,A Visitto Labradorin theAutumnof .\IDCCCXLVIII.
By theLordBishopof
Newfoundland,London: forthePropagation
Society 184!.p.4.
of theGospel.
m
ffi
 NE\\'FOUNDLAND GOTHIC

for thesepeopleas well as circumstanceswould permit, holding servicesin generalstores

at Forteau andBattle Harbour, reporting at the latter that three hundred people were
accommodated,althoughmany more had to be turned awayfor lack of space.6a Neither
Battle Harbour nor St. Francis Harbour (on the Labrador mainland, north of Battle
Harbour) had ever been visited by an Anglican clergyman before. At Battle Harbour,
a local merchant named Blendell askedFeild why, if Moravian missionariescould be
content to toil in the harsherclimate of northernLabrador, an Anglican clergyman could
not be found to minister at Battle Harbour. Feild had no answer,but resolvedto work
towards the establishmentof aLabrador mission, observingthat "it will be a soretrial
if it all end with theparade of a Bishop'svisitation."6s
Feild turned to the SPG for support, framing the requestin familiar terms:
I haveeveryreasonto believe,that if a Roman Catholicpriesthad comealongtheshorebefore
methissummer,manywouldhavesoughtbaptism,at leastfortheirchildren,at his hands,(not
joined to the
from prtftrence,but havingnoprospectof otherreligiousprovision),and havebeen
RomishChurch.And this dangeris alwaysimminent;and theonly way it canbepreventedis
byplactngthreeClergltmen of our Churchimmediatelyon thesltore.66

Feild urged the establishmentof clergymenat Forteau, Battle Harbour, and Sandwich
Bay,expressinghis confidencethat ar anrrral grantof f200 from the SPGwould sufficeto
maintain them. The SPG duly resolvedto provide the funds on November 17,1848.67
In reality, this was but the beginning of Feild's struggle to establishan Anglican
presenceinLabrador. The remote and exceedingly rugged conditions in Labrador
would be a stern test of mettle, and filling the posts proved exceedinglydifficult. By
the spring of 1850,the remote Sandwich Bay had been given up as a lost cause,Feild
decidingto leavethe "Esquimaux" to the Moravians. No progresshad yet beenmade in
finding a clergyman for Battle Harbour either, although a missionaryhadbeen found for
Forteau- Algernon Gifford, whom Feild describedas "an exemplaryyoung deacon."68
Exemplary he may havebeen,but Feild felt more than a twinge of concern,evenguilt,
afterdepositingGifford in the wilds of Labrador on August 18, 1849:

p.i5.
64.Ibid,
55.rbid,p.30.
56.tbid,p.z9.
57.rbid,p.3t.
April18,1850.
Hawkins,
6S.neildtoErnest
IZB
il
 GOTHIC ON A MISSIONAND MISSIONARIES
OF GOTHIC:THESPREADOF GOTHIC DURING FEILD'S
EPISCOPATE

Poor Gffird wassenton shore...aboutseyeno'clock,now at lengthto tastethe realitiesof

missionarylife andservice...Ifeel deeplythat it is hard,not to sayunjust,to him, andI might
add to hisflock, to placehim, youngand without experience, in sucha dfficult post,without
helpor countenance,6e
Battle Harbour, accordingto Feild, would prove no lessa challenge,requi ring a
man with nearly superhumanfortitude and determination, as well as a wide range of
abilities:
He mustbepreparedin winterto drivehis own dogsleigh...and in summerto handlea boat
with but little assistance.
He shouldhavesomeexperience of fishermen,and their waysand
mannerof lxfe,and possess someknowledgeof buildingin wood.1o
Lest it be forgotten,this personalso had to be a qualified Anglican clergyman.The
man eventually chosenwas the Rev. H.P. Disney, who in the summer of 1850was sent
to St. FrancisHarbour to overseethe erectionof a chapelthat would, for the time being,
be the centreof the Battle Harbour mission.Tr
Disney proved not to be up to the job, andwas replacedin 1853by the Rev. George
Hutchinson. His introduction to Labrador included a friendly snowball fight - in June
- with GiffordT2,but the realitiesof the remote missionary life proved lessplayful. Five
yearslater, Feild reportedto the SPG:

On theLabradorthereseemsa likelihoodof completeabandonment. I do not know whether

Mr Hutchinsonis deador alive; and if the latter,whetherin Englandor on the Labrador.
Wherever he is,lte is out of his mind; andthemiseryI endureabouthis mission,in my ignorance
of thestateof things,isgreaterthan I candescribe.T3
Later that year, Feild reported that Gifford was desperateto leave Labrador "on
accountof his family".TaRemarkably,the presumablyrepentantHutchinson returned and
was sentto Battle Harbour in 1859;although he had akeadyproven himself ill-suited to

59.Churchin theColonies.
No.XXVJournalofaVoyage of Visitationin the"Halnh"ChurchShip,on theCoastof
Labrador,and RoundtheWhole IslandofNeufoundland,in theyear 1849.London:
Society
forthePropagation
oftheGospel, p.72.
1850,
70.rbid.
71.FeildtoErnest
Hawkins,June
4, 1850.
72.Feildto Ernest
Hawkins,
August3,1853.
73.FeildtoErnest
Hawkins,
August4, 1858.
74.FeildtoErnest
Hawkins,
November 11,1858.
t29
re
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

the rigours ofLabrador, he was, accordingto Feild, "better than nothing."zsBy the spring
of 1861,Hutchinson was reportedly "beggtng" to be relievedfrom Battle Harbour. Feild
decidedto sendhim to Ferryland, his main qualification being his "strong antipathy to
Romanism."l6
Astonishingly, through all the chaos, churchesdid get built. Indeed, by the time
Hutchinson returned to Labrador, three Ecclesiologicallycorrect churcheshad been
constructed in Labrador. In the summer of 1853Feild reported to the SPG from
St. Francis Harbour:
by me in thenameof St.John
...on July 10 thefirst Churchon theLabradorwasconsecrated
the Baptist. Thechurchhas beenbuilt undergreat disadvantages of the little
in consequence
attentionwhichDisneywouldgiveto thework.17
Of that church, which was designedby William Hay, nothing survives except a
As that description is the sole source for information
description in TheEcclesiologist.
about this impofiantbuilding, it merits quotation in full:
S.FrancisHarbour;Labrador.- It is with muchpleasurethat wehaveseena roughlithographic
view of thisproposedwoodenchurch,which will bethefirst churchof our communionon
theLabradorcoast.Our readerswill remember theBishopof Newfoundland's accountof his
journey to thatpart of his diocese, and thespiritual destitutionof thewholeregion.TheSociety
for the Propagation of the Gospelhas alreadysenta missionary,and this is thechurchintended
to bebuilt. It is daigned by theskillful and intelligentclerkof the worksin the newcathedral,
Mr Hay, and hehasgot hold of the right ideaof a woodenfobric,not disregarding(aswehatte
learned)apaperof our own on thesubject,whichwasput into his hands.It appearsto embrace,
underonebroadlypointedroof,chancel,nAve,and aisles.Thechancelis markedby a small
rudebell-cote;a saaisty isformedon thesouthsideof thechancel,the roof bttng extendedover
it in a lean-to.Thereis a south-western porch. Theboardingis vertical,and is not improvedby
horizontaltables.Thewindowsare rtghtlyformed: adjacentplain hghtt, groupedin twosand
threes,in the aisles,and trefoil-headed lishtt in the chancel.Theeastwindow is a triplet, and
thereis a smallcircularwindowaboveit.78
The chancel,its differentiation from the naveby a bell-cote,and the vertical boafiing
had all been specifically recommendedby the Ecclesiologists.This descriptionwas

Hawkins,
75.FeildtoErnest November11,1858.
Hawkins,
76.Feildto Ernest May3, 1861.
Hawkins,
77,FeildtoErnest August3,1853.
78."NewChurches", pp.20l-202.
11,1850,
TheEcclesiologist,vollme
B0
:'il
basedon a lithograph sent to the Society
three years before the church was finally
consecrated,andunfortunately there is no
way at presentto determine how closely
the built church followed Hay's design.
As cited above(page 147),Grey stated
in The Ecclesiologistthat he had designed
two churchesin Labrador.Of one of these,
in Forteau, we have scant but extremely
useful records. The oldest comes from
Grey himself, who sketched it while
accompanyingFeild on a visitation during
the summer of 1857,and included it in
Sketches of Newfoundland andLabradofe(frgure 5-L4).The exact dateof its construction is 5-I4 -Forteau,labrador,by
WilliamGrey,fromSketcbes
unknown, but it was conseqatedbyFeild on August9, L857.80 Grey'ssketch,drawn from ofNewfoundland and
the north-east,showsa simplenavewith a short westerntower and spire,a chancelwith a labrador,Ipswich:1857.
separate,lowerroofline, and avestryor sacristyon the north sideof the chancel.The east
end has atrrangular-headedwindowwith fairly ambitioustracery,in keepingwith William
Scott'sdiscussionof woodenchurches.Grey alsoappearsto havefollowedhis own advice
by mixing a lively variety of clapboardpatterns:vertical under the gable,diagonalbelow
that, followed by horizontal and vertical zones.The most curious feature is the seriesof
diagonal struts,four per side,which extendto the ground from just below the mid-point
of the north and south walls. Looking somewhatlike a crossbetweenflying buttresses
and tent-pegs,they are presumablyinspired by the former but perform the function of
the latter; i.e.,they securethe structureagainstthe wind. A11of thesefeaturesare clearly
visible in what is possiblythe only extant photogruphof the church (figure 5-15),which
is part of an album of photosmade during the visitation of Feild'ssuccessoras Bishopof
Newfoundland,LlewellynJones(1840-1918) in 1902.81Takenfrom the south-west,it shows
that the north and south navewalls also useda combinationof hoizontal and diagonal

79.Grey,plateXIL Greypresentsa strikingportraitofLabrador "Likeitsneighbour

in hispreface: coast,theseaboard
of Labradorpresentsitsworstsideoutside.It is constantly
beset byicebergs,
andtheislandsand,headlandswhich
areopposed to theoceanare,aI firstsight,asbareastheycanwellbe.Butif youascend thedeepinlets,or
threadyourwaybetween theinnermost of thenumberless islandswhichlie offthemainland,youfindawarmer
atmosphere,finetimber,luxuriantvegetation, abundance ofwildfruits,and(whatislessadvantageous)
thousands
of musquitoes."
80.Grey,plateXII.
81.DiocesanArchives of Eastern
Newfoundland andLabrador, #306,Box2,File9.
Bl
re
i l; ( \) - |orteau,Lallrador,DiocesanArchivcsol lltstcrn
\rri lilrndlandand Labrador.#J06,Ilor 2, Irilc9.
.l l() (ll) - IJattlcllarbour.Labrador,bvWilliam(irev,front
\keIcltesof-.\'eufnmdland and Labrnrlo4lpsrvich:I857.
5 - l - ( ( l ) - B a t t l cH a r b o u r , l . a b r a d o r .
; ltJ (l)) - St.James,BattleHarbour,labrador,clrarving bv
\\'illianrGrcl'.
llattle
IPI)195/31
RItl\Libralrl)rruing(lollcction IIarhotrr.

wrctutut#d*
 OF GOTHIC:THESPRE.\D()l: (;OTtllC DURING FEILD'S
GOTHIC ON A MISSIONAND \IISSIONARIES EPISCOPME

clapboard(the samemay be true of the chancelwalls, although it is not clearfrom the

photograph).Also visible is a south porch, which was the only entranceto the building.
The windows are cuspedtrefoils. Although the church was not yet fifty yearsold when
the photographwasmade, it showssignsof wind damagein the naveand porch roofs and
the west window that fully justify Grey'speculiar,earthbound"flying" buttresses.
Grey's church at Forteau representsthe most elaborateattempt Newfoundland had
yet seento incorporatethe principlesof Ecclesiologywith the colony'sunique climatic
and constructional conditions in order to create"a national style of wooden Christian
architecture."Grey's other Labradorchurch, St. James'atBattle Harbour, is slightly less
ambitious,but has the advantageof being still extant (figures 5-16& 5-17).In 1853,Feild
reportedto the SPG not only that he had consecratedthe church at Forteau,but that a
beginninghadbeenmadeon a churchin BattleHarbour, andthat "meansof finishingit"
were athand.82 According to Grey, it was consecratedon July 5, 1857.83 ShaneO'Dea has
citeda drawing in the Royal lnstitute of British Architectsthat showsa designfor the church
atBattle Harbour that variesslightly from what was built, with a singleroofline, a chancel
differentiated only by anarrowing of the width, and someslight vertical articulation on
the sidesof the church(figure 5-18).84 Grey's 1857drawing (figure 5-16)showsthe church
asbuilt. with a lower chancelroofline and no vertical artrcu,latton.Whether the alterations
were madeby Grey or the builder is not known. The more distinctly articulatedchancel
would havebeen seenas an Ecclesiologicalimprovement,although the removal of all
vertical emphasis(savethe west tower) would havebeen crrtrcized.
The churchwas heavilyrestoredin the early1990s,and the degreeto which that work
was faithful to its original form has been a matter of somespeculation.Pre-restoration
photographsshow that, by the late twentieth century, the nave windows, which appear
in Grey's 1857drawing to have been patred arches,had been replacedwith simple
rectangularones.O'Dea speculatedthattheoriginal windows may havebeencusped,like
thoseat Forteau,someof which survivein the current church there. O'Dea also concluded
that the eastwindow had been aItercd,although from what original form he was unable

82. Feildto ErnestHawkins,August3,1853.

83. Grey,plate16.The consecration tookplaceduring Feild'sVisitation,at which Greywaspresentand during which
the drawingwasmade.Greycommentsthat whenthe churchwasconsecrated, Feildalsogaveconfirmationto five
"Eskimaux",which Greyclaimswerethe first of theirpeopleto enterthe Churchof England.Greyalsomentions
that "Eskimaux"is a misnomer,andthattheirpropernameis "lnnuit" - makinghim possibly thefirstEuropean
to adoptthe termthat is nowin currentuse.
84. ShaneO'Dea,"St.JamesChurchBattleHarbour:An Architectural F,valuation andRestorationPlan".Unpublished
reportprepared 1990.p. 5. figure4.
for theLabradorInstitutefor NorthernStLrdies.
Bl
re
 NEWFOUNDLANDGOTHIC

to say.SsIn fact, both questionsare settledby another

photographin Bishop Llewellyn Jones'album, which
showsthe church from the north-east as it appeared
in 1902(figure 5-19).The exterior appearsexactly as
Grey had drawn it in 1857,althoughmuch more detail
is visible. The navewindows were indeedcuspedlike
thoseat Forteau,while the eastwindow consistedof
three cuspedlancets, graduatedto parallelthe line of
the chancelgable and set within a frame painted in
a dark but obviously indeterminate colour. As can
be seenby comparing photographsof 1902and 2005
(figures 5-I9 & 5-20),the current restorationmatches
the original in most details and entirely in spirit.
5-19- St.James,
Battle The samecan be said of the interior, which is also illustrated in Bishop Jones'album
Labrador.
Harbour, exterior.
Archivcsof Eastern
Diocesan (figure 5-2I). The photograph is badly faded, and, having been taken before the days
andLabrador,
Nervfoundland
#306,Box 2, l-ile9.
of sophisticatedlens coatings,must always have sufferedfrom an excessof lens flare.
However, it can be seenthat the essential arrarlgementis unchanged.A nave of open
seatsleadsto abroad chancelarch, beneath atrrangttlated,open-frameroof that would
have met hearty Ecclesiologicalapproval. The chancel is raised three stepsabovethe
nave, and appearsto be separatedby a simple altar rail. The only differencefrom the
current arrangement(figure 5-22)is that the pulpit has been moved from the south to
the north side of the chancelarch.
In its clearspatial arrangements,honest use of materials, and simple but effective
evocationof Gothic, St. James'managesto be faithful both to Ecclesiologicalprinciples
and its remote outport location. Set upon a hill high abovethe extraordinarily rugged
coastline of Battle Island (figure 5-23),it evokesthe pioneer spirit of Feild's Labrador
mission like no other place.
St. James'is the only one of William Grey'schurchesto survive,but somepicture can
be constructedof at leastthree of his others.Around Christmasin 1850,Feild appointed
Grey to the mission of Portugal Cove,aboutten miles west of St. John's.86One of Grey's
last actsbeforehis return to England in 1853was to raisefunds for the building of a new
churchthere.In 1854,Grey'ssuccessor at PortugalCove,GeorgeJohnson,reportedto the
SPG that "the eventof the year" had beenthe erectionof a new church. Arrangements,

85.O'Dea, "St.James . .",p.6.

BattleHarbour.
Church
86.FeildtoErnestHawkins, 4, 1851.
Tune
B4
ffi
 M#
I

-
-
I
5-20(A)- St.James, BattleHarbour,
Labrudo4fromthenorth-east.
5-21(B) - St.James,BattleHarbour,
labrador,interior.
Diocesan
Archivesof Eastern
Newfoundland and
Labrador,
#306,Box2,File!.
5-22 (C) - St.James,BattleHarbour,
Labttdor, interior.
5-23 @) - St.James,Battle Harbour,
Labrador,from the south-east.
 NEWFOUNDLANDGOTHIC

he reported,had beenmade by Grey, who had raisedmoney among his English friends
and secureda significant donation from the Bishop.87 The report was accompaniedby
a drawing of the church (figure Drawn
5-24). from the south-east,it shows anave with
aislesanda steeplypitched roof, a westerntower with a sharplypointed spire,a chancel
differentiated externally by the termination of the aisles, and alarge and ambitiously
tracertedfour-light eastwindow with atriangularhead (possiblysimilar to the one at
Forteau, although apparentlylarger). These features are consistentwith Grey's own
drawing (figure 5-25),published in Sketches of Newfoundlandand Labrador,rn which he
gavethe church an idyllic pastoralsettingboth pictorially and verbally:
Thedescentto itfrom theEastwardis oneof themostbeautifulscenes in theneighbourhood. You
on theight, andlofiy heightson bothsides,
wind downa longhill, havinga riuerfull of cascades
whoseslopesarepartly coyered withforest,andpartly brokeninto clffi. About halfwaydown
on a suddenturn you catchsxghtof thechurchstandingon itsownhill overlooking
thedescent,
therivet whichwashesitsbase.88
Like Forteau, Portugal Cove is an example of the adaptatton of Ecclesiology to
Newfoundland wood. Even earlier than this, however, Grey made his first foray into
stonebuilding, the viability of which he had argued tn TheEcclesiologLsr. St. Saviour's
Church, Hermitage (southernNewfoundland, on HermrtageBay),was begun around the
year 1850,finishedin 1854,consecratedin August of 18558e and demolishedaround 1900
(figure 5-261.s0
According to GeorgeHenry Bishop,who was rector therefor thirty-seven
years,"the stone,stonemasons,bricks, mortar, slateand eveneverypieceof timber was
brought from England."elThis curious pafiicular, if true, might account for the factthat
the Rev. Bishop- writing before 1900- reported"many signsof decay."e2 As William
Hay had discoveredbeforehim at the Cathedral, the Newfoundland frost was capable
of a remarkabledegreeof destructiontotally outsidethe experienceof British builders.
Moreover, the workmanship of the building was apparentlypoor. "The masonry", wrote

87. ProvincialArchives of NewfoundlandandLabrado\Societyfor the Propagationof the Gospelin ForeignParts,"E"

Series:Reports from Missionaries, ReelA-222.
88. Grey,plateVL
89. WalterSimms,"CanonGeorge HenryBishop',Neufoundland Churchman,May1!8!, volume35,number5,p.7.
This article,althoughunderthe headingof "Biography",is in fact not a biographybut a reprintof an articleabout
St.Saviour'swritten at an unknowndateby CanonBishop,who wasrectortherefor thirty-sevenyears.
90. Shane0'Dea,"Rev.William Greyandthe Shapingof Newfoundland GothicRevival".Unpublished
conference paper
readat the Conference of the Societyfor the Studyof Architecturein Canada,2003.
91.rbid.
92.rbid.
B6
M
GOTHIC O\ ,\ \llSSlO\ \\I) \IISSIO\.\RIESOF GOTHIC:THE SPREADOF GOTHIC DURING FEILD'S
EPISCOPATE

:1:;
':+1.

:"i ,;

r"i'i * i--.-t/,.,-E;;*,' -
A

-\
It ^7:+nla",
CtW
5-24(A)- St.lawrence, Portugal Cove,
Bishop, "was never meant to last; the work was carelesslydone; the plaster crumbles Newfoundland, Provincial
Archives of
Newfoundlan d andLabtador,Society
continuously, and the mortar in the massivewalls has never set hard."e3By the time forthePropagation oftheGospel in
Bishop's artrclewaswritten, the congregationhad outgrown the church, and the prospect ForeignParts,"8" Series:
Reports from
Missionaries,ReelA-222.
of enlargrng a fundamentally unsound structure was "a problem to which we cannot
5-25@) - St.Larvrence. Portugal
find a solution." That being the case,its demolition was inevitable. Cove, Newfoundland, bvWilliam
Grey,Sketcbes of .Yeufoundland and
Unfortunately, the shoddyworkmanship ultimately deprivedNewfoundland of what Iabrador,Ipsrvich: 185-.
should havebeen one of its most fascinatingGothic Revival buildings. St. Saviourwas 5-26(C)- St.Saviour.Hermitage Bar.
Newfoundland, fromD.\l'.Prorvse.
clearly in the tradition of St. Michael, Long Stanton, and St. Anne's Chapel. Early A Historyof Neufoundlarl.St.John's.
English in style,it was a two-celledchurch with a south porch and westernbellcote.The 1895.

chancelwas narrower than the nave, andhad a lower roofline. Very solid steppedangle
buttressessupportedthe cornersof the nave, chancel,and porch. Steppedbuttresses
also divided the naveand chancelinto bays.Singlelancetslit the nave;shorter,twinned
lancetsthe chancel;a pan of tall lancetslit the west and at the east end were three
graduatedlancets.The interior had an ornamental rood screenof English oak, as well
as an oak prayer desk, lectern, and pulpit. In its proportions, planning, and detailing,
it was a thoroughly convincing exampleof rural Ea.ly English Gothic and would have
looked at home in scoresof English villages.Parachutedinto Newfoundland by workers
who were ignorant of local conditions,the climate soon consumedit.

93.Ibid.
B/
re
 NEWFOUNDLANDGOTHIC

St. Saviour'swas only the third Anglican church

to have been built with stone (the first two being
St. Paul's, Harbour Grace, and Feild's cathedral).
The fourth - and last built during Feild's episcopate
- was St. Mary's Church, in St. John's(figures 5-27
& 5-28).Designedby Grey, St. Mary's was built in
1869and, with grim symmetry, demolished exactly
one hundred years later.eaA formidable piece of
masonryconstruction,St.Mary's was altogethermore
monumental and severethan St. Saviour's.The style is
agarnEarly English. To the nave were addeda north
porch and, further to the eastoff the north side,a tower.
The tower, very disproportionatelybroadrelative to its
height and cappedby a shallow, pyramidal spire, was
possiblynever carriedto its originally intended height.
The chancelwas once againnarrower and lower than
the nave.No externalbuttressesinterrupted the sheer
wall surfaces,and the windows - all single lancets,
exceptfor the triple lancetsof the west fagade- formed
conspicuouslysmall aperturesin otherwisemassive
walls. The result was, it must be admitted, a rcther
ominous looking building, with none of the idyllic
charm of St. Saviour's.Perhapsthis was exactly what
was intended; St. John'swas, after all, the heartland
of Romanistunrest.
After taming theLabrador coast,Feild sethis sights
on another remote,westernfringe of Newfoundland:
the Bay of Islands and Bonne Bay (near present-day
Corner Brook, and northward into what is now Gros
Morne National Park). After abandoning all hope of
5-27@)- St.Mary'sChurch, establishinga missionary at SandwichBay, Feild suggestedto the SPG that the money
St.John's, Newfoundland.
intended for that mission could insteadbe directed to another location in equally dire
CityofSt.John's
Archives,
n-072. spiritual need:
2.03.009
5-28 (B) - St.Mary'sChurch,
St.John's,Newfoundland.
CityofSt.John's
Archives,
2.03.010
c-023.
94.O'Dea(200il,p.4.
BB
ffi
 GOTHIC ON A \llSSlO\ \\l) \llSslO\.\RIESOF GOTHIC:THE SPREADOF GOTHIC DURING FEILD'S
EPISCOPME

...themorewretched,moreforsaken andneighbourhood
settlement of theBay of klands,anda
realmissionarycouldbefoundto undertakethechargeequallyarduousanddisheartening with
any on theLabradoror elsewhere.es
Lest this job descriptionprove insufficiently enticing, Feild addedthat the natural
beatty and climate of the Bay of Islands were greatly in its favour. The weather
notwithstanding, however,Feild reahzedthat filling the post could prove difficult.
Although he was confident of being able to obtain a modestfinancial maintenance,he
would have to find the right man for the job - aman of faith, courage,prudence, and
experience:
But whereis sucha man to befound?Whereis theman willing to maketheventure? And who,
beingwilling, hasthe necessary qualifications?
And who, beingwilling and havingthe high
qualifications,
will becontentwith a baremaintenance?6
The "right man" turned out to be Ulric Rule, who had arrived at Queen's(Theological)
Collegein St. John'sin 1863.A star student, Rule garnedmissionary experienceby
joining Hutchinson in Labrador for a time beforebeing sent to the Bay of Islands. He
made Birchy Cove (now Curling, just outsideof Corner Brook) his headquarters,and by
the spring of 1870had erecteda church there. Nothing is known of the appearunceof this
building, but much more can be said of its subsequentremodelingby Rule'ssuccessorat
the Bay of Islands,the Rev. JosephJamesCurling.
J.J. Curling was born in EnglandinlS44.ei A military man with abackground in
engineering,Curling met Feild in Bermuda during the winter of 1869-70.e8 Finding
himself in completeagreementwith the Bishop "in matters spiritual, ecclesiastrcal,and
navtical", Curling decidedto devote his considerableenergy,ability and resourcesto
church work in Newfoundland. He donated his yacht, the Lavrock,to Feild in 1871as
a rcplacementfor the former church ship, which had been lost at sea.ee In 1873,he was
ordained a deacon and sent to the Bay of Islands;the following year he was ordained a
priest.His engineeringexpertise,along with his experiencewith shipbuildingand repar

95.FeildtoErnest Hawkins,
April18,1850.
95.FeildtoErnest Hawkins,
April2I,1864.
97.Themostcomprehensive source on Curlingis a biographvwrittenshortlyafterhisdeathbyhisfriendR.H.Jelf,
LtfeofJoseph JamesCurling,Soldierand Priest.Orford: 1910. in W.Pilot,"TheChurchof
Heis alsodiscussed
England in Newfoundland",
a supplementto the189 j editionof Prowse's,4
HistoryofNewfoundland, London:
1895,PP' r-25.
98.Ibid,p.9.
99.Ibid,p. 11.
B9
re
 NEWFOLINDLAND
GOTHIC

and his more recently acquiredknowledgeof matters

Ecclesiological,combinedto producean ecclesiastical
architectof somenote. Around the beginning of the
1880s,he began enlargrngtheChurch of St.Mary at the
Bay of Islands.According to his friend and biographer,
R.H. Jelf, Curling drew all the planshimself for avery
ambitiouswooden church with a centraltower, spire,
and transepts.10OThat churchis long gone,but several
exteriorphotographsof it survive,aswell as an interior
drawing by Curling himself.
Exterior photographs(figures 5-29& 5-30)show a
building of considerablesize and elaboration.A nave
with porchesto the north and south leadsto a full
crossing(or at least what would have been a full
crossinghad the north transept ever been finished,
as Jelf assuresus was intended),a crossingtower
with a broach spire, and a chancel with a roofline
slightly lower than the nave and transepts(likely an
acknowledgementof the building's parochi al, rather
than cathedral,status).A11roofs are steeplypitched.
Windows are triangular-headed,with simple tracery
in the transept facadesand east end. A formidable
trtangular buttresson the north side of the chancelis
doubtlessa wind-brace(renderedunnecessaryon the
south due to the presenceof a vestry).The ubiquitous
wind may also explain the otherwiseunaccountable
decisionto build both a north and a south porch.
5-29 (A) - St.Mary the
Virgin,BirchyCove(now
Curling),Newfoundland.
The interior of St.Mary (figure 5-31)showedpreciselythe kind of honest,opentimber
Corner BrookMuseum and constructionfavouredby the Ecclesiologists. Its tall proportions,steeproof, open arcades,
Archives, Dr.NoelF.Murphv
!'onds/A999 -009/Pm 0I 0. andvaned trusses demonstrate a familiarity with Ecclesiologicaltheory and medieval
5-30 (B) - St. Mary the originals rarrgrngfrom Nether Peover to hammerbeam roofs.The eastwindow contained
Virgin,BirchyCove(now
C ur l i n g ) .N e w f o u n d l a n d .
stained glass depictingthe nativity, made by Powell's in England.l0l
Corner BrookMuscum and
Archives. Dlreledrewk-rlds/
A000-122/Gm 380.
100.Ibid,pp.37-8.
Jelf,pp.39-40
101.
|1,0
ffi
 GOTHIC ON A MISSIONAND \IISIO\.\RILS OF GOT}{IC. THE SPREADOF GOTHIC DURING FEILD'SEPISCOPME

According to the Encydopediaof Newfoundlandand

Labrador,Curling designed and built "a number of
churchesand schoolson the west coast."r02Surviving
documents, unfortunately, provide little evidence
about the location and appearanceof thesebuildings.
To one of them (in Woody Point, on Bonne Bay),
we will return at the end of this chapter.Even his
church in Birchy Cove alone, however, establishes
Curling's expertiseand importanceas a "missionary"
of EcclesiologicalGothic in one of the most remote
parts of the diocese.
Labrador and the Bay of Islands were missionary
frontiers, and an integral part of their spiritual
colonization was the building of correct Anglican
churches.As we have akeady seenthrough the work
of William Grey, however, church-building was
not restricted to new missions. A comprehensive
corpus of church-building during Feild's episcopate
would require a study of considerably greaterlength
than the present one, as well as a lengthy searchfor
documentation that, in all probability, no longer exists.
Nevertheless,a modestcross-sectionof Gothic Revival
churchesbuilt during Edward Feild's episcopatewill
amply dernonstrate the rcnge and adaptability of
EcclesiologicalGothic in Newfoundland during the
1850s,'60sand'70s.
Born in London, the Rev Julian Moreton 5-31- St.MarytheVirgin,
(1825-1900)arrived at Queen'sCollegein St. John'sin 1848.103
He was ordained deacon BirchyCove(nowCurling),
Newfoundland, interior
in 1849,and priest the following yeaL From 1849to 1860,he servedas missionary in drawingbyJJ.Curling,
Greenspond,on an Island in BonavistaBay in northern Newfoundland. Moreton'stime fromR.H.Jelf,Iife ofJoseph
JarnesCurling,Soldierand
in Greenspondappearsto havebeena profoundtrial. The winters in particular were an Priest,Oxford:1910.
unremitting nightmare, an ice-coldcounterpartto Dante'sInferno.Storiesof Moreton's

102.Encyclopedia
ofNewfoundlandand Labradar,volume1,p.274.
103.Dictionaryof CanadianBiographlOnline,http://www.biographi.calEN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=40434&
query-mofeton.
|/'l
-i,:
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

hardshipsranged from the modentely humorous (nosepain due to large icicles dangling
from the nostrils) to the horrific (assistingin the amputation of two legs,eight fingers,
and one thumb from a frostbitten seaman).to'Throughit all, however,he did manageto
build a fascinatingchurch in Greenspond,which survivesintact to the presentday.tot
Moreton's church was a replacementfor one built near the beginning of the nineteenth
century by the peopleof Greenspond,evenbeforethey had a clergyman.According to
Moreton, their senseof denominationalaffiliation was somewhatelastic;afterbuilding
the church, they held a vote to determinewhether they should try to get aMethodist or
an Anglican minister - or, as Moreton picturesquelyput it, a "Methodist Teacheror a
Cleryymanof the Church."106 During his time at Queen's,Moreton would haveattended
William Grey's lectureson architecture, and he was ableto put the expertisethus gained
to practical use in Greenspond. On the exterior (figure 5-32),his St. Stephen'sis not
dissimilar to Grey's slightly earlier church at Portugal Cove, with a west tower and short
broach spire, andtrrangular-headedwindows. The chancelis a distinctly separatespace
with a lower roofline, as at Grey's churchesin Battle Harbour, Forteau, and St. John's
(St. Mary's). The eastwindow (visiblein figure 5-33),with three cuspedlights under a
triangularhead, is again somewhatreminiscent of Portugal Cove.
The interior (figures 5-33, 5-34& 5-35) is a curious hybrid. According to Shane
O'Dea, the church asbuilt did not follow preciselyMoreton's originalp1an.107 Assuming
this to be the case,it is not difficult to seewhat the changesto Moreton's plan must have
been. The deep,low chancelwith its large window; the open work arcadein the nave;
and the open, structurally naked roof trussing would all have been warmly praised
by the Ecclesiologists,Feild, Grey, and Moreton himself. The incongruous note is the
presenceof galleriesalong the north, west and south sides- a featureof the Preaching
Box and of Commissioners'Gothic that no knowledgeableChurch of England designer
would havewillingly usedby this time. Perhapsthe spirituality of the Greenspondflock
(on whose intellectual simplicity andpertrnacity Moreton often commented)still drifted
uncertainly betweenthe polesof Methodism and Anglicanism.

104.
JulianMoreton,
Lifeand Workin Neufoundland. of Thirteen
Reminiscences Years
Spentthere,London:
1863.
105.0n thetownof Greenspond,seeGeorge
Kapelos
andDouglas "Greenspond",
Richardson, Cana,dian
Collector,
volumel0/number 5,pp.24-9.
2, 197
105.Moreton,p.I04.
107.0'Dea(1990),
p.4.
t4t
ffi
5-32(L) - St.Stephen, Newfoundland,
Greenspond, exterior.
5-33(B) - St.Stephen, Newfoundland,
Greenspond, interiorofchancel.
5-34(C) - St.Stephen,
Greenspond,
Newfoundland,
interiorto east.
5-35(D) - Greenspond,
St.Stephen, Newfoundland,
interiorto west.
|/,l
Xi!
 NEWFOUNDLANDGOTHIC

Very soon afterGreenspond, achurch was built in Topsail, near St. John's,which
came closerthan the former to fulfilling Ecclesiologicalideals.On June 18, 1861,Feild
wrote to ErnestHawkins of the SPG that he had "just returned" from the consecrationof
the Church of St. John the Evangelistin Topsail,which had beenpaid for by the liberality
of a Mr. Johnson.r08 The clergymanat Topsailatthe time was CharlesPalairet,who Feild
says"brought to completion"the churchat Topsail.l0e Whether this alsomeansdesigning
the church is not clear;Palaueqwho had beenat Topsail during William Grey's time in
Newfoundland, is perhapsas likely acandidateas any. A carpenternamesJamesHarvey
hasbeenidentified (not with completecertainty)asthe bui1der.110 The exterior of Topsail
is a simple,economicalapplication of Ecclesiologicalprinciples (figure 5-36).A navewith
simple, oblong windows terminatesin a narrow chanceladornedwith lancet windows
on the side and a trrangtlar headedwindow in the east end. The west tower with its
short broach spire-by now afamtliar featureof the Newfoundland landscape- may be
alater addition.lrl No more "honest" an apphcationof materials can be imagined than
the interior of Topsail, the woodwork of which has never been painted (figure 5-37).
The deepchancel(which, with its largewindow is the emphaticvisual focal point of the
interior), the timber roof, and the open work nave arcadeall demonstratethat Grey had
been an effectivearchitecturalteacherbeforehis departurefor England.
Contemporay with the new churchesat Greenspondand Topsail were additions
made to St. Paul'sin Harbour Grace,the earlier fabrrcof which was examinedin Chapter
One. The additions representboth a substantial enlargementof the building and the
introduction of Ecclesiologicalprinciples to a Commissioners'Gothic church. On the
exterior (figure 5-38),the additions take the form of a very broad transept and chancel
which, as they are made from the same materials as the nave and tower, blend quite
seamlesslywith the older fabric. On the interior, however (figures 5-39& 5-40), the
contrastis extremelystriking. The tunnel-like nave abruptly opensout into the massive
Iateral spaceof the transepts.An enormous,web-like open work timber roof embraces
the transeptsand polygonal apse.The additions are not Ecclesiologicallyperfect -

108.FeildtoErnestHawkins,June 18,1861.
109.rbid.
110.HeritageFoundation of Newfoundland andLabrado\unnumbered File:St.JohntheEvangelist
Property Church,
Topsail.James Harvey isidentified Heritage
asthebuilderin theRegistered Application,
Structure butunfortunately
theprimarydocumentation thatispresumably thesourceof thisinformation
is notcited.Anappended historyof
thechurchbythe"01dChurch Preservation
Committee" statesthatHarveywasengaged onFebruary lJ, 1860;the
precisionof theinformationstrongly suggests
aprimarydocumentary butagainit is notidentified.
source,
111.bid. 0nceagain,thereportof the"0ld Church Preservation
Committee" statesthatthisisthecase, butdoesnot
citea source.
l/'/.'
ffi
5-36(A)- St.JohntheEvangelist,
Topsail,
Newfoundland,exterior.
5-37(B) - St,JohntheEvangelist,
Topsail,
Newfoundland,interior.
5-38(C)- St.Paul's,HarbourGrace,
Newfoundland,
exteriorfromsouth-east.
5-39(D) - St.Paul's,
HarbourGrace,Newfoundland,
interiorto west.
5-40(E)-St. Paul's,
HarbourGrace,Newfoundland,
interioracrosstransepts.
t45
re
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

the continuation of the nave galleries,the shortnessof the chancel,and the polygonal
apse(a rare form in medieval England) would probably all have been crittcizedby a
knowledgeableEcclesiologist.However,to stand at the end of the nave of St. Paul'sand
look backwardsand forwards is to grasp in an instant the immense differencebetween
Newfoundland Gothic before and after the arcwal of Edward Feild.
The church of St. James,Carbonear,begunin 1860and consecratedrnlS64,tl2rs a
very spaciouschurch with a roof both broad and steep,a tower at the south-westcorner,
twinned lancet windows lighting the nave, and a low, deep chancel(figure 5-41).The
transept-like projection to the south - in fact a chapel- is thought to have been an
The interior (figure 5-42)is singularin havingno arcadeor other
addition of the 1880s.113
internal divisions. Instead,the massiveopen timber roof - starting just abovethe nave
windows and climbing steeplyto a very considerableheight - dominatesthe whole of the
interior space.The unusualnessof this was acknowledgedat the time the church was new,
the Daily Newscommenting that it was anaffangement "thatmany personswill admire
as causing no interruption to sight or sound."114 Sight and sound, of course,were not
valued as highly by the Ecclesiological Society as mystery and solemnity,although the
sheerproportions of the massiveroof provide what may havebeendeemeda satisfactory
measureof the latter. The deep,low chancelis lit by a very large triple lancet window
with three roundels,all enclosedwithin a pointed arch.
The Church of St.Andrew, Brooklyn (begun 1867),is in starkcontrastto the Anglican
church at Carbonear.While the latter dependsupon scale and grand spatial effectsfor
impact, St. Andrew is modestin size andfilled with meticulous,detailedcraftsmanship.
The builder was Caleb Marshall, whose work will be encounteredagain in Chapter
Six.lrsThe exterior (figure 5-43)is a complex arcangementof nave, aisles,south porch,
and chancel.An elaboratetower with a tall, needle-likespire sits on the south side of
the junction betweennave and chancel.Windows throughout are cuspedlancets,with
a graduatedset of three in the west wall. All of the gablesdisplay exceptionally fine
craftsmanship,with traceryJike,trefoiledborders(figure 5-44).This level of craftsmanship
is continuedon the interior, wherefamiliar featuressuchasthe open arcadeare embellished
by detailssuchas the lathed corbelsat the point of springing(figure 5-45).The enclosed,

112.Duncan 'A BriefHistory

Howell, of St.James'
ChurchandtheParish
of Carbonear",unpublished
typescript,1994.
Foundation
In Heritage ofNewfoundland andLabrador
unnumberedPropertyFile:St.James Carbonear.
Church,
113.Ibid,p.4.
Il4. The[Carbonear]DailyNeugNovember 27,1864.
115.Heritage Foundation
ofNewfoundland unnumbered
andLabrador File:St.Andrew,
Property Brooklyn.
|/'6
ffiI
 5-41(A) - St.James,Carbonear,
Neu'foundland.erterior.
5-42 (B) - St.James,Carbonear,
Neu'foundland. interior.
5-44 (C) - St.Andrew,Brooklyn,Newfoundland, detailof eastgable.
5-43 @) - St.Andrew,Brooklyn,Nervfoundland.erterior.
5-45 G) - St.Andrew,Brooklyn,Newfoundland,interior.

tLt
rc
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

flat nave ceiling, while doubtlessa boon to heating during winter, was possiblynot part
of Marshall's design.lr6The ceiling timbers are fully revealedin the chancel,where the
decorativehighlight is a dado arcadeof greatdelicacy(figure 5-46).Although small in
scale,Brooklyn'sexcellentcarpentrygivesit a jewel-likequality.
In the year of Edward Feild's death, 7876,probably the most architecturally ambitious
wooden church yet attemptedin Newfoundland was built in Brigus, on Conception Bay.
The construction is attributed to builder GeorgeC. Jerrett.l17
Dramatrcally set atop a steepincline overlookingthe sea(figure 5-47),St. George's
is a full cruciform church, with nave,aisles,full-height transepts,and a polygonal apse.
The naveaisleshavelancet windows, sub-dividedinto two cuspedlancets,with quatrefoil
windows in the clerestory.The transept facadeshave large traceried windows below
roundelsin the gable.The apsehas three cuspedlancetwindows, as doesthe west wall.
The interior is pafircularly ambitious (figure 5-48). The nave and aislesare separatednot
by the usual open-work arcade,but by an arcadewith opaque spandrelssupportedby
complex,compoundwooden piers (figure 5-49),which themselvessupportrichly moulded
archeson elaboratecaprtals.The open timber ceiling is monumental in conceptionand
elaboratein detailing. The chancel is raised by four steps,the altar rarlby an addrtronal
one, and the altar itself sits on a low pedestal.The chancelarch is a monumentalcusped
arch, echoingthe window forms. When comparedwith buildings such as St. Thomas'
in St. John's,or St. Peter'sin TWillingate,St. George'sgraphicallyillustratesthe progress
made by EcclesiologicalGothic during the episcopateof Edward Feild.
During the first decadeof Feild's stay in Newfoundland, the architectural battle lines
betweenAnglican and Roman Catholic were clearly drawn. As the Catholic cathedral,
"basedon a Roman Basilica"l18nearedcompletion high abovethe city, Feild's Pointed
English Gothic Cathedral racedto provide a visual foil to it. Taking their cue from the
cathedral, a generationof Anglican churchmen made Gothic an integralpart of the

115.The file in the HeritageFoundationof Newfoundlandand Labradorstatesthat the interior is "extremelyfine and
in original condition",but in a churchotherwisesosensitiveto Ecclesiologicalvalues,the flat ceilingwouldbe an
unaccountable anomaly.It alsorenderstheexquisitequatrefoilwindowin thewestgableinvisiblefrom the interior.
It wouldbeextremelyinterestingto examinethe designand finish of the trussingabovethe currentceiling,which
maypossiblydetermineif it wasoriginally meantto beexposed.
117.JohnFitzgenld,"St.George'sAnglican Church,Brigus,Newfoundland", HeritageFoundationof Newfoundlandand
LabradorunnumberedPropertyFile: St.George's Church,Brigus;Registered HeritageStatusApplicationTable2.
Asis usuallythe casewith thesefiles,theprimary sourceis not cited.The attributiontoJerrettis repeatedin Shane
O'Dea,"The Designof God'sPlace",on-siteinterpretive poster,2004.
118.BishopJohnMullock,An Accountof the Consecration of the cathedralof St.John's,Newfoundland, Dublin: 1856,
p.1.
|/,B
II
5-46 (A) - St.Andrerv,Brooklyn,Newfoundland,interior
detail of chancel.
5-47 (B) - St.George,Brigus,Newfoundland,
exterior.
5-48 (C) - St.George,Brigus,Newfoundland,interior to east.
5-49 Q) - St.George,Brigus,Newfoundland,
interior to west.

|/,9
ffi
 (
NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

Anglican messageto be spreadacrossthe colony. By the time

the nave of Feild's cathedralwas complete,however,the stylistic
identitiesof Romanist and Anglican had become,,ifnot muddied,
then at least rather more nuanced. For, in spite of the carefully
constructedargumentsof the Anglican clergy,the Ecclesiologists,
and George Gilbert Scott, Roman Catholics began building in
Gothic as well.
Unlike the Anglicans,Roman Catholicsin Newfoundlandnever
wholly embracedGothic. The Classicalstylecontinuedto be used
eveninto the twentieth century,as at St. Patrick'sin Brigus (1935)
(figure 5-50).There were, however,good reasonsfor Catholicsto
build in Gothic. First of all, notwithstanding G.G. Scott'sbrave
atternptto prove otherwise, Gothic was indeed a stylethat evolved
in the Middle Ages to servethe liturgical and symbolic needsof
the Roman Catholic Church.Moreover,the first greatnineteenth-
century champion of the Gothic Revival was a Roman Catholic,
Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin. Thanks to Pugin, whosemain
patron was of coursethe Roman Church,the mostup-to-datenew
Catholic churchesbeing built in the British Isleswere Gothic.
This movementwas first felt in Newfoundland in 1853.In
April of that year,the English architectural periodical TheBuilder
announcedthat a new Roman Catholic church, conventand school
housewere to be erectedin St. John's.The architectwas to be J.J.
McCarthy, of Dublin, and the style of all three was to be Early
English Gothic.lteThe new church, St. Patrick's (figure 5-51),
was not, however,a faithful essayin Early English Gothic in the
way that GeorgeGilbert Scott's cathedralnavehad been.Indeed,
Scott'sdesignwas, among other things, a truly first-ratepieceof
architectural archaeology;McCarthy's on the other hand, could
5-50(A)- St.Patrick's be termed "Ear|y English" only by virtue of its preferencefor lancet windows over
RomanCatholicChurch,
Brigus,Newfoundland, tracery.There was, of course,no imaginable reasonwhy the "Hiberno-Romanists" of
exteriorfromthewest. St. John'swould wish to build a church that evokedthoseof either medievalEngland or
5-51(B) - St.Patrick's just as interestedin history
RomanCatholic Church, the EcclesiologicalSociety.The Catholicsof St. John'swere
Newfoundland, andtradition as the Ecclesiologists,but as Malcolm Thurlby has shown, it was their own
St.John's,
exteriorfromthenorth-west.

XI,number531,
Il9. TheBuilder,volume April91853,p.238.
r50
:'ilI
 GOTHIC ON A MISSIONAND MISSIONARIES
OF GOTHIC:THE SPREADOF GOTHIC DURING FEILD'SEPISCOPATE

traditions- i.e.,thoseof medieval,CatholicIreland - that they

wishedto evokein their new Gothicchurch.r2o
The Irish allusionsat St. Patrick'sare as striking and as
purposefulasthe Englishonesmadeby Scott,but for the present
purposeit will sufficeto note the waysin which McCarthy's
churchwas not, and could neverhavebeenmistakenfor, an
Anglican one. First, the English detailingis gone,replaced
naturally enoughwith Irish featuresfrom suchbuildings as
St. Mary, New Ross(Wexford), and Kilkenny Cathedral.t2l
Also, the clearinterior and exteriordivisionof spaces,sohighly
valuedby the Ecclesiological Society,is altogetherabsent.The
roofline is continuous,and the aislescontinueright to the east
end, giving no exterior clue aboutwherethe chancplbegins.
Inside(figure 5-52),pier forms,roof structure,anddecorative
aftrculation remain consistentfrom one end of the church to
the other.Evenan audiencethat had neverseenEnglishor Irish
Gothic firsthand would haveno trouble recognizingthat this
building did not look like the Anglican Cathedral.
Newfoundland'sfirst Gothic Cathedral,at HarbourGrace,
moveseven further away from the English/Anglican idiom
established by Feild and Scott.The Cathedralof the Immaculate
Conceptionreplacedan earlier cathedralon that site- a domed
Classicalbasilica(igure 5-53)clearlymodeledon St. Peter'sin
Rome- aftera fire in 1889.122 The twin-toweredfagade,with
tall, thin spires,and polygonaleastend (figures5-54& 5-55),
are featuresthat, while not unheardof in medievalEngland,are
very far from typical.The multiplegablesof the eastendhaveno
Englishprecedent. Inside,thenon-Englishcharacter is evenmore
striking (figures5-56).With aislesnearlyastall asthe nave,the elevationis one story. 5-52- St.Patrick'sRoman
Catholic
Church, St.John's,
The arcadesspringfrom verytall, slenderquatrefoilpiers.As at St.Patrick's,the interior Newfoundland, interiorto
theeast.
120.Malcolm "St.Patrick's
Thurlby, Roman Catholic Church,
School,
andConvent:JJ.McCarthyandIrishGothicRevival
in Newfoundland",Journalof theSociety
for theStudyofArchitecturein Canada,volume28,numbersI & 4,
2003,pp.13-20.
121.Ibid,pp.15-19.
I22.M.F.Howley, "TheRomanCatholicChurchin Newfoundland", supplement to D.W.Prowse,A Historyof
Neufoundland, London:1895,p. 34.
t5l
-EE
 5-53$) - RomanCatholicCathedral of the
Immaculate Conception,HarbourGrace,
Newfoundland, fromD.W.Prowse,
1895.
A Historyof Newfoundland,st.John's,
5-54(B) - RomanCatholicCathedral of the
Immaculate Conception,HarbourGrace,
Newfoundland, exteriorfromwest.
5-55(C)- RomanCatholicCathedral of the
Immaculate Conception,HarbourGrace,
Newfoundland, exteriorfromnorth-east.
5-56(D) - Roman Catholic of the
Cathedral
Immaculate Conception,HarbourGrace,
Newfoundland, interiorto east.

t52
:iil
 GOTHIC ON A MISSIONAND MISSIONARIES
OF GOTHIC: THE SPREADOF GOTHIC DURING FEILD'SEPISCOPME

5-576) - St.Patrick'sRoman
Catholic
Church, Carbonear,
Newfoundland, exteriorfromwest.
5-58(B) - St,Patrick'sRoman
CatholicChurch,Carbonear,
Newfoundland, interiorof nave.

articulation doesnot changeas one progresseswest to eastuntil the altar is reached,at

which point the floor level rises.The whole interior is coveredby a plaster rib-vault that
the Ecclesiologistswould have despised.
Similar featuresare seenat the Roman Catholic Church of St. Patrick, in Carbonear,
begun in 1888.123 The west front (figure 5-57)is a massiveblock with a single central
tower topped by a tall, slenderspire. The interior is two story (arcadeand clerestory)
with quatrefoil piers unmistakably similar to those at Harbour Grace (figure 5-58).As
at Harbour Grace, the most striking (and emphatically least Anglican) feature is the

IZJ.James
M.Fleming,
St.Patrick'sRomanCatholic
Parishand theEarlyPeopleof Carbonear
Neufoundland,
2002,pp.27-8.
Carbonear:
t5l
T::i
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

vault - a massiveplaster canopy with, currently, aparticularly strident paint scheme.

The nave has a variation of a quadripartite vault, while the aisle ribs (figure 5-59)follow
a decontive, curvilinear p attern that i s decidedly non-architectonic.
It is worth noting that "sham" (i.e., wooden, not stone),vaultedRoman Catholic
basilicas areby no meansuncommon in North America during the nineteenthcentury.
One, Notre Dame in Montreal, was afueadymentioned in Chapter One. St. Basil's
Church in Toronto, begun by William Hay in 1856,is another example;the Church of
Our Lady, Guelph, Ontario (JosephConnolly, 1876-88),also follows this pattern. What
model there could be for this - medieval or otherwise - is not obvious.PossiblySanta
Maria SopraMinerva, Rome (late thirteenth century, restoredin the nineteenth century)
- arare exampleof a vaulted, Gothic Roman basilica - may have servedas a model.t24
The architectural parentageof these wood and plaster vaulted Gothic churchesawaits
seriousstudy.One thingthatis abundantlyclear,however,is that thesechurcheswould
be utterly alien to Anglican Ecclesiologists- andthatfactalone may in partexplain their
appearancein Newfoundland and elsewhere.
The contrastbetweenthe denominationaldialectsof Gothic comesinto sharp focus
in a very small town on Bonne Bay: Woody Point, in the heart of what is now Gros
Morne National Park (figure 5-60). An Anglican church, of which only a photograph
By default, it can safelybe assumed
survives (figure 5-61),was built by about 1884.12s
that the designerwas the clergyman- none other than J.J. Curling - who was the only
one for many miles who could have possessedsufficient architectural expertise. The
photograph shows a simple clapboard church, with a small western tower, trtangular-
headedwindows , and a clearly differentiated chancel. No records exist of the interior,
but it may safelybe assumedto be a simpler,scaleddown versionof Curling's church at
Birchy Cove (figure 5-31).
In emphaticcontrastto this is the Roman Catholic Church of St.Patrick,built in 1875by
masterbuilders JosephBreaufrom Nova Scotiaand PeterJackmanfrom Newfoundland.t26
Originally built in nearbyBalley'sPoint, it was sawninto threepiecesand movedacrossthe
From the outside(figure 5-62),
ice to its presentlocation in the late nineteenthcentury.l27

124.Mythanksto MalcolmThurlbyforsuggesting this.

I25.E\laManuel, "Woody anunpublished
Point1800-1!00", typescript,istheonlyhistoryofthetown.Judging fromthe
of datesandquotations,
precision sheseems to havedrawnextensively fromprimarydocuments, althoughthese
areunfortunatelynotidentified.
126.HeilageFoundation of Newfoundland andLabrador unnumbered Property File:St.Patrick'sChurch,V/oody
Point.
I27.lbid.Unlikelyasthesawingmay sound,thethreeseams arestill clearlyvisiblein thefabricof thechurch.
154
m
 G O T H I C O N A M I S S I O NA N D \ I I S S I O \ \ R I I : \ O I : ( , ( ' J ' I I I ( ' .I I I I : \ I ' R I :\ D O F G O T I I I C D U R I N GF E I L D 'E
SP I S C O P A T E

5-59(A)- St.Patrick's
RomanCatholic
Church,Carbonear,
Newfoundland,
interiorof aisle.
5-60(B) -WoodyPoint,

Centrefor Newfoundland
Newfoundland,
5-61(C)- ChurchoftheEpiphany,

qeii/cns,/photos/geogfi
Woody
fromacrossBonneBay.
Point,Newfoundland.
Studies,Coll- 137,14.01.001.
ndaid.php#Arrange>
See<http://wwrv.librarr'.mun.cal
ffi
gf
#
t55
re
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

St. Patrick'scould almostbe mistakenfor an Anglican church (particularly if one misreads

the vestry on the eastend as a chancel).One look at the interior, however(figure 5-63),
disabusesone of that error. No one evenremotely famrharwith Ecclesiologycould mistake
this for an Anglican church - indeed, it is highly original by any standard.Original it
may be, but not unprecedented. The single,continuousinterior spaceis reminiscentof the
Catholic Gothic churchesin St. John's,Harbour Grace, andCarbonear.The preferencefor
the coveredceiling over the opentimber roof recallsHarbour Grace andCarbonear.Indeed
the extraordinarypatternsof the woodenstripson the ceiling seemnot altogetherunlike the
aislevaults at Carbonearin decorativesensibility,although admittedly the "ribs" at Woody
Point are idiosyncratic in the extreme.The collectivesimilarities of thesefour Roman
Catholic Gothic churchesare unmistakable,and serveboth to bind them togetherand
distinguishthem from the Gothic dialectof the competingdenomination.Woody Point's
two churches,while both nominally Gothic, seemto
stand back to back, their gazesapparentlyfixed in
oppositedirections.Nowherein all ofNewfoundland
- not evenin St. John's,with its Roman Basilicaand
Early English Cathedral- are the two religiousand
architecturalsolitudesmore clearlyexpressed.

5-52(L) - St.Patrick's
RomanCatholic
Church, Woody Point,
Newfoundland, exterior.
5-63(B) - St.Patrick's
RomanCatholic
Church, VoodyPoint,
Newfoundland, interior.

r56
:.
 re
0rflPTrR
flt(
intheLater
lleufoundland
Gothic (enturg
llineteenth

t After Edward Feild's death in 1876,JamesKelly (1832-1907),who had been

ffi Coadjutor Bishop of Newfoundland since 1867,succeededto the see for one
year.lHis replacementwas Llewellyn Jones(1840-1918), who remained as Bishop
for thirty-eight years.2Jones' episcopate,unlike Feild's, was not notable for any
revolutionary changesto the architectural landscapeof the diocese;rather, he
continued on his predecessor's courseand in so doing presidedover the building
of some of the most remarkableGothic Revival monuments of late Victorian
I Newfoundland.
In their afiicle on St. John'sCathedralof 1848,TheEcclesiologist had praisedthe building
for having been"commencedin faith," by which they meantthat Feild had built the navein
the faith that subsequentgenerationswould one day undertakecompletionof the restof the
building.3As TheEcclesiologist noted,this was a common medievalpractice; one example
is York Minster, whereWalter de Gray re-builtthe transeptsin the thirteenthcentury on a
colossalscale,which his successors eventuallyadoptedfor the choir and nave.Sometime in
the late 1870s,GeorgeGilbert Scottwas apparentlycontactedaboutthe completionof the
work. A drawing of a floor plan in the Royal Institute of British Architects(RIBA) collection
(figure 6-1),entitled "St. John'sCathedral:Newfoundland",clearlydelineateswhich parts
were complete(the nave),which parts were proposed(the crossingand transepts),which
parts wereproposedas temporury(an eastwall for the transeptsand temporarychancel),
and which parts were projectedfor alater building campargn(thechoir and final eastend).
The dateof this drawingis uncertain,but asit is signed"Sir GeorgeGilbert Scott,R.A.", it
must datefrom betweenthe architect'sknighthood(1872)and death(1878).Nothing came
of this plan until both Scottand Feild were dead.

TheAnglicanEpiscopate
1. Rowley, pp.2I)-20.
of Canadaand Newfoundland.
p.223.
2. Rowley,
volume
3. TheEcclesiologist, p.278.
8, 1848,
t5/
re
 NEWFOUNDLANDGOTHIC

Efforts to completethe cathedralgainedmomentum in 1875,when a synod resolved

that the navewas too small for current needs,and that fundraising shouldbegin for the
completion of the cathedral.aFundraising continued after Feild's death the following
year, and earlyin 1880the decisionwas madeto proceedwith the work, both to alleviate
the shortageof spaceand as a "frtttng memorial of the noble life and unselfish labors"
of the late Bishop.sA building committee was selected,and fundraising continued for
what becameknown as the "Bishop Feild Memorial."
At the time thesemeasureswere announcedon February 28, 1880,6dialoguehad
continued with GeorgeGilbert Scott Jr. (1839-97),who had taken over his late father's
practice after the latter's death.TFour days earher,a letter from Scott had been read to
the committee, in which he recommendedthe appointment of JamesWills as Clerk of
the Works.8Work beganin 1880,and both construction and fundraising continued at
a formidable pace as money and building materials were solicited from every possible
source,including the outports.eThe completion of a cathedraldesignedby the person
who was, by then, arguablythe most famous architect of the era, attractedsomeattention
in the English press.EarIy in 1881,the architectural periodical TheBuilderpublisheda
planandperspectivedrawing of the cathedral(figures6-2 &6-3), creditedto "The late Sir
G.G. Scott, and Mr. Gilbert Scott". The plan is identical to that in the RIBA collection
- evento the point of showing a south porch that, owing to the sharp downward incline
on that part of the site, had been changedto a north porch nearly four decadesearlier
in the designprocess.The elevationdrawing was clearly basedon the one that had
been published in The lllustratedLondonNewsrn 1849,with only minor differencesin
the scenery.l0 The accompanyingarticle reportedthat "the most conspicuousedifice in
St. John's... is the Roman Catholic Cathedral",but addedthat the Anglican cathedral,
when finished, would be "one of the grandeston that side of the Atlantic."ll

4. "Bishoo FeildMemorial. Newfoundland.

St.Tohn's. 28thFebruary,1880."Diocesan Archives ofEasternNewfoundland
andribrador, #558,goxtlfile 9.
5. Ibid.
6. bid.
7. 0n thecarcer of George seeGavinStamp,An
GilbertScottJr., ofPromise,
Architect Donnington2002.
8. Diocesan Archivesof EasternNewfoundland andLabrado4#558, Box 4,File 4, Letter
10.
!. "Report Committee
of Select of theSynod on Bishop FeildMemorial (Cathedral Completion) ", 1881,
suggeststhat
everyclergyman in thecolonybeinstructed to solicitdonations,
andthaldonations of scaffoldpoles,twenty-five
to thirtyfeetlong,areasusefulandwelcome ascash.Diocesan Archivesof Eastern Newfoundland andLabrador,
#668,Box1,file9.
10.TheBuilder,Jannry 22,1881,p. I0I.Thelllustrated LondonNews,]une 23,1849, p. 429.
II. TheBuilder,January 22,1881,p. 99.
r5B
ffi
NEWFOUNDLANDGOTHIC IN THE LATER\INFTEE\TI I C'I:\I IIR\

Sr, Jogtt'* CATESDRAL, liSItfOSl9,DI.i.lID'*Tm uu Srtr O.'€.

6-l (A)- Anglican St.John'sNewfoundland.

of St.JohntheBaptist,
Cathedral planfor completion
Proposed of the
Cathedral,c .1875.
RIBALibraryDrawingCollection, [119]12.
SCGGS
6-2(B) - Anglican of St.JohntheBaptist,
Cathedral St.John's PlanfromTheBuilder,Jantary
Newfoundland. 22,1881.
6-3 (C)- Anglican of St.JohntheBaptist,
Cathedral St.John'sNewfoundland. drawingfromTbeBuilder,
Perspective
January 22,1881.

t59
re
 ;
NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

The Cathedral was sufficiently completefor consecrationon September1, 1885,12

andlater the samemonth TheBuildingNewspublished aplan and north elevation of the
completedbuilding (figure 6-4) - indeed,the drawing is more completethan the building,
for it showsthe crossingtower and spire that were never built.13Soon after, TheBuilding
Newsalso publisheda south elevationand longitudinal crosssection(figure 6-5).'n
A difficult issueto disentangleis to what degreeGeorgeGilbert Scott Jr.'sexecuted
cathedralfollowed his father'sdesign.TheBuildingNewsreportedthat Scottwas "entrusted
with the completion of his father's design with such modifications as he might judge
desirable,"adding,"While the generalschemeof the original designhasbeenadheredto,
many modificationshavebeenintroduced,especiallyasregardsthe designof the tower."ls
One month later,it was reportedthat Scotthad been"entrustedwith the completionof his
father'sdesigns,which were, however,in severalrespectsconsiderablymodified."16The
surviving evidence,however,suggeststhat the modificationswerenot all that considerable,
andthat the cathedralas built (which of coursedoesnot include the tower and spire)is
very closein spirit, and evenin many details,to what Sir Gilbert Scott had proposedto
BishopFeild. A comparisonof the plan preparedbythe elderScottin the 1870s17 with that
reproducedin TheBuildingNews(figure 6-6) showsvery little changefrom the original
configuration,exceptfor the omissionof the choir vestryand clergyvestryfrom the north
side of the choir (and the abandonmentof any attempt by the younger Scott to accurately
representthe location of the main entry porch of the nave,which hasdisappearedaltogether
despitethe fact that it had beenbuilt and in usefor over thirty-five years).Both plans show
that the intention was to vault the easternarm of the building, which to datehasbeenonly
partrally rcahzed.The younger Scott'splan adds an ambitious star vault in the crossing.
The interior choir elevation planned by Sir Gilbert Scott, one version of which
(perhapsthe final version,perhapsnot) can be seenin anotherRIBA drawing (figwe 6-7),
consistedof an arcadebeneathwhat could be termeda "two-in-one" upper story; that is,
a story with atall enclosingarch sub-dividedinto two lancetson the interior faceof the
wall, and two levelsof smaller arches,suggestinga three-storyelevation,on the outer
face.This is almost exactly the plan shown in Scott Jr.'scross-sectionrn TheBuilding

12.H.W.V/oodandSirGilesGilbert "Reports
Scott, ontheAnglican Cathedral",1938.
13.TheBuildingNews,volume XLIX,number1602, September 18,1885,illustration
accompanyingp.446.
14.TheBuildingNeu.ts,volume XLIX,number1608,October 18,1885,illustration
accompanying p.558.
15.TheBuildingNeus,volume XLIX,number1602, September 18,1885,p.445.
16.TheBuildingNents, October
9, 1885,p. 590.
17.TheSeptember articleinTheBuildingNeusstatesthatthequestion
ofthecompletion "wasmooted
ofthecathedral
in 1875";
this,then,maybetheexactdateof SirGeorge Gilbert
Scott'splanshown in figure6-1.
t60
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NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

News,the main differencebeingthat in thelaterdesignthelowerarchof the outerfaceof

the wall (thequasi-secondstoryof the elevation)hasbeenturnedinto a pair of lancets.
Theexteriorelevationof theoriginaldesigncanbeseenin a RIBA drawingthatis scarcely
morethana sketch(figure6-8),butit clearlyshowsanintentionto usemoreelaborutewindows
in thechoirthanthenave,anideasolidlywithin Ecclesiologicaltradition, sincethechoir,as
the moresacredspace,meritsricherdecoration. Theclerestory windowswereto consistof
pairedcusped lancetsbeneatha quatrefoillight,whiletheaisleswereto befenestrated with
gradlatedtriple lancets.With the slightmodificationof makingthe aislelancetscusped
(visiblein TheBuildingNewscross-section andthebuilt fabric),this wasthe designadopted
by theyoungerScott.Theexteriorof thenorthtranseptis givena hugewindowconsisting
of four lancetsbetweentwo roundelsanda quatrefoilin the RIBA drawing.In the end,
ScottJr.electedto builda morecomplexversionof thiswith sixlancets,two roundels,anda
crowningroundelof nearlyrosewindowproportions(obliquelyvisiblein figure 6-9),allwith
bar ftaceryratherthanthe originallyplannedplatetracery.This switchto bar ftacerycan
alsobe seenin the eastwindowasbuilt (figure6-10),whencompared with the illustration
that originally appearcdinThelllustrated
LondonNews
(andsubsequently in TheBuilda,figure6-3).
While SirGeorgeGilbertScott'sintentionsforthe
easternarmmustbetentativelypiecedtogetherfrom
averyincomplete setof survivingdrawings,his son's
executeddesignis whatstill standson GowerStreet
today.Although afre of 1892guttedthe interiorof
the choir(anddestroyed all but the aislewallsof the
nave;seefigure6-11),thestoneworkremained largely
intact and formsthe coreof the presentcathedral.
From the south(figure 6-12),the exteriordoesnot
differ in any majorway from TheIllustrated London
Newsperspective view of 1848or the crosssection
from TheBuildingNewsof 1885.The southtransept
hasthreeverytall lancets,beneatha cuspedroundel
6-76) - AnglicanCathedral of St.JohntheBaptist,St.John's
Newfoundland. Proposed choirelevation,byGeorge GilbertScott,ca,
1846.
RIBA tibraryDrawingCollection,
SCGGS IU9]3.
6-8 (B) -AnglicanCathedral of St.JohntheBaptist,St.John's
Newfoundland.
Proposed exteriorchoirelevation,
byGeorge GilbertScott,ca.L846.
RIBAlibrary DrawingCollection,SCGGS
lll9l 4.
6-9 (A)-AnglicanCathedral
of St.JohntheBaptist,
St.John's
Newfoundland, exteriorfromnorth-
west.
6-10(B) -AnglicanCathedral of
St.JohntheBaptist,
St.John'sNewfoundland,
eastfaEade.
6-11(C)-AnglicanCathedral
of St.JohntheBaptist,
St.John'sNewfoundland, ruined
naveafterfireof 1892.
Cathedralarchives,Cathedralof St.Johnthe
Baptist,CAl/1.39.Loc.A039(Photographer
unknown).
6-12(D)-AnglicanCathedral
of
St.JohntheBaptist,
St.John's
Newfoundland,
exterior
fromsouth.

ii

r6l
Iffi
 NEWFOUNDLANDGOTHIC

in the gable.There are massivecorner buttresses,with more slenderbuttressesbetween

the lancets;both differ slightly from the version in the lllustratedLondonNews.The east
aisle of the transeptis setback slightly from the south fagadeof the transept.The choir
aisle is divided into baysby deepbuttressesthat are continued along the aisle roof and
up the clerestorywall. The configuration of the eastfagade(figure 6-10)as built is also
extremelysimilar to the drawing of the 1840s.A tall, cliff-like centralspace,with massive
cornerbuttresses,is flanked by aislesthat also haveboldly projecting cornerbuttresses.
A shorterbuttressruns up the middle of the fagadeto the sill level of the eastwindow. The
only notabledifferencebetweenthe designsis in the main eastwindow which, as stated,
usesbar nther than platetracery. The window of the gable,which appearsin the original
designas a pair of lancets,was built as a set of three lancets.The eastwindows of the
aislesconsistof three lancetsbeneaththree quatrefoils,all in plate tracery;they differ from
Sir Gilbert's designonly in that the central lancet has been made slightly taller than its
neighbours.While the precisedesignof the exteriorof the north sideof the easternarm is
impossibleto know fully, the major change,asdiscussedabove,seemsto be the expansion
of the transeptwindow in to abar-traceried,Decoratedtour-de-force.
Apart from the general outlines of the plan, elevation, and
vaulting akeady discussed,no evidenceof Sir Gilbert Scott's
plans for the inside of the easternarm survives.However,insofar
as Scott's original plan was for the whole cathedralto be in a
decidedly and emphatically English idiom, his intention was,
once again, scrupulouslyfollowed by his son. The monumental
crossing piers (figure 6-13),with elaboratelymoulded capitals,
somewith fillets and somewithout, arcIarger versionsof those in
the original nave. Distinctly English (specifically,Early English
Gothic) featuresof the transept interiors (figures 6-14& 6-15)
-
6-13 Anglican Cathedral include rich compound piers, moulded capitals, and delicately moulded arches.Also
of St.JohntheBaptist, strongly English is the lack of continuousvertical articulation: not only are the vaulting
St.John'sNewfoundland,
capitals. shafts (from which no vaults yet spring) corbelled out at the level of the string course
detailof crossing
immediately abovethe main arcade,but the three-light clerestorydoesnot align with
the two-bay arcade.The choir elevation(figures 6-16& 6-17)has similar piers, capitals,
and arcades,while the vault responds(once agarnfor vaults neverbuilt; like the crossing

Page165:
6-14(A)-AnglicanCathedralofSt.John theBaptist,
St.John's Newfoundland,
eastwallofnorthtransept.
6-15(B) - AnglicanCathedral
of St.JohntheBaptist,St.John'sNewfoundland,
eastwallof southtransept.
6-15(C)- Anglican Cathedral
of St.JohntheBaptist,St.John'sNewfoundland,
choirto thesouth-east.
t64 6-17(D) - AnglicanCathedral
of St.JohntheBaptist,St.John'sNewfoundland,
northchoirelevation.
ffi
 NEWFOUNDLANDGOTHIC

6-18(A)- Lincoln
lincolnshire,
Cathedral,
exteriorof eastend.
6-19(B) - AngelChoir,
LincolnCathedral,
Lincolnshire,north
clerestorywindow.
6-20(c) - Anglican
Cathedral of St.;ohn
theBaptist,St.John's
Newfoundland, eastarm
after1892fire.
Cathedralarchives,Cathedralof
St.JohntheBaptist, CAl/1.39.
toc. A039(Photographer
unknown).
6-21(D) - Anglican
Cathedralof St.John
theBaptist,St.John's
naveinterior
Newfoundland,
to east.

r66
ffi
NEWFOUNDI-ANDGOTHIC IN THE LATERNINETEENTHCE\TLIR\-

tower, they await, perhaps, another Queen's Letter) are corbelled out at the bottom of
the spandrels.The eastwindow (partially visible from the interior in figure 6-16;visible
in its entirety from the exterior in 6-10),with its remarkably richly moulded enclosing
arch and mullions, is a scaled-downversion of the Geometrical Decoratedwindow in
the eastend of Lincoln Cathedral (figure 6-18).One of the most striking - and English
- characteristicsof all is the double layer of window tracery in the eastterminations of
the choir aisles(just visible to the right of centrein figure 6-16).An unglazed screenon
the inner plane of the wall mirrors the glazed tracery of the outer plane, an idea first
seenin the clerestory of the Angel Choir of Lincoln Cathedral (figure 6-19), dating
from the 1250s.18 Unlikely as it may seem,the Gothic expertiseand connoisseurshipof
two generationsof Scottscombinedto createa quintessentiallyEnglish building of the
thirteenth century in Victorian Newfoundland. St. John's Cathedralis considerablymore
architecturally ambitious than Medley's counterparttn Fredericton,as well as being in
an even more remote and impoverishedlocation. Consideringthe difficulties involved
in producing such a building in such aplace, it was aprodtgrousachievement.
The subsequentbuilding history of the cathedral,while by no meanswithout interestor
incident,canbe briefly summarizedhere.As mentionedearlier,anotherfire destroyedmuch
of St. John'sin July of 1892,including the roofs and woodwork of the whole cathedral,and
the arches,columnsand clerestoryof the nave(figure 6-20).Restorationbeganin January
of 1893,overseenby GeorgeGilbert Scott,probablyassistedby John Oldrid Scott,with
JamesWills againsupervisingthe work.leThe easternarm was re-consecrated on June28,
1895.Restorationwork on the nave,which had beencoveredwith aflatroof and usedas a
workshopduring the restorationof the easternarm,beganon June24,1902.The architect
was C.P.Hopson of Toronto (figure 6-217.zo The cathedraftemains today in much the same
stateasbeforethe 1892fire, i.e.,completeexceptfor the crossingtower and choir vault.
Like Edward Feild and Sir George Gilbert Scott, TheEcclesiologist did not live to
seethe completion of the cathedral in which ithad taken such an early interest. It
ceasedpublication in 1868,citing "the growing pre-occupationsof thosewhosepens
have for so long chiefly kept it alive."2tTheir words (quoted in Chapter Four) proved
prophetic,however:the cathedral,byvirtue of its "durability and solid size,aswell as its

18.0n theAngelChoir,seeNicolaColdstream,
TheDecorated
Sh,le:
Architecture
and )rnament 1240-1360,London:
1994,pp.28-31.
19.WoodandScott,p.2.
20.rbid.
2I. "ToOurReaders",The Ecclesiologist,volume p.315.
26,1868.
t6/
re
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

unmistakable English and authenticated charactef' continues to representthe Church

of England"very creditably" (figure 6-221."
The completionof the Cathedralin St. John'sseemedto setthe tone for anumber of
more than usually ambitious Anglican church buildings in the late nineteenthcentury.
One of the most original is the Church of the Holy Redeemer,Spaniard'sBay. In 1888,
the St. John'snewspaperTheEveningMercuryreported that construction of a new church
was about to begin, and that contributions were being solicited.23
Holy Redeemeris far from atypicalwooden Anglican church in severalrespects.The
west front boastsa twin-towered fagade- the only Anglican church of the nineteenth
century in Newfoundland to do so (figure 6-23). There is ample English medieval
precedentfor this (Lincoln, Cathedral,York Minster, BeverleyMinster, and many others),
but Holy Redeemeralso has spireson the towers, for which English models are rather
rare (Lichfield Cathedral).The placementof the towers forward of the plane of the fagade
is also unusual, as are the round clerestorywindows in a building otherwisefenestrated
with lancets(three tall lancetsin the apse,paued lancetselsewhere).Notwithstanding
theseunusual features,the influence of Ecclesiologyis evidentin the clearseparationof
nave,aisles,and chancelon the exterior (the last differentiatedby the termination of the
aisles),and the monumentalopentimber roof on the interior (figure 6-24).The spandrels
of the nave arcadeare not open timberbut solid wall, afeaturethat Holy Redeemershares
with Brigus and very few other Newfoundland Anglican churches.The adaptabrlityand
elasticity of English Christian architecturethat so impressedSir George Gilbert Scott
(seeChapterFour) are in abundantevidenceat Spaniard'sBay.

St. Luke's Church in Newtown, south-eastof Greenspondon BlackheadBay on

the Bonavista Penninsula,was begun in 1892.2a Previously,the congregationhad met
in a small school-chapel,but by the 1890s,according to the DiocesanMagazine,this
was proving hopelesslycramped.2sThe cornerstoneof the current church was laid on
December29, 1892.As the men constructing the church were fishermen,not full time
carpenters,construction could only take place during the winter beforethe spring seal

22."ColonialChurchArchitecture.
ChapterVI. S.John's
Cathedral,
Newfoundland",The Ecclesiologist,vohtme
8, 1848,
p.278.
23.TheEuening Mercury,voltmeVll, number197, August 25,1888.
24.Historical
informationonthechurchatNewtown istakenfromPeterG.Hall,HistoryofSt,LukebAnglicanChurch
Newtown1895-1995. Writtento markthehundredth anniversary
of thechurch'sconsecration,
it drawsfroma
numberof primarysources,in particulartheDiocesanMagazine
andtheminutesof congregational andvestry
meetings.
25.Hall,p.2.
r6B
ffi
NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC IN THE LATERNINETEENTHCENTURY

6-22(A)- AnglicanCathedralof St.JohntheBaptist,St.John's

Newfoundland, viewof cathedral
andnarrowsbeyond.
6-23(B) - HolyRedeemer, Spaniard's
Bay,Newfoundland,
exteriorfromsouth-west.
6-24(C)- HolyRedeemer, Spaniard's
Bay,Newfoundland,
interiorto east.

t69
x
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC
I

hunt, and in late spring, between the end of the seal hunt and the beginning of the
summer cod fishery. A11of the labour was voluntary savefor one professionalbuilder
(appointedasbuilding foreman)named Thomas Granger.26 Thus squeezedbetweenthe
harvesting of sealsand cod, the building seasonamountedto atotalof about two months
per yeaL27The church was consecratedby Llewellyn Joneson August 7, 1895.28 The
-
church was finally completed(savefor someinterior fittings and the bell) in 1900 "as
fine and imposing a church as any in the diocese",according to the DiocesanMagazine.2e
The original tower was replacedwith a rephcafirst in 1937, and again in 1985.The roof
was replacedin 1943.In 1981,the clapboardsiding (by then eighty-sixyearsold) was
replaced - happily with identical six-inch clapboard,synthetic substituteshaving been
consideredand rejected.30
"Fine and imposing" the church remains,its silhouetteproviding a strikingly crisp,
geometricfoil to the rugged, irregular landscape.The visual impressionfrom a distance
is of a pyramrdalassemblyof massedmounting upward, terminating in a slender,pointed
spire (figure 6-25).In good Ecclesiologicaltradition, the nave,aisles,and west tower all
form distinctly separateparts of the pyramid. The chancelis marked externally by the end
of the aislesand the use of tall lancet windows (figure 6-26).The windows on the aisles
and tower areall lancet,with curved, triangular windows in the clerestory.The interior
of the naveis dominatedby a slenderskeletonof carpentry,the extremitiesof which are
markedby solid aisleand clerestorywalls (figure 6-27).The chamferedsquarenavepiers
and open timber of the nave arcadeand ceiling (figure 6-28)also follow Ecclesiological
doctrine, aswell asabundantNewfoundlandprecedent(asseenin ChapterFive).St. Luke's
is a testamentto the enduring influence of Ecclesiologyin Newfoundland.
The Church of St. James,King's Cove (figure 6-29),was begun in December of
1896.3tIt replacedan earlier church, begun in 1815,which had becometoo small for
the congregation. According to the DiocesanMagazine,the incumbent, William Kirby,
drove in the first nail of the foundation. As at Newtown, the majority of the labour was

26.rbid.
27.Ibid,p.3,quoted fromtheDiocesan Magazi'ne.
28.Ibid,p.4.
2!. Ibid,p.6.
30.Ibid,p. 10.
31.Historicalinformationon St.Jamesis takenfromRogerK. Brown,St,JamesAnglicanChurch,King'sCoue,
Newfoundland,Igg8,published anniversary
tomarktheone-hundredth ofthechurch.
oftheconsecration Aswith
onNewtown,
PeterHall'sresearch fromprimarydocuments
Brownhasdrawnextensively survivingin theRectory
1p 11).
t/0
il
 6-256) - St.[uke's,Newtown,
Newfoundland, exteriorfromwest.
6-26(B) - St.Luke's,Newtown,
Newfoundland, exteriorfromsouth.
6-27n - St.Luke's, Newtown,
Newfoundland, interiorto east.
5-28(D) - St.[uke's,Newtown,
Newfoundland, detailof naveroof.
6-29$) - King'sCove, Newfoundland,
fromthesouth-west.

t/l
ffi
 NEWFOUNDLANDGOTHIC
i
I

provided free by local men betweenfishery seasons.The professionalbuilder in charge

was Caleb Marshall, builder of St. Andrew, Brooklyn (discussedin Chapter Five). The
old church was demolishedafterthe Easterservicetnl897, and the new one consecrated
on September15,1898.
St. Jamesconsistsof a nave with aisles,south porch, and chancel(figure 6-30).The
tower is placedat the corner createdbythe junction of the chanceland south aisle- an
unusual arrangement,but the sameone that Marshall had used in Brooklyn. According
to Roger Brown, the designfor the church was the responsibilityof William Kirby, the
clergyman.3zThis is not particularly unlikely, consideringthe examplessetby William
Grey and J.J. Curling, but the placementof the tower suggeststhat Marshall himself
had considerableimpact on the design. Perhapsthe most likely affarrgement,here and
elsewherein Newfoundland, was a collaboration between a clergyman who knew
Ecclesiologicalprinciples from books (and possibly other buildings) and a carpenter
who knew them from having built Anglican churcheselsewhere.The direct or indirect
influence of William Grey can be detectedin the trrangular-headedwindows, the mixing
of horizontal and diagonal clapboarding,and the strip work articulating the bay divisions
of the aislesand clerestory,afeature which can be seenat Forteau and Portugal Cove.
The interior of St.James(figures6-31,6-32&6-33) is a faithful Ecclesiological
structure
of open timber arcadingand roofing, without the flat ceiling currently imposed upon
Marshall's earlier work at Brooklyn. Once again, echoesof Ecclesiology,Instrumenta
Ecclesiastica,and Nether Peover abound - although by this time it is likely more
accvrateto saythat the immediate sourcesof inspiration are earlierAnglican churchesin
Newfoundland, rutherthan the more distant English modelsand theoreticalguidelines.
Not all of the Anglican church-building in Newfoundland at this time was on the
monumentalscaleof Spaniard'sBay,Newtown, andKing's Cove.In the town of Trinity
is the oldest of only two surviving examplesof what was a new building type in late
nineteenth-centuryNewfoundland: the mortuary chapel. Intended specifically for
funeral services rather than rcgular Sunday ones, the Church of England Mortuary
Chapelwas built in 1880.33 Nothing is known aboutthe designeror builder, but whoever
was responsible for this building was clearly famrhar with Ecclesiologicalprinciples. The
exterior (figure 6-34)is a simple wooden Gothic box, with lancet windows, a steeply
pitched roof, and a centrally placed south entranceporch. A simple, pointed belfry

p. 1!.
i2. Brown,
andLabrador
of Newfoundland
Foundation
33.Heritage Designation
Property Trinity- Mortuary
FileM-038-008,
Chapel.
Vt
m
 6-30(A)- St.James, King'sCove,
Newfoundland,fromthesouth-east.
6-31(B) - St.James, King'sCove,
Newfoundland, interiorto east.
6-32(C)- St.James, King'sCove,
Newfoundland, detailof arcading.
6-33(D) - St.James, King'sCove,
Newfoundland, chancel.
6-34(E) - Churchof England Mortuary
Chapel,
Trinity,Newfoundland, exterior.

IR
D
 6-35(A)- ChurchofEngland MortuaryChapel, Trinity,
Newfoundland, interior.
6-36(B) - TheAlexander Chapelof All SoulsMortuary
Chapel,Bonavista,Newfoundland, exterior.
6-37(C)- TheAlexander Chapel
ofAll SoulsMortuary
Chapel,Bonavista,Newfoundland, interior.
6-38(D) - St.Paul'sChurch,Trinity,Newfoundland,
exteriorfromwest.

IT,
ffi
NEWFOUNDLANDGOTHIC IN THE LATERNINETEENTHCE\TLIR\-

rises abovethe gableof the porch. The interior (figure 6-35) is a completelyconvincing
Ecclesiologicalchurch in miniature, with an open timber roof, separuteseatingareasfor
congregationand choir, raised chancel and altar, and simple altar rail.
The Alexander Chapel of All Souls Mortuary Chapel, in the Church of England
Cemeteryin Bonavista,was begun in 1896.3a The chapel is named after William
Alexander, alocal merchant who was the chapel'sbenefactor.The builder was a local
craftsman named Ronald Strathie,whose pay was fifteen centsper hour. The exterior
of Alexander Chapel (figure 6-36) is similar in plan to the mortuary chapelin Trinity,
being a Gothic oblong with a cenftal entranceporch (this time on the north). The west
window, however,is a much more ambitious affair, with graduatedtriplelancetsbeneath
three roundels,the whole enclosedby a pointed hood-mouldwith decorativelabel stops.
A bellcoterisesabovethe pinnacle of the west gable;strangely,there is no sign of a bell.
The interior of Alexander Chapel (figure 6-37)is an intimate but remarkablyambitious
space.The spatial configuration is the sameas Trinity, with separateareasfor seating,
choir, and chancel.There is no chancelrail, although that areais raisedon two stepswith
the altar raised on an additional step.Transversearchesin the roof, which are continued
by respondsrunning down the wall to the floor, createaregular, bayJike rhythm. The
pattern of the roof trussesis repeated agatnstthe east wall. The most extraordinary
feature of the interior - and it is assuredly extraordinary in a chapel of so modest a
size- is the hammerbeamroof. This form, which is associatedwith some of the most
sumptuous medieval interiors (most notably Westminster Hall), was given parttcular
praiseby Frank Wills, in his analysisof English medievalarchitecturc andits application
to modern (i.e.,mid-nineteenthcentury) needs.3s Though rarelyusedin Newfoundland
(presumablydue to the expenseand the high level of carpentry skill required),no form
could announcea building's affiliation with the English Middle Ages more eloquently.
This studybeganwith an examinationof St. Paul'sChurch at Trinity, built 1814-18, so
it is perhapsfitting that it shouldendby exploringthat building's successor,begunin 1892
(figure 6-38)."New" St. Paul'sis arguablythe most architecturally ambitious- and certainly
the best-documenteddiscoveredso far - of the late nineteenth-centurywooden Gothic
churchesof Newfoundland.The seedsof its birth wereplantedin the report of a Building
Committeethat had beenformedon February7,1883,to report on "the dilapidatedstate

J4. Heritage
Foundation
of NewfoundlandandLabrador,
File# A-017-021,
Bonavista- AlexanderChapelofAll Souls
MortuaryChapel.
35.FrankWills,Ancient
EnglishArchitecture
and itsPrinciples,
Appliedto thelVantsof theChurch,
at thePresent
Day,NewYork:1850,p.4J. t/5
re
 l

NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

of the fabrrcof St. Paul'sChurch."36St. Paul's,it will be rememberedfrom ChapterOne,

was essentiallya galleriedpreachingbox completedin 1818,to which a chancelhad been
addedin 1865.This building hadbeenallowedto fall into a stateof considerubledisrepair,
andby 1883it was reportedthat the roof, window frames,clapboard,tower, and interior
plasteringall neededextensivework. Consequently,during a meetingheld on January28,
1884,the Committee "deemedit advisableto build a new church."37
For reasonsthat are not clear,virtually nothing happenedfor the next four years,
savefor the discussionof how the rights of pewholderswould be preservedin the new
church.38Finally, in 1888,a meeting of the congregationwas held to discussplans for
the new building. 3eNo architect was hired. Instead, "after a considerableamount of
discussion",it was proposedthat the Committee adopt a designobtainedfrom the Rev.
John Ambrose, of Digby, Nova Scotia,which had aheadybeenusedfor the church there.
It was proposedthat the Rev. Ambrose be paid the sum of fifty dollars for the use of these
plans, which were evidently aheadyin the hands of the Committee.
Progressremained excruciatingly slow.In 1888,a Building Committee was appointed
to overseethe construction.aoIn 1889,the Bishop'sapproval was sought and obtained.
Shortly after,plans were made to mobilizelabour for the transporting of stone for the
foundation from Salmon Cove (now ChampneysEast) to Trinity, andthe Committee
noted with alarmthat "some peoplewanted to be pard." It was decidedto accepthelp
from outsidethe community, since "thatmight tend to shameinterestedparties and make
them come forward and do the work for free."al
The next stepwas to find a builder. The Committee'sfirst choice,not unreasonably,was
D.B. Grant, who had built the chancelof the old church in 1865and was still, apparently,in
activepractice.The chairman of the Committeewas askedto write to Grant in Novemberof
1891;by the following weekly meetingno reply had beenreceived,althoughthe Committee
remainedconfidentthat he would acceptthework. By the week afterthat, it was announced
that Grant had declinedthejob.a2No reasonwasgiven.A Mr. Pittman was approachednext,

36.TrinityHistorical Archives:
Society St.Paul's
Church. 1:Minutes
series 1.02.
ofVestry
37.Minutes January
ofVestry, 28,1884.
38.Minutes February
ofVestry, 4,1884.
39.Minutes March21,1888.
ofVestry,
40.Minutes March22,1888.
ofVestry
41.MinutesofVestryJune13,1889.TheCommittee'sresolve labourisperhaps
toobtainvolunteer as
notasunreasonable
to modern
it appears considering
eyes, readyandwillingsupply
theapparently andKing'sCove.
of it atNewtown
42.Minutes November
ofVestry, 5,I2 & 19,1891.
t/6
t
NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC IN THE LATERNINETEENTHCENTURY

who was atthattime foremanof a building projectat Ireland'sEye,on the north-westsideof

Trinity Bay.Mr. Pittman "did not appearanxiousto undertakework in Trinity", andstated
that "he could not undertakethe work for lessthan $1.20per day."a3
More seriously,as far
asthe Committeewas concerned,Pittman insistedon being engagedthroughout the whole
winter, a demandwhich resultedin his being eliminated from consideration.aa St. Paul's
may havebeenthe grandestAnglican church in Newfoundland sincethe cathedraI, but
nearlyeightyears afterthe decisionhad beenmadeto build it, the Committeehad not yet
found anyonewilling to undertakethe work.
Notwithstanding the Committee'sinability to get the project launched,fundraising
was proceedingat an impressivepace.InApril of 1890,the Committee reportedthat the
"Ladies of St. Paul'sChurch Committee" had raisedthe formrdablesum of $1,313.26.
The Vestry meeting, however, "heard with surprise" that the ladies' money was to be
withheld until the exterior of the building was complete.asThe Committee askedthe
ladiesto reconsider.They did so - slowly - and in April of the following year aletter to
the Committee from one IsabelCole confirmed the transferof $1,401.15 (interesthad
accumulated)to the New Church Building Fund. Isabel Coles letter suggeststhat the
transferwas not achievedwithout someacrimony:
...it is not... any intimidationor threatsthat induced[inJ us this conclusion
but simplyand
entirely[a daireJforpeaceand quietness and with a hopethat now,by our assistance, themen
will no longerfindanypretextfornot doingtheirpart.a6
By the end of the year, abreakthrough had, at long last, been made. Just beforethe
New Year, the Committee reported having carciedthemotion:
...that Mr CalebMarshallbeengagedto erectthenewchurchat therateof $38.00per month,
the work to bepushedforward asspeedilyaspossiblearterthe Iu of March so long asmoney
and lumberpermit.aT
Marshall, as builder of the church at Brooklyn (and soon the one at King's Cove),
was eminently qualified for the job. It was further carned that Marshall's son, David
Marshall,be engagedas SecondCarpenter atthe ruteof $1.00per day.

43.Minutes
ofVestry,
November 26,I89L
44.Minutes
ofVestry,
November 30,1891.
45.Minutes
ofVestry,
April21,18!0.
45.Minutes
ofVestry,
April15,18!1.
47.Minutes
ofVestry,
December 30,1891.
VI
re#
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

March 1 duly arrived, and the project's bad luck continued: Caleb Marshall was
ill and in quarantine.a8By late April, however, Marshall was well enough to attend
Committee meetings,and work was underway.The following spring, work was evidently
proceedingsatisfactorilyenough that amotion was carried "that CalebMarshall & Son
be kept at work as long as there is work to do and money to pay wages."ae
The first service
had aheady been held in the incomplete church the previous Christmas. The finished
church was consecratedon November 13,1894.s0
It is not known whether the architect of St. Paul's, StephenC. Earle (1839-1913),
ever knew that his design for Digby (which had akeady been re-usedat Windsor, Nova
Scotia)was re-usedin Newfoundland. According to the Biographical DictionaryofAmerican
Architects,Earlewasbasedin Worcester,Massachusetts , andbuilt churchesand other public
buildings over the courseof his career.Among his major works were the Church of All
Saintsand the St. Matthias lpiscopal Church, both in Worcester;and Grace Episcopal
Church, Boston.According to Curtis Dahl, author of
the architect'sunpublishedbrography,Earle was born
a Quaker andbecamea convert to Episcopalianism,a
fact which would help to explain his closeprofessional
tiesto that denomination.sr His designfor the Anglican
church in Digby was producedin time for that building
to be completedby 1878and consecratedtwo years
laters2After their purchasefrom the Rev. Ambrose in
Digby, and subsequent useby CalebMarshall in Trinity,
Earle's original drawings for the church disappeared
from view until a more than usually thorough cleaning
effort in the 1990suncoveredthem in the upper levels
of the tower.s3Today they are in the Trinity Historical
SocietyArchives- signedby the architect,and clearly
labeled"Trinity Church, Digby, Nova Scotia."
6-39- St.Paul'sChurch,
Trinity,Newfoundland, 48.Minutes
ofVestry
March17,1892.
fromthesouth-west.
49.Minutes ofVestryApril20,1893.
50.FiftiethAnniuersaryof theConsecration program,Trinity
of St.Pauls Church,Trinity, 1894-1944,Jubilee
Historical Archives,
Society Miscellaneous File1.69,St.Paul'sChurch.
51.Atypescriptof Earle's
biography isheldin theTrinityHistorical Archives,
Society File1.69,St.Paul's
Miscellaneous
Church.
52.LeslieMaitland,"significantExamples of theGothicRevival Historical
Stylein CanadianArchitecture", Sitesand
Monuments Boardof.Canada AgendaPaper(Supplementary), 1!!0.
53.Personal communication withJames Miller,Archivist,
TrinityHistorical Archives,
Society July2005.
ilB
il
NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC IN THE LATERNINETEENTHCENTURY

The church asbuilt (figure 6-3g)consistsof a navewith flanking aisles,two entrance

porches at the west end of the nave, and a steeply pitched nave roof above somewhat
shalloweraisleroofs,with a small clerestorysqueezedin between.The chancel,flanked
by a vestry, has aseparate,lower roofline. The tower is positioned at the south junction
betweenthe chanceland nave- just as at Marshall's earlier church at Brooklyn and his
later one at King's Cove. Horizontal and vertical stripwork, painted in a darker colour,
aftrculatesarchitectonically significant divisions such as silllevels, the point of springing
of the fagadelancets, andbay divisions in the aisles.Most of the fenestration consistsof
lancets within trtangular frames. Alarge rose window incorporating a six-pointed star
occupiesthe west fagadeabovetriple lancets.
The interior of St. Paul's(figures 6-40 & 6-41)has the familiar open timber arcade,
this time inflated to a monumental scale,with clerestoryand hammerbeamroof. The
main arcades,requiring beams far too thick to be easilybent into the shapeof an arch,
are constructed with the ingenious expedient of laminating severalthin -and therefore
pliable - boards together (figure 6-42). Among the most impressiveinterior details are
the doors to the west porches(figure 6-43), which beautifully adaptthe Ear$ English
Gothic conventions of attachedshaft, moulded caprtal,and moulded arch to wood.

6-40(A)- St.Paul's
Church,Trinity,
Newfoundland,
naveinterior.
6-41(B) - st.Paul's
Church,Trinity,
Newfoundland,
navearcade.

t/9
Xi;i
 6-42(A)- St.Paufs
Church,Trinity,
Newfoundland.
navearcadedetail.
5-43@) - St.Paul's
Church,Trinity,
Newfoundland,detailof
porch.
doorto north-west

A comparison between the drawings and the church as built shows that Marshall
followed Earle'splan closely,but not exactly (figures 6-44,6-45 &6-46). Marshall has
addedan additional lateral porch on the north sideof the fagade,and placedhis entrances
laterally (i.e., on the west side).Both use a mix of horizontaland diagonal clapboarding,
although Marshall doesnot usevertical boarding in the lower wall. The south elevations
(figures 6-47 & 6-48) are virtually identical, savefor the alterations in the porch and
Marshall's use of exclusivelyhorizontal boarding. The details of the tower (figures 6-49
& 6,50) are also faithful to Earle's design. Earle's longitudinal and transversesections
(figures 6-51& 6-52)were also followed closelyby Marshall (figures 6-40 & 6-41),except
for the slightly more elaborateeast end intended by Earle. Marshall's clever expedient
for the nave arcadesseemsto havebeenhis own.
Taking the architect'snationality as a cue, the small amount ofunpublished scholarly
commentary on this design has tended to place it within an American context. Leslie
Maitlandsa has looked for its origins in the Stick Style popular in the United Statesin
the third quarter of the nineteenthcentury, while Curtis Dahl has calledrt"a carefully
studied, highly sophisticated, and graceful design in the best tradition of American
wooden Gothic."ssThe thin stripwork supports the connection to the Stick Style, as

54.Maitland,1990.
55.Dahl,p.55.
tB0
r{-l-ry
6 a+ (A) -'ti'initv Church,Digbv.NovaScotia,drarvinsof rvest
faqadebv StephenIiarlt.
lrinitvllistoricrl
Societv
'\rchilcs: (lltu'ch.
St,IraLrl's l0:plans
Ser.ics
l u n dd l a r i i n g s .
(r a5 (ts)- St.Paul'sChurch,Trinitr.Ngvfbundland,
rveslfaEadc.
6-+6 (C)- St.Paul'sChulch,Trinin':\e*'frxrndland.fhrm thc
south.
(r-47(D) - TrinitvChurch,Digbr',\iovaScotia.dran'iugol'
southelevationll'Stephenliarle.
'I'finit\ (llrLrrch.
llistorical
Societvr\rchivcs:
St,Paul's l0:plalrs
Ser.ics
lnd dluuings.
'l'rinin:,
6-+u (Fl)* St.Paul'sChulch, \er,ifoundland.from the
north.

tBl
I
 .**

lB1
ri
NEWFOUNDLANDGOTHIC IN THE LATERNINETEENTHCENTURY

doesthe pseudo-timber frame appearunce of the tower. Dahl points to Grace Episcopal
Church, Boston, as apafticular influence, citing featuressuch asthe flat exterior surfaces
given texture by clapboard, the trtangular headedwindows , and the tall tower with a
broach spire. In addition to the American context, however,it is crucial to appreciate
the Anglican, Ecclesiologicalcontext thathad akeadybeenpresentin Newfoundland for
nearly half a century. In fact, every featurecited by Dahl has Ecclesiologicalprecedent.
The broad, flat wall surfacesenlivened by varied clapboardingare, arguably,a wooden
equivalentto the High Victorian designsof William Butterfield - and were akeadyused
in Newfoundland by William Grey in the early 1850sat Forteau and Portugal Cove.
The triangular-headedwindows were also frequently used by Grey, and rcmained in
use in Newfoundland long after his departure. A tall tower with abroach spire was
planned for GeorgeGilbert Scott's cathedral,and although it was neverbuilt, the form
was dispersedas far as Greenspondand Birchy Cove.Moreover,Earlehimself, both as
an Episcopalian convert and an architect of Episcopalian churches,would have been
fully awareof Ecclesiologicalprinciples that had been circulatedby The New York
EcclesiologicalSociety(of which Frank Wills, designerof Christ Church Cathedraland
St. Anne's Chapelin Fredericton,was a founding member)and their periodical, TheNew
YorkEcclesiologist.s6
While St. Paul's may share some featureswith the Stick Style, its
affinity with Ecclesiology- both the English theory and Newfoundland practice- were
aryuably more meaningful to its Newfoundland patrons.
Looking at the 1818and 1892versionsof St. Paul'sin Trinity (figures l-3 &6-39),the
contrastbetweenthesetwo Anglican churchesspeaksvolumesabout the progressof the
Gothic Revival in Newfoundland during what amountedto no more than the spanof a
singlelifetime. J. Mordaunt Crook's claim - that by 1867the Ecclesiologistshad altered
the appearanceof every Anglican church in the world - may have been abit premature
for Newfoundland.sTAs William Grey had pointed out in TheEcdesiologist,the latest
fashionsalwayscamea little late to the colony.ttBy the time Trinity's new St. Paul'swas
consecratedin 1894,however,this distant and difficult island - "the most inhospitable
upon which the Caucasianrace has permanently settled", accordingto TheEcclesiologisfe
- seemedto have caughtup.

55.0n thespread
ofEcclesiology
in theUnitedStates,
seePhoebeB,Stanton,
TheGothicReuiualE AmericanChurch
Architecture:An
Episode i,nTaste1840-1856,Baltimore andLondon:1968.
57.J.MofiauntCrook,
TheDilemmaofStyle, London: 1987,p.63.
58.Grey,"TheEcclesiology
of Newfoundland,"
59."Colonial
ChurchArchitecture.
Chapter
VI [sic.]S.John'sCathedral,
Newfoundland.."
TheEcclesiologist,volume
8,
1848,p.279. rBl
re
 re
(oncludon

From the simple,historically inaccurateGothic of TWillingateto the sophisticated

il
ffi assuranceof the second(1892)church at Trinity, Newfoundland Gothic followed
a trajectory that, to a point, mirrored developmentsin England. The buildings
discussedin ChapterOne (Harbour Grace, St. Thomas' in St. John's,TWillingate,
Quidi Vidi, and the now demolishedchurchesat Trinity and Fogo)were nominally
Gothic in style,but Gothic in a superficial,historically uninformed sense.Like
contemporaryCommissioners'Gothic churchesin England, they displayedno
understandingof medieval Gothic as a structural or spatial system;in this early
versionof the Revival, Gothic is conceivedmerely as a decoratlelayer of pointed
arches,pinnacles,andcrenellationsthat may be appliedto any architecturalbody.
In England, this phaseof the Gothic Revival endedwith the arrival of Augustus
Welby Pugin and the EcclesiologicalSocietyin the secondhalf of the 1830s.From
that point on, Gothic was fueledby a firm belief in its moral superiority and founded
I on a sophisticatedunderstandingof medievalprototypes.
This new understandingof Gothic arrived in Newfoundland with Bishop Edward
Feild tn1844. Feild arrived as the Church of England was attemptingto addressa crisis
in its colonial affairs, particularly in Newfoundland. Surrounded (as he believed)by
ignorance, decadence,and Romanism, Feild neededto assertthe presenceand values
of the Church of England in what was seenas an increasinglyhostile environment.
Supportedintellectually by the EcclesiologicalSociety, and frnancially by the Society
for the Propagationof the Gospel in Foreign Parts,Feild usedarchitectureas one of his
weaponsin the fight againstthe moral debasementof Newfoundland. The disastrousfire
of 1846,and the unexpectedwindfall of relief money divertedto the cathedralbuilding
fund, gaveFeild the opportunity he neededto build a lasting and very public testament
to Anglican High Church values.In GeorgeGilbert Scott,he found the ideal architectfor
the cathedral.Scottwas both completelyfluent in the visual languageof Gothic and fully
committed to the principle that it was England'snational style. Scott's cathedral,which
despitenumeroussetbacksstill standslargelyas its architectintended,firmly established
tB5
re
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

the languageof EcclesiologicalGothic in Newfoundland. Like its architectural and

ecclesiasticalcousin, Bishop John Medley's cathedralin Fredericton,New Brunswick,
it was acknowledgedby TheEcclesiologist
to be a fully satisfactoryembodiment of current
architectural theories,and a worthy representationof the Mother Country and her
establishedChurch in the remote colony of Newfoundland.
Driven by a deep-seatedfear of the colony's large Roman Catholic majority and
their proactive,proselytrzingpriesthood(in particular Bishop Michael Fleming), Feild
conducteda slowbut determinedcampaignto spreadAnglican influenceby pepperinghis
hugediocesewith Anglican clergymenand Gothic churches.One of the first areasto be
affectedwas the extremelyremote geographicaland spiritual frontier ofLabrador, where
William Hay's churchat St.FrancisHarbour was followedby William Grey'sbuildingsat
Forteauand Battle Harbour. Of these,only one (Battle Harbour) survives,one (Forteau)
is known only from a single nineteenth-centurydrawing and an early twentieth-century
photograph,and virtually nothing is known of the third exceptwhat canbe inferred from
the goodreputationandexpertiseof its architect.Evenfrom thesefragments,however,it is
clearthat the latestEcclesiologicaltheory,asput forward in TheEcclesiologist
and the pattern
book InstrumentaEcclesiastica,wasbeing carefully studied andngorously apphed,as far as
meansandmaterialsavailableallowed.An unmistakablyEnglish,Anglican presencewas
being systematicallyspreadto someof the remotestparts of the colony.That St. James'
at Battle Harbour looks very little like Scott'scathedralin St. John's- and evenlesslike
CanterburyCathedral- is besidethe point. It is the entireinterconnectedweb ofbuildings,
theories,drawings, andEcclesiologicalideologythat make St. James'everybit asEnglish
and Gothic as, for example,the medievalchurch of St. Michael, Long Stanton.
Gothic churchescontinuedto proliferatethroughout Feild'sepiscopate,which Shane
O'Dea hascalled"the greatera of NewfoundlandAnglicanism."l Some,like St.Andrew's
at Brooklyn, were small but exquisitelydetailed;others,like St. George'sat Brigus, were
relatively large and architecturallyambitious. Still others,like St. John the Evangelist
in Topsail, were simple,unassuming,honestexamplesof unsophisticatedbut sound
carpentry.The stamp of Ecclesiologyis neverthelessunmistakably on all of them. Like
their English counterparts,Newfoundland builders had learned to adaptwhat were
believedto be the essentialsof their medievalprototypesto modern needsand abilities.
Having done so, English Gothic Revival architects continually sought to enlarge
their palette of forms. Newfoundland Gothic, however, settled into a more famrliar

1. "The Designof God'sPlace:St.George's

AnglicanChurch,Brigus",interpretive
textpanelon-siteat St.George's.
tB6
ffiI
NEWFOUNDLANDGOTHIC IN THE LATERNINETEENTHCE\TLIR)'

pattern. For all its sophistication,the fundamental architecturalelementsof the church

built at Trinity in 1892(Ecclesiologicallycorrect planning, massing, and details;the
use of both horizontal and dtagonal clapboarding;triangular-headed windows) had all
been used in the small and remote church at Forteau, Labrador, forty years earlier.
Inspired by the writings of A.J.B. BeresfordHope and the buildings of architectssuch
as Butterfield,Street,and William Burges,High Victorian Gothic of the later nineteenth
century in England becameincreasinglyeclectic,experimental, and, relativeto its earlier,
more imitative phase,unrecognrzable.By contrast,Newfoundland Gothic evolvedonly
graduallyand slightly to a greatersophisticationand scalein using essentiallythe stylistic
vocabulary developedby William Grey in the 1850s.
This should not come as a surprise.High Victorian architecturein England carried
the immenseburden of being expectedto createa distinctive and definitive nineteenth-
century style. As the century drew to a close,architectsand critics such as George
Aitchison (1825-1910) despairedover what they consideredto be the era'sfailure to match
the achievementof greatcivlhzationsof the past- that is, the creationof its own unique
architectural style.2While this seemsslightly absurd to modern eyes- no one who is
architecturally literate could ever mistake Butterfield'sA11Saints,Margaret Street,or
Scott'sSt. PancrasHotel, for anything built in any erabu;tthe Victoian- it reflectsthe
profound intellectual and artistic restlessnessof the Victorian architecturalcommunity.
No such restlessness existedin Newfoundland, where Gothic had a far easierjob to do.
The objectivein Newfoundland was to assimilatethe principles of Ecclesiology,adapt
them as necessaryto the locally avallablematerial (wood) and to the skill level of local
craftsmen, and to produce buildings that would be clear and vivid statementsof the
principles they embodied.Those principles were initially establishedby Bishop Feild's
magnificent stonecathedralby 1850.The adaptationsrequired by local circumstances
were IaryeIyworked out by William Grey (with help from the EcclesiologicalSociety)
by the end of the 1850s,both by positive example(the wooden churchesat Forteau,
Portugal Cove, and Battle Harbour) and negativeexample(the short-livedstonechurch at
Hermitage Bay).Having arrived at a solution to the problem of creatrnga "national" style
of architecturein wood (seeChapter Five), later Newfoundland Gothic would include
increasedelaboration and scale,as well as adaptationto a slightly different building type
in the mortuary chapel,but little stylistic innovation. This is not a criticism; it merely
reflects the fact that much (possiblymost) architecturesimply expandsto fill the space
createdbyits patron'sneeds,no lessand no more.

2. 0n Aitchison'scommentaries, seeJ. MordauntCrook"Gropingin the Dark:George Aitchisonand the Burdenof

History",inThe Architect'sSecret:Victorian Criticsand theImage of Grauity,London:2003,II-34.
tB/
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 N E W F O U N D L A N DG O T H I C

That doesnot mean, however,thatlater Gothic churchesin Newfoundland are rote

repetitionsof a formula Iearnedfromthe EcclesiologicalSociety.No stylisticprescription
can fully account for the shapeof the tower at King's Cove, or the dado arcadein the
chancelat Brooklyn, the wooden door at Trinity, or the dramatrcallycrisp massingof the
faqadethat risesabovethe rocks and gravestones at Newtown. Indeed,the very method
of construction at many Newfoundland churches,in which apatdprofessionalforeman
oversaw ateam of local volunteers(seeChapter Six), virtually glraranteedthat no two
buildings would look exactly alike. They are a blend of imported doctrine and local
sensibilitiesand circumstances- as TheEcclesiologisr,in callingfor adaptatronof Gothic
to local needsin the colonies,acknowledgedthey would haveto be.3
Along with increasedscaleand sophistication,therewas a changein the professional
and social environmentsof later Newfoundland Gothic. Gone were the days when, as
TheEcclesiologistand William Grey had declared,the clergymanwould haveto be his own
architect.Trinity was designedby an experiencedprofessionalarchitectwho couldproduce
a completesetof working drawings.Its builderwasan accomplished craftsmanand church-
builder in mid-career.The image of J.J. Curling, bravely graftrngEcclesiologyonto the
hyperboreanwildernessin the teeth of adversity,seemsby this time out of date.There
was a changein the religious climate within the Anglican community as well. Edward
Feild hadhadto hide his sympathiesfor the CambridgeCamdenSociety,as if they were
a criminalorganrzation.The year afterTrinity was completed,D.W. Prowsereportedthat
Low Church clergymen,ubiquitousin the time of BishopSpencer,had becomerarein the
diocese.a The senseof adversityand strugglethat seemedto accompanyevery aspectof
church-building in Feild'stime had abated.Ecclesiologyhad won the day.
Any study suchasthe presentone follows certain avenuesof enquiry, andin so doing
encounterstantalizingopportunities for alternativepaths which maybe acknowledged,
but cannotbe pursued.Perhapsthe most compellingof thesein the presentcaseis the
tradition of Roman Catholic architecturewhich grew up in Newfoundland alongside
the Anglican one. In a sense,one of the most important buildings in the presentstudy
is the Roman Catholic Cathedral (now Basilica)in St. John's.The spectreof this
building had alarmedArchdeaconWix evenbeforea single stonewas laid; its growing
shadow filled Archdeacon Bridge with concern and contempt; its relatively rapid and
apparentlyeffortlessprogressdismayedBishop Feild ashe struggledto erecta comparably

3. Themajorexception
is Trinitrl theoneinstancein whicha designfrom elsewhere
wasimportedandexecuted
with
veryfewchanges.
4. Prowse,p.443.
IBB
ffi
NEWFOUNDLANDCOTHIC IN TI IE LATERNINETEENTHCE\TLIRY

monumentalAnglican rebuttal.Oncecomplete,it stoodas a mighty public symbolof the

presenceof the Roman Catholiccommunity in Newfoundland,asindeedit still does.sAs
discussedbriefly in ChapterFive, Newfoundland'sRoman Catholic architectureforged
its own distinctive identity, sometimesby following the Classicalleadof the Basilica
(as at the first cathedral atHarbour Grace or the parish church at Brigus), sometimes
by adopting its own unique and unmistakable Gothic idiom (at the current cathedralat
Harbour Grace andat St. Patrick'sin Carbonear).Clearly,architecturewasjust aspotent a
symbolof identity for Roman Catholicsasit was for Anglicans.A detailedunderstanding
of the aspirationsand sourcesof Catholic church-building in Newfoundland awaits a
closestudy of archival, periodrcal, and architectural evidencethat is doubtlessspread
acrossNewfoundland,Ireland, and Rome. Such an investigationwould certainly yield
rich rewards,and provide a fascinatingand illuminating counterpoint to the Anglican
story told here.
Similarly, Newfoundland is but one of many casestudiesthat could be undertaken
in the proliferation of Gothic throughout the British Empire. R.C. Carpenter'smodel
wooden church tn InstrumentaEcclesiastica was drawn not for Newfoundland or evenNew
Brunswick (where its influence was more strongly felt), but for Tristan da Cunha; the
seriesof articleson colonial church architecturein TheEcclesiologistincluded discussions
of Austraha and Calcutta aswell asNewfoundland and New Brunswick. The underlying
rationalefor all colonial Gothic was presumablythe same:Gothic was a visual language
that was recognrzably and demonstrably both Christian and English, to use George
Gilbert Scott'swords (seeChapter Four). Yet the local circumstancesof patronage,
economics,and craftsmanship,as well as the hugely varied social contextsinto which
colonial Gothic was introduced,havebeenexploredin almost none of theseplaces.The
sun may finally have set on the British Empire, but to this day it never setson English
Gothic. Many undoubtedlyextraordinary storieswait to be told.
Newfoundland Gothic is thus but one chapterin the much broader history of how a
partrcular archrtecturalstyle was spread and adaptedaround the world in the serviceof
a mighty imperial power and its EstablishedChurch. Thanks to unique geographical,
climatic, social, and economic challenges,the Newfoundland chapter is a tale full of
sound and fury (althoughI hope this book has affirmed the inapplicability of the rest of
Macbeth'sfamous line). It is a story still told by the pointed archesand spiresthat rise
abovethe arid rocks and turbulent waters of Newfoundland.

thereareRomanCatholicsin St.John's
5. Anecdotally, todaywhomaintainthat TheRooms- theenormousprovincial
archives/museum/art galIerythat nowdominatesthecity'sskyline- weresitedin their presentlocationspecifically
to diminishthevisualimpactandpresence of the Basilica. t89
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 re
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Gothic Revival Architecture: Relevant Studies

Megan Aldrich, GothicReuival,London: Phaidon Press,1994.
Paul Atterbury, Ed., A.W.N. Pugin:Masterof GothicReilttal,New Haven: Yale University
Press,1995.
Paul Atterbury and Clive Wainwright, Eds., Pugin:A GothicPassion,New Haven and
London: Yale University Press,1994.
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Gilpin to J.H. Parker",Architectural
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 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

Chris Brooks, TheGothicRevival,London: Phaidon Press,1999.

David Brownlee, TheLaw Courts:theArchitecture
of George
EdmundStreet,CambridgeMass.:
MIT Press,1984.
David Brownlee, "Victorian Office Practiceand Victorian Architecture: The Caseof Sir
Gilbert Scott," TheArtist's Workshop:
Studiesin theHistoryofArt 38, Washington, D.C.:
National Gallery of Art, 1993,156-173.
Gerald Carc,"Soane'sSpecimenChurch Designsof 1818:A Reconsideration",Arcltitectural
History,volume 16, 1973, 37-54.
Kenneth Clark, The GothicRevival:An Essayin theHistory of Taste,London: Constable,
1928.
David Cole, The Workof Sir GilbertScott,London: Architectural Press,1980.
J. Mordaunt Crook , TheDilemmaof Style,Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.
J. Mordaunt Crook, TheArchitectbSecret:VictorianCriticsandtheImageof Grauity London:
John Murray, 2003.
J. Mordaunt Crook, John Carterand theMind of the GothicRevival,London: W.S. Maney
& Son in associationwith the Societyof Antiquaries of London, 1995.
RebeccaDaniels and Geoff Brandwood, Ruskin& Architecture,Readrng:
Spire Books,
2003.
Roger Dixon and StefanMuthesius, VictorianArchitecture,London:Thames and Hudson,
t978.
Charles Eastlake, A History of the GothicRevival,first published 1872,re-published
American Life Foundation, 1975.
John Elliott, Ed., A Churchas it ShouldBe:the CambridgeCamdenSocietyand its Influence,
Stamford: ShaunTyas,2000.
Geoffrey Fisher, Gavin Stamp & others, Catalogueof theDrawingsCollectionof theRoyal
Instituteof British Architec*: TheScottFamtly,13-16.
J.M. Frew, "Gothic is English: John Cafier and the Revival of Gothic as England's
National Style",Art Bulletin,Vol. 64, 1982,pp. 315-19.
Michael Hall, Ed., GothicArchitecture
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Reading: Spire Books,
2002.
MichaelLewis, TheGothic
Revival,
London:ThamesandHudson,2002.
RhodriWindsorLiscombe,"Economy,CharacterandDurability:Specimen
Designsfor
the ChurchCommissioners,
1818",Architectural
History,volume13,1979,43-57.
t9B
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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barry Magrill, " 'Development'and Ecclesiologyin the Outpostsof the British Empire:
William Hay's Gothic Solutionsfor Church Building in Tropical Climates(1840-1890)"
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in Canada,YoI.29,Nos. 1,2,2004,
t5-26.
Michael McCarthy, The Originsof the GothicRevival,New Haven and London: Yale
University press,1987.
London: SPCK, 1961.
Michael Port, SixHundredNew Churches,
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to theReformation,London:J.H. Parker, 1818.
Conquest
Gavin Stamp,AnArchitectofPromise,Donnington: 2002.
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Paul Thompson, WilliamButterfield,London: Routledgeand K. Paul, 1971.
Christopher Webster,Ed.,'Tbmples...Worthyof His Presence':
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The Gothic Revival in Canada

Eric Arthur, Toronto:No Mean City, third edition revised by Stephen Otto, Toronto:
University of Torontopress,1986.
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Parksand Sites,ParksService,1980.
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Claude Bergeron, LArchitecturedesiglisesdu Quibec1940-1985,
l'Univers it6.Lav al, 1987.
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History,Toronto: Oxford University Press,1986.
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Architecture in Atlantic Canada

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 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

Leslie Maitland, "significant Examples of the Gothic Revival Style in Canadian

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Malcolm Thurlby, "St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, School and Convent in
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Robert Tuck, Churches
of NovaScotia,Toronto: The Dundurn Group, 2004.
Robert C. Tuck, GothicDreams:TheArchitectureof William CritchlowHarris, 1854-1913,
Charlottetown: ConfederationCentre Art Gallery, 1995.
H.W. Wood and Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, "Reports on the Anglican Cathedral", 1938.

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Cyril J. Byrne, Ed., Gentleman-Bishops
andFactionFighters:TheLettersof BishopsO Donel,
Lambert,Scallonand Otherlrish Missionaries,St. John's: JespersonPress, 1984.
Nicola Coldstream, TheDecoratedStyle:Architectureand Ornament1240-1360,
London:
1994.
J.B. Darcy, Fire upontheEarth: TheLife and TimesofBishopMichaelAnthonyFleming,O.S.F.,
St. John's:CreativePublishers,2003.
Pierre dela Ruffinidre du Prey, Hawksmoor's
LondonChurches,
Chicago and London:
Chicago University Press,2000
Eric Fernre, TheArchitecture
of NormanEngland,Oxford: Oxford University Press,2000.
JamesM. Fleming, .Sr.Patrick'sRoman CatholicParish and the Early Peopleof Carbonear
Newfoundland,Carbonear: 2002, 27-28.
M.F. Hearn and Malcolm Thurlby, "Previously UndetectedWooden Ribbed Vaults in
Medieval England", JournAlof theBritishArchaeological
Association,
CL,1997,48-58.
R.H. Jelf,Life of JosephJamescurling, soldierandPriest,oxford: 1910.
John P. Greene, BetweenDamnationand Starvation:Priestsand Merchantsin Newfoundland
Politics,1745-1855,
Montreal andKingston: McGill-Queen's University Press,1999.
Gordon Handcock, TheStoryof Tiinity, Trinity: 1997.
Ella Manuel. "Woody Point 1800-1900."Unpublished history of Woody Point,
Newfoundland, ca. 1970.
Rev. T. Mozley, Reminiscences,
Chieflyof Tbwns,Villagesand Schools,
Vol. II, secondedition
London: 1885.
John Newman and Nikolaus Pevsner,TlteBuildingsof England:Dorset,Harmondsworth:
1972.
Patrick o'Flaherty, old Newfoundland,
St. John's:Long BeachPress,1999.
/01
ffi
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

M.H. Port, Ed., TheCommissionsfor

BuildingFiftyNewChurches, London:LondonRecord
Society,1986.
D.V/.Prowse,z4HistoryofNewfoundland,originally publishedLondon:Macmillan and
Co., 1895; Portugal
re-published Cove:BoulderPublications,2002. i
OwsleyRobertRowley,TheAnglicanEpiscopate of CanadaandNewfoundland, Milwaukee
andLondon:A. R. Mowbray& Co.,1928.
JosephRykwert, OnAdam'sHousein Paradise: theldeaof thePrimitiveHut in Architectural
History,Cambridge, Mass.:MIT Press,1972.
Meyer Schapiro,'A Note on the Wall Stripsof SaxonChurches",LateAntique,Early
andMedieval
Christian Art, New York 1979,243-248.
Malcolm Thurlby, 'Aspects of the Architectural History of Kirkwall Cathedral",
Proceedings
oftheSocietyofAntiquaries
of Scotland,
Volume127,1997,855-888.
Malcolm Thurlby andYoshioKusaba,"The Naveof SaintAndrew at Steyning:A Study
ofVarietyin Designin Tkelfth-CenturyArchitecturein Britain",Gesta,Yol.XXX/2,
t991,t63-175.

204
*n
 re
lndex
AII chutthcsareChurchofEnglandunlessothenvise
rcted.
A
Aitddson, George 187
Ambrose,John 176,178

B
Barry Charles 8, 17,tH
Balton-on-Humber(England),St. Peter's 115
BanleHarbour(Labrador),St.James'ChurchN,21,132,133,134,135,185
Beresford
Hope,A.J.B. 5,48,60,63, 187
Bwerley Minster (England) 168
Birchy Cove (Newfoundland),St. Mary the Virgin 140,141
Bonavista(Newfounrlland),Alexaruler ChapelofAll SoulsMortuary Chapel 174,175
Bridge,Thomas 14,24,36,38,43,44,71,72,86,90,91,92,93, 100,188
Brigus (Newfoundland),St. George'sChurch 148,149,186
Brigus (Newfoundland),St. Patrick'sRoman Catholic Church 150
British ctitic, The 38, 39,44, 45, 46, 48, 71
Brooklyn (Newfoundland),St. Andrew's Chuch 146,147,149,172,186
Builder,The 79,120,121,150,
158,l5q 162
BuildingNerts,The 160,16I,162
Burges,William 187
Butterfield, Wiiliam 6, 27,M, 48, 60, 63, 66, 68, 82, 83, 104,107,l2l, 183,187

c
Cambridge CamclenSociety5,6,41,42,44,45,46,A,73,75,80,U,83,84,85,86,95,96,
97,188
Carbonear(Newfoundland),
St.James'Chutch 146,147
Carbonear(Newfounclland),
St.Patrick'sRomanCatholicChurch 153,155,189
RichardCromwell6,U,121,189
Carpenter,
Carter,John43
The79,120
CharchBuiklet
20,
I
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

ChurchBuildingCommission,
The 3,6,7,8
Curling,JosephJames139,140,141,154,I72, 188

D
Digby(NovaScotia),Trinity Church 178,181,182
Disney,H.P. 129,I30

E
Earle,Stephen178,180,181,182,183
EarlsBarton(England),A11Saints 115
Eastlake,Charles7
Society5, 6,8, 35,46,47,48,49,54,55,59,60,97,104,I09, Il4, lts, t2l, 123,
Ecclesiologrcal
146,150,151,
183,185,187,,188
The5,6,7,8,35,44,45,46,47,48,53,54,55,56,73,74,79,82,83,84,96,97,
Ecclesiologist, I0l,
109,109,110,111,n3, r14,r2l,123,124,126,130,131,136,140,142,
t50,153,757,167,
183,186,188,189

F
Feild,EdwardI0,20,21,22,47,75,77,78,79,80,81,82,83, 84,85,86,87,88,89,90,92,93,94,
95, 100,
101,108, 109,110,111,113,114,118,fig,120,125,126,r27,728,129,130,131,
133,
r34, 138,L39,l4l, r42, 144,146,148,150,151,157,158,167,185,186,187,188
Fleming,MichaelAnthony 14,34,35,36,81,93,186
Fogo(Newfoundland),St.Andrew'sChurch 25
Forteau(Labrador)128,l3L, 132,I33, t34, 136,I42, 172,183,186,187
(NewBrunswick),
Frederiction St.Anne'sChapel55,56,57,58, 59,6t,63,64,66,68,137,
L83
Fredericton(New Brunswick),ChristChurchCathedral60,61,62,63,L83

G.
Gibbs,James7, Il, 42, 43,60
Gifford, Algernon 128,129
William Ewart 53,87
Gladstone,
W.N. 17,18
Gosse,
Granger,Thomas 170
Grant,D.B. 10,lI,176
Greenspond (Newfoundland),
St.Stephen's
Church 142,I43

206
!.11:
 INDEX

Grey,Earl(Lord) 87,90,92,93,94,95,101,108,111
Grey,William 30,110,124,I25,126,127,131,I32,133,134,136,137,138,
141,142,144,I72,
183,186,187,188

H
HarbourGrace(Newfoundland),RomanCatholicCathedralof the ImmaculateConception
t52
HarbourGrace(Newfoundland),
St.Paul'sChurch 14,15,16,65,127,I38,144,145,146
Harvey,John 73,87
Hawkins,Ernest92, lLO,144
Hay,William 109,110,111,124,I25,126,130,131,136,154,186
Hermitage(Newfoundland),St.Saviour'sChurch t36, L37,138
Hopson,C.P. 100,t04,167
Howley,William 70,89
Hudson,James70
Hulme(England),St.Wilfrid's Church 88,89,90,101
Hutchinson,George 129,130,I39

I
Illustrated
LondonNews60, 80, 87,106,t07, L20,158,162,164
Inglis,John 9, 20, 33,40,4L,48,70
Instrumenta
Ecclesiastica
82, 12L,I22, 172,186,189

t
Jerrett,GeorgeC. 148
Jones,Llewellyn l3l, 134,157,170

K
Keble,John 73
Kelly,James157
King'sCove(Newfoundland),
St.James'Church 170,172,173
Kirby, William 170,172
Kough, Patrick 17

z0r
re
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

t
Le Marchant,Gaspar 93,94, lll
Lichfield Cathedral(England) 96, 168
Lincoln Cathedral(England) 107,166,167,168
London (England),St.Giles Camberwell96
Long Reach(New Brunswick),St.James'Church 64,65,68
Long Stanton(England),St.Michael'sChurch 56, 57,82,137,186

M
Marshall,Caleb 146,L48,I72, 177,178,179,180
Marshall,David 177
McCarthy,J.J. 13,150,151
McKeen'sCorner(New Brunsrrick),All SaintsChurch 66,67
Medley,Edward 54,66,68,123
Medley,John 10,47,52,53,54,55,56,59,60,61,64,66,68,70,73,8L,114,118,126,167,186
Montrdal,Notre-DameChurch 14
Moreton,Julian L4l, 142

N
NetherPeover(England),St. Oswald 119
Newman,JohnHenry 22,38,45,46,82
Newtown(Newfoundland),
St.Luke'sChurch 168,170,l7l

o
O'Donnell,James14
OxfordArchitecturalSociety 120,126
OxfordMovementlTractarians 42, 73, 75, 83

P
Palairet,Charles 144
PettyHarbour(Newfoundland) 123,124
Poole(England),St.James'Church 21,23
PortugalCove(Newfoundland),Churchof St. Lawrence 137
PouchCove(Newfoundland),
St.Thomas'Church124

ZOB
I
P u g i nA
, . W . N .5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 2 5 , 2 7 , 3 8 , 4 3 , 4 6 , 4 7 , 8 8 , 9 0 , 9 5 , 9 6 , 9170,811,0019, 1, 5 0 1, 8 5
Purcell,James24, 73,74,80,81,82,88

a
QuidiVidi (Newfoundland),
ChristChurch22,24,25,73

R
Record,
The45,47,85,88,
89
Rickman,Thomas 7, 8
Rome,RomanCatholicChurchof SantaMaria SopraMinerva 154
Rule,Ulric 139
Ruskin,John 5, 6

s
SandwichBay(Labrador)128,138
Scott,GeorgeGilbertxii,28,48,95,96,97,99,700,107,102,103,104,107,108,109,ll0, 150,
757,157,158,160,162,164,767,169,193,195,lg6, lg7, lgg
Scott,GeorgeGilbertJr. 100,158,160,162,167
Scott,John Oldrid 167
Scott,William 79,80,81,82,83,
84,85,86,88,89,95,101,108,110,lI4,ll5,116,117,118,
119,
120,127,123, l3l
Societyfor PromotingChristianKnowledge
(SPCK) 1, 21,72,110,
111
Societyfor thePropagation
of the Gospel(SPG)1, 10,17,20,21,38,39,40,41,48, 51,70,71,
72,74,80,86,88,89,g0,gl, 109,110,113,727,l2g, 729,130,133,134,I3g,744
Spaniard'sBay(Newfoundland),Churchof the Holy Redeemer168,169
Spencer,
AubreyGeorge19,24,51,70,71,72,73,74,78,
80,94,108,188
StaveChurches79, 717,179,126
St.FrancisHarbour(Labrador),St.Johnthe Baptist 130
St.John's(Newfoundland),
AnglicanCathedralof St.Johnthe Baptist 73,100,101,102,103,
104,105,106,r07,109,109,110,111,172,157,159, 159,160,761,162,163,164,
165,166,
167,169
St.John's(Newfoundland),
RomanCatholicBasilica35,36,156,188,189
St.John's(Newfoundland),
St.Mary's Church 138,142
St.John's(Newfoundland),
St.Patrick'sRomanCatholicChurch 13,150,151

209
x
 NEWFOUNDLAND GOTHIC

St.Thomas'Church 17,18,19,28,39,40,65,79,81,108,ll9, L48,

St.John's(Newfoundland),
185
Strachan,John 51
Strathie,Ronald 175
Street,GeorgeEdmund 28,87,I07
St.Stephen(New Brunswick),ChristChurch 66,68,69

T
Topsail(Newfoundland),Churchof St.Johnthe Evangelist144,I45,186
Churchof EnglandMortuary Chapel 172,173,174
Trinity (Newfoundland),
Trinity (Newfoundland),Holy Trinity RomanCatholicChurch t2, 13,28
Trinity (Newfoundland),St.Paul'sChurch 8, 9, 10,ll, 12, 16,25,174,175,176,L77,178,179,
180,181,182,183,185,182188
T\rillingate (Newfoundland),St.Peter'sChurch 19,23,65,148

w
Webb,Benjamin5, 82,85,95
Wills, Frank 52,55,60,63,66,90, 175,183
Wills, JamesL58,167
Windsor(Nova Scotia) 178
Wix, Edward 17,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,38,39,40,41,48,53,64,79,87,90,104,113
WoodyPoint (Newfoundland),Churchof the Epiphany 155
WoodyPoint (Newfoundland),St.Patrick'sRomanCatholicChurch 154,L56
Wray,Cecil 78,84,110

Y
York Minster (England) 104,106,t57, 168

zt0
t