1830's Watercolour of St. Petrock's Church by William Walter Wheatley
Title
1830's Watercolour of St. Petrock's Church by William Walter Wheatley
Subject
Description
A watercolour of Timberscombe's St. Petrock's Church, painted by the British artist, William Walter Wheatley. In their Archaeological Assessment 2019, "TIMBERSCOMBE St Petrock", part of the Somerset Churches Project, David and Jerry Sampson date this watercolour to the 1830's. They also used the upper version of this image on the cover of their assessment, which was prompted by a request from Marion Jeffrey to conduct a talk to the St. Petrock's History Group in September 2019.
William Walter Wheatley was born in Bristol c. 1811 (1). He married Emma Walker on 24 June 1929 (2). Their daughter, Caroline was born the same year and in April 1834 they had a son, Claude Lorraine (3). By the time of the 1841 Census, their family lived on Marsh Lane in Rode, Somerset, where Mr. Wheatly was remembered in 1923, by elderly villagers, as a genial man who had a tamed cuckoo (4).
By this time of his life, Wheatley was established as a painter of Somerset scenes and antiquities and was being heavily commissioned by George Weare Braikenridge (1775-1856), a collector and antiquarian, living at Broomwell House, Brislington, Bristol. Born in Hanover County, Virginia, America, Braikenridge was sent to England at an early age. He made his fortune as a merchant, retiring in 1820. During that first decade, Mr. Braikenridge concentrated on hiring artists to create images of Bristol (5). In time, he decided to expand J. Collinson's History and Antiquities of Somerset, originally three volumes published in 1791, to fourteen oversized books, depicting places and aspects of the county's history (6). It is for this, that William Walter Wheatley is most remembered. His illustrations and paintings for Braikenridge Collection are in the archives of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, held in the Somerset Studies Library at Taunton, until moving to the Somerset Heritage Centre in 2010 (7).
The watercolour seen here is a northwestern view of the church, with a pathway coming from the bottom right, seemingly joining another path, leading to the north porch--much as it does in modern times. The most striking differences are that St. Petrock's is rendered and a first glance suggests that the roofs of the chancel and nave appear thatched. Perhaps not though. To the left of St. Petrock's, the roof of Great House Farm is thatched and so is the roof on the church's right (seemingly on top of a long structure that is seen on the 1843 Tithe Map but is gone by the 1844-1888 Ordnance Survey Map). Wheatley paints these thatches with brisk downward strokes and the church's roof with scratchier horizontal lines. Edmund Rack visited Timberscombe in the 1780's and described the nave, chancel, south "ayle" and north porch as "all tyled" (8). SP-052 is another watercolor of St. Petrock's, painted by James Bulwer in 1838 and the roof is slate tiled.
It is not surprising that St. Petrock's would be rendered. Most church exteriors throughout Exmoor and Somerset were covered with rough-cast and preparing for his alterations of St. Petrock's in 1881, the architect, J. D. Sedding specifies "the roughcast to be removed from the whole of walls throughout the Church" (9).
The church tower seen in Mr. Wheatley's painting is the rebuilt version of a former tower, completed by 1708, aided by the patronage of Richard Elsworth (variously spelled Ellsworth or Elsworthy), of Bickham Manor (10). The slate pyramid roof is in place, as is the weathervane that reads "1708" and "R. E.", for Mr. Elsworth. New parapets are yet to be added during the 1881 renovations, as well as new 2-light windows on the belfry level (11). Perhaps what seems most missing here is an exterior division of the tower's two stages and no string-course below the belfry, with the carvings of the four Evangelists, depicted by an eagle (St. John), a Lion (St. Mark), an Ox (St. Luke ) and a Man's Head (St. Matthew).
Mr. Wheatley does paint the 17th century grave to the left of the church path as it approaches the north porch, as well as the Churchyard Cross from the 1300's, at the foot of the ancient yew tree. In 1896, the cross will be given a new base (12), but under the base here, is Mr. Wheatley's distinctive (and usual) signature of "WWW".
William Walter Wheatley is known to have exhibited his work at a meeting of the Society of Antiquities in London in 1854. He died, apparently living in reduced circumstances, at the Hatfield Buildings, Widcombe Hill, Bath on the 1st of March in 1885 (13)
William Walter Wheatley was born in Bristol c. 1811 (1). He married Emma Walker on 24 June 1929 (2). Their daughter, Caroline was born the same year and in April 1834 they had a son, Claude Lorraine (3). By the time of the 1841 Census, their family lived on Marsh Lane in Rode, Somerset, where Mr. Wheatly was remembered in 1923, by elderly villagers, as a genial man who had a tamed cuckoo (4).
By this time of his life, Wheatley was established as a painter of Somerset scenes and antiquities and was being heavily commissioned by George Weare Braikenridge (1775-1856), a collector and antiquarian, living at Broomwell House, Brislington, Bristol. Born in Hanover County, Virginia, America, Braikenridge was sent to England at an early age. He made his fortune as a merchant, retiring in 1820. During that first decade, Mr. Braikenridge concentrated on hiring artists to create images of Bristol (5). In time, he decided to expand J. Collinson's History and Antiquities of Somerset, originally three volumes published in 1791, to fourteen oversized books, depicting places and aspects of the county's history (6). It is for this, that William Walter Wheatley is most remembered. His illustrations and paintings for Braikenridge Collection are in the archives of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, held in the Somerset Studies Library at Taunton, until moving to the Somerset Heritage Centre in 2010 (7).
The watercolour seen here is a northwestern view of the church, with a pathway coming from the bottom right, seemingly joining another path, leading to the north porch--much as it does in modern times. The most striking differences are that St. Petrock's is rendered and a first glance suggests that the roofs of the chancel and nave appear thatched. Perhaps not though. To the left of St. Petrock's, the roof of Great House Farm is thatched and so is the roof on the church's right (seemingly on top of a long structure that is seen on the 1843 Tithe Map but is gone by the 1844-1888 Ordnance Survey Map). Wheatley paints these thatches with brisk downward strokes and the church's roof with scratchier horizontal lines. Edmund Rack visited Timberscombe in the 1780's and described the nave, chancel, south "ayle" and north porch as "all tyled" (8). SP-052 is another watercolor of St. Petrock's, painted by James Bulwer in 1838 and the roof is slate tiled.
It is not surprising that St. Petrock's would be rendered. Most church exteriors throughout Exmoor and Somerset were covered with rough-cast and preparing for his alterations of St. Petrock's in 1881, the architect, J. D. Sedding specifies "the roughcast to be removed from the whole of walls throughout the Church" (9).
The church tower seen in Mr. Wheatley's painting is the rebuilt version of a former tower, completed by 1708, aided by the patronage of Richard Elsworth (variously spelled Ellsworth or Elsworthy), of Bickham Manor (10). The slate pyramid roof is in place, as is the weathervane that reads "1708" and "R. E.", for Mr. Elsworth. New parapets are yet to be added during the 1881 renovations, as well as new 2-light windows on the belfry level (11). Perhaps what seems most missing here is an exterior division of the tower's two stages and no string-course below the belfry, with the carvings of the four Evangelists, depicted by an eagle (St. John), a Lion (St. Mark), an Ox (St. Luke ) and a Man's Head (St. Matthew).
Mr. Wheatley does paint the 17th century grave to the left of the church path as it approaches the north porch, as well as the Churchyard Cross from the 1300's, at the foot of the ancient yew tree. In 1896, the cross will be given a new base (12), but under the base here, is Mr. Wheatley's distinctive (and usual) signature of "WWW".
William Walter Wheatley is known to have exhibited his work at a meeting of the Society of Antiquities in London in 1854. He died, apparently living in reduced circumstances, at the Hatfield Buildings, Widcombe Hill, Bath on the 1st of March in 1885 (13)
Creator
William Walter Wheatley
Source
Publisher
George Weare Braikenridge
Date
1830s
Contributor
Language
English
Identifier
St. Petrock's Church / Timberscombe / Village Centre
Acquisition Date
2019
Acquisition Method
Gift
Category
PLACES; Churches and Chapels / Timberscombe
Condition
Good
Condition Notes
Entered by Tom Sperling
Condition Date
2020
Dimension Type
W X L
Dimension Units
cm
Dimension Value
14.5 X 19.5s
Institution Name
St. Petrock's History Group
Notes
(1) Marsh/Antoniazzi Family Tree, Tree Research, Ancestry.com, William W. Wheatley, 1811-1885 (2) England, Select Marriages, 1538-1973 (3) 1851 England Census and Marsh/Antoniazzi Family Tree (4) The History of Rode, Somerset, rodevillage.com and priston.org.uk/ wheatley (5) Profiles & Legacies Summary, ucl.ac.uk (6) Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, sanhs.org (7) priston.org.uk and sanhs.org/sanh's-library (8) "TIMBERSCOMBE St Petrock", Somerset Churches Project, August 2019, Archaeological Assessment 2019, by David and Jerry Sampson, Buildings Archaeology (9) "TIMBERSCOMBE St Petrock", Somerset Churches Project (10) "THE VILLAGE OF TIMBERSCOMBE AND ITS CHURCH", by B. L. K. Henderson and G. O. E. Henderson, printed by E. Goodman & Son, Ltd., The Phoenix Press, Taunton (11) "TIMBERSCOMBE St Petrock", Somerset Churches Project (12) " St Petrock's Church Timberscombe", church pamphlet written by Marion Jeffrey, 2017 (13) priston.org.uk
Storage Location
St. Petrock's History Group Archive
Storage Date
2020
Storage Notes
St. Petrock's History Group ARTWORK
St. Petrock's History Group PHOTOGRAPHS
St. Petrock's History Group PHOTOGRAPHS
Item Reference
SP-051
Technique
Reproductions
Citation
William Walter Wheatley, “1830's Watercolour of St. Petrock's Church by William Walter Wheatley,” St. Petrock's History Group, accessed May 3, 2024, https://stpetrockshistorygroup.omeka.net/items/show/3391.
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