15th Century North Door at St. Petrocks by William Walter Wheatley
Title
15th Century North Door at St. Petrocks by William Walter Wheatley
Subject
Description
A photograph of an 1830's watercolour, by William Walter Wheatley, of the door in the north porch giving access to St. Petrock's Church. As seen here in Mr. Wheatley's painting, it is 4-centred arch door with surviving ironwork set within a 2-level moulded pointed arch opening. The door's hinges are the oldest known items in the church, dated from the 1200's. It also has it's original (and very operative) handle and lock from the 1400s (1).
Inside St. Petrock's, there is another door, made of ancient wooden planks, reinforced with iron bands, placed on the left wall of the nave, close to the chancel wall. This internal door opens to a narrow winding stone stairway, placed in the wall adjacent to the rood screen. Probably a tight fit for some former clergymen, the stairs led to a former rood loft running across the top of the late 15th century rood screen that was installed at St. Petrock's, separating the chancel from the nave (2).
Traditionally a cross would have been placed atop the loft to be seen by the congregation, with figures of the Virgin Mary and St. John on either side (3). While it could not have been a very large one at St. Petrock's, this was also a space that might accommodate a choir and could also have been lit with candles, especially at Christmas-tide (4).
William Walter Wheatley painted this watercolour as well as the rood screen (at SP-057) and a northwest view of the exterior of St. Petrock's (seen at SP-051) as part of the Braikenridge Collection, all painted in the 1830's (5) and commissioned by George Weare Braikenridge, an antiquarian, who lived at Broomwell House, Brislington, Bristol (6). Mr. Braikenridge was born in 1775 in the state of Virginia, which would have been the time of the American War of Independence from Britain. This might be why he was moved to England at an early age. He made his fortune as a West India merchant, allowing him to retire at the age of 46 and pursue his interest as a collector---and commissioning artists (7).
Mr. Wheatley was certainly a beneficiary of Braikenridge's early retirement in 1820, as he created more drawings for the Braikenridge Collection of Somerset--which consisted of fourteen large volumes -- than any other artist (8). Born in Bristol in 1811, Wheatley and his family were living, by the 1841 Census, at No. 1 Union Cottage, Union Cottage Lane at Marsh Road in the village of Rode, Somerset. He was remembered as a kind man with a tamed cuckoo (9). William Walter Wheatley had an exhibition of his work for the Society of Antiquities of London in 1854. He died on the 1st of March 1885, unfortunately said to be in reduced circumstances, lodging at the Hatfield Buildings, Widcombe Hill at Bath (10).
The watercolour of St. Petrock's north door was included as an illustration in an Archaeological Assessment 2019, partly prepared for a September 2019 presentation to the St. Petrocks History Group by Dr. Jerry Sampson, past president of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society and David Sampson.
Inside St. Petrock's, there is another door, made of ancient wooden planks, reinforced with iron bands, placed on the left wall of the nave, close to the chancel wall. This internal door opens to a narrow winding stone stairway, placed in the wall adjacent to the rood screen. Probably a tight fit for some former clergymen, the stairs led to a former rood loft running across the top of the late 15th century rood screen that was installed at St. Petrock's, separating the chancel from the nave (2).
Traditionally a cross would have been placed atop the loft to be seen by the congregation, with figures of the Virgin Mary and St. John on either side (3). While it could not have been a very large one at St. Petrock's, this was also a space that might accommodate a choir and could also have been lit with candles, especially at Christmas-tide (4).
William Walter Wheatley painted this watercolour as well as the rood screen (at SP-057) and a northwest view of the exterior of St. Petrock's (seen at SP-051) as part of the Braikenridge Collection, all painted in the 1830's (5) and commissioned by George Weare Braikenridge, an antiquarian, who lived at Broomwell House, Brislington, Bristol (6). Mr. Braikenridge was born in 1775 in the state of Virginia, which would have been the time of the American War of Independence from Britain. This might be why he was moved to England at an early age. He made his fortune as a West India merchant, allowing him to retire at the age of 46 and pursue his interest as a collector---and commissioning artists (7).
Mr. Wheatley was certainly a beneficiary of Braikenridge's early retirement in 1820, as he created more drawings for the Braikenridge Collection of Somerset--which consisted of fourteen large volumes -- than any other artist (8). Born in Bristol in 1811, Wheatley and his family were living, by the 1841 Census, at No. 1 Union Cottage, Union Cottage Lane at Marsh Road in the village of Rode, Somerset. He was remembered as a kind man with a tamed cuckoo (9). William Walter Wheatley had an exhibition of his work for the Society of Antiquities of London in 1854. He died on the 1st of March 1885, unfortunately said to be in reduced circumstances, lodging at the Hatfield Buildings, Widcombe Hill at Bath (10).
The watercolour of St. Petrock's north door was included as an illustration in an Archaeological Assessment 2019, partly prepared for a September 2019 presentation to the St. Petrocks History Group by Dr. Jerry Sampson, past president of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society and David Sampson.
Creator
William Walter Wheatley
Publisher
George Weare Braikenridge
Date
1830s
Contributor
Language
English
Identifier
North Door at St. Petrock's Church / Timbercombe / 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
11 X 8
Institution Name
St. Petrock's History Group
Notes
(1) "St. Petrock's Church Timberscombe", church pamphlet written by Marion Jeffrey, 2017 (2) English Heritage, British Listed Buildings.co.uk (3) "St. Petrock's Church Timberscombe" (4) "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. 1955 (5) "TIMBERSCOMBE St Petrock", Somerset Churches Project, August 2019, Archaeological Assessment 2019, by David and Jerry Sampson, Buildings Archaeology (6) Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, sahns.org/ sahns-library (7) Profiles & Legacies Summary, ucl.ac.uk (8) sahns.org/ sahns-library (9) The History of Rode, Somerset, rodevillage.com (10) priston.org.ok/ wheatley
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-054
Technique
Reproductions
Citation
William Walter Wheatley, “15th Century North Door at St. Petrocks by William Walter Wheatley,” St. Petrock's History Group, accessed May 3, 2024, https://stpetrockshistorygroup.omeka.net/items/show/3392.
Comments