Alfred Vowles Photographs of St. Petrock's, From Three Angles, Possibly c. 1936
Title
Alfred Vowles Photographs of St. Petrock's, From Three Angles, Possibly c. 1936
Subject
Description
Featured are three photographs of Timberscombe's St. Petrock's Church, taken by Alfred Vowles, West Somerset's pre-eminent photographer from 1910 to c. 1940. These photographs were likely taken around 1936. Seen at SP-115 are two Vowles photographs of Duddings, the 17th (possibly 16th) century farmhouse (1) on the northeastern edge of Timberscombe, that have been identified as being taken in (or around) 1936 (2). The bottom two St. Petrock's photographs share the same handwritten style of labelling as one of the Duddings photographs, reading "DUDDINGS, TIMBERSCOMBE "T1463". The bottom photograph, visible here, has the same labeling, reading "THE CHURCH, TIMBERSCOMBE T1449". The middle photograph is also similarly labeled and numbered "T1672" -- so perhaps taken a bit later.
Seen most clearly on the bottom photograph (apparently taken at 4 o'clock in the afternoon) is a clock on the church's two stage tower. This would also date these photographs as being taken after 1926 . Since 1906, the PCC of St. Petrock's had sought quotes for a clock installation but it wasn't until 1924 that £110 was designated for such a purpose. By May 1926, the Bishop of Taunton was due at St. Petrock's to celebrate the new clock, as well as a new octave of bells in the tower---plans thwarted by the nation's General Strike. The ceremony instead took place in June, officiated by the Rural Dean (3).
Like the bottom photograph, the top photograph was taken from a northwestern vantage but with the camera positioned more to the left. That angle highlights the elevated position of the church and how the north facade of the church and it's main entrance, The North Porch, built in the 1450s (4), overlook the village centre of Timberscombe. On the left edge of the photograph are the right sides of two semi-detached roofs, both topping Timberscombe's former Old Forge, likely rebuilt around 1841 on the site of other forges dating to post-medieval times (5). The higher roof was over the actual forge and the lower section (in the foreground) was residential, likely housing for those working at the forge (6). The walled garden, visible between the Old Forge and St. Petrock's medieval churchyard, was a former part of the Glebe lands on the church's Rectory Farm (7) and at the time of this photograph, possibly shared by the church and tenants of three cottages installed at the Old Forge by the early 1930's (8). Past the garden's eastern wall, the white facade of Church Steps Cottage is visible. Between the wall and the cottage are cobblestoned steps (not visible) leading up to the church. Church Road runs between Church Step Cottage and the homes seen past the Old Forge roof tops. From the left they are No. 1 Church Street (aka Norman Cottage), No. 3 Church Street and some of the future Hope Cottage (likely known as Nos. 3 and 4 Church Street at the time of this photograph). Past the churchyard's yew tree are glimpses of the 18th century Great House Farm (9). Seen more clearly, to the right of the church but also facing Church Street (from the other side of the road), are the semi-detached Knapp Cottages under a single gabled roof with three chimneys. The section closer to the church (later known as The Knapp) was built by 1836 and the other section (later called Higher Ledge) was completed shortly afterwards (10). Both were erected by Edward Cording, a farmer and a preacher for 52 years at Timberscombe's Methodist Chapel, when it was the Providence Bible Christian Chapel--also built by Mr. Cording (11).
This (rather full) photograph was reproduced and captioned "ST. PETROCK'S CHURCH, TIMBERSCOMBE", on page 27 of the 1955 booklet, "THE VILLAGE OF TIMBERSCOMBE AND ITS CHURCH', written by James Henderson, a Churchwarden of St. Petrock's, who farmed at Allercot and his brother, Edward Henderson, Bishop of Bath and Wells from 1960 to 1975 (12).
The placement of the church, over and at the centre of the village, was hardly incidental. The elevated land was near the crossroads of ancient tracks, with proximity to the nearby medieval Churnet Ford-- all still extant. The name of the church comes from the belief of its founding by St. Petrock, born in South Wales, possibly the son of a Welsh king. Between 500 and 600 AD, Petrock and his followers established churches throughout Cornwall and Devon and perhaps on this excursion into Somerset, as well as a monastery at Padstow (13). The church, as seen photographed here by Mr. Vowles, has its origins in the early 1100's (14), but further (scientific) monitoring of a trench, being dug across the churchyard on the southern side of St. Petrock's between March and June 2020, verified the existence of Saxon wooden settlement(s), likely religious, already at this site ---that subsequent carbon dating certified as being here in 777 AD (15).
The centre photograph features the southern side of the church. The trench was dug closely along the edge of the south aisle (under the three 3-light mullioned windows ), which was built in the early 16th century (16). Looking closely at the photograph, on the western end of the aisle, between the first and second left windows (and past a gravestone), an outline of an enclosed doorway can be seen. It was more common for the main entrance of a church to be on its southern side (17), although as seen in both the top and bottom photographs, St. Petrock's main door is the North Porch on the northern side. It has been proposed that this smaller door was a priest's door. It has also become known as the Tudor Door, possibly used in earlier liturgical and processional pre-Reformation ceremonies and filled in with masonry subsequent to the Reformation (18). It was reopened on the 9th of June 2020 (19).
The eastern end of the south aisle is set back from the northern side of the church, where the extended area, visible past the south aisle, houses St. Petrock's chancel, rebuilt in the 15th century (20). In modern times, the recessed eastern end of the right aisle is the location of the church's organ, but when first built in the early 1500s, a side chapel was located here, seemingly devoted to St. Michael and indeed many references to the church, until the early 1900's refer to St. Petrock's as St. Michael or St. Michael and All Saints (21).
Back on the western end of the south aisle is a flat roofed, single story vestry, recorded as built in 1936 or 1937 (22). It does look new and implies that at least this photograph could actually be taken slightly after 1936. Also past the vestry is a small building, just down a slope and with a roof, that when the photograph is enlarged, appears to be made of corrugated metal. This is one of the relatively rare views of Timberscombe's Reading Room, built by the end of 1913 but which accidentally burned down in February 1944 (23). What looks to be windows on the Reading Room's southern end are actually silhouettes of gravestones. In the top photograph, a large shadow is in the foreground, likely cast by the Reading Room and it is possible Mr. Vowles took that photograph from its roof.
Past the Reading Room, the two storey house, with windows across the first story, was St. Petrock's Vicarage. With possible post-medieval origins, in 1962 this building was sold and converted to flats, then becoming known as Old Vicarage (24).
The bottom photograph highlights the churchyard yew tree and St. Petrock's two-stage tower. The yew tree has been here since 1400 and has been declared as a Notable--a tree that has been measured and found to be between 300 and 700 years old (25). 1708 is usually given as the year this tower replaced an earlier tower, financed by 16-year-old Richard Elsworth of Bickham Manor (also seen as Ellsworth and Elsworthy), who on his death bed in 1714 also endowed the future Timberscombe School (26). The four corners of the tower represent four Evangelists. A Man's Head is St. Matthew, a Lion is St. Mark, an Ox is St. Luke and St. John is an Eagle. The tower has eight bells. On Christmas Day, 1952, the Timberscombe bells were chosen to ring on the day by the BBC, thus were heard around the world (27). On the north side of the tower is a memorial tablet to Richard Elsworth, apparently not accurate. Its gives the date of the tower as 1701 and is faded and difficult to read (certainly in this photograph) but has been carefully conserved and restored in 2021 and now the wording can be better seen. Perhaps a better tribute is the weathervane on top of the 19th century pyramid at the tower's roof, inscribed with "1708", as well as an "RE" for young Mr. Elsworth. In this photograph there is also a pole at the tower's northeastern corner with a rather glorious ribbon (or something of that sort) blowing in the breeze.
Alfred Vowles was born at Stone Allerton, near Axbridge, Somerset in 1882. At the age of fourteen, he went to Greenwich, London to attend the Royal Navy College. He only stayed a few months but remained in London working as an office boy and then a clerk at various companies. In 1905, Vowles had returned to Somerset, when he applied for a position as a photographer's assistant. For the next five years he learned his craft and then moved to Porlock, where he began his career as a solo photographer. In the 1930s he had a studio at No. 3 The Avenue in Minehead and by the early 1940's, there was hardly a village or event in West Somerset (and to a lesser extent, Northern Devon) that he did not photograph. Vowles was also a founding member of the West Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society and served as its Honorary Secretary for 11 years (28). In 1931, Vowles married Lilian Ethel Bowerman. His second wedding occurred in 1947 when he married Dorothy Una (nee Clough, then Ratcliffe) Phillips (29). The couple relocated to Edinburgh, Scotland, where Alfred died on 22 February 1965 (30).
Seen most clearly on the bottom photograph (apparently taken at 4 o'clock in the afternoon) is a clock on the church's two stage tower. This would also date these photographs as being taken after 1926 . Since 1906, the PCC of St. Petrock's had sought quotes for a clock installation but it wasn't until 1924 that £110 was designated for such a purpose. By May 1926, the Bishop of Taunton was due at St. Petrock's to celebrate the new clock, as well as a new octave of bells in the tower---plans thwarted by the nation's General Strike. The ceremony instead took place in June, officiated by the Rural Dean (3).
Like the bottom photograph, the top photograph was taken from a northwestern vantage but with the camera positioned more to the left. That angle highlights the elevated position of the church and how the north facade of the church and it's main entrance, The North Porch, built in the 1450s (4), overlook the village centre of Timberscombe. On the left edge of the photograph are the right sides of two semi-detached roofs, both topping Timberscombe's former Old Forge, likely rebuilt around 1841 on the site of other forges dating to post-medieval times (5). The higher roof was over the actual forge and the lower section (in the foreground) was residential, likely housing for those working at the forge (6). The walled garden, visible between the Old Forge and St. Petrock's medieval churchyard, was a former part of the Glebe lands on the church's Rectory Farm (7) and at the time of this photograph, possibly shared by the church and tenants of three cottages installed at the Old Forge by the early 1930's (8). Past the garden's eastern wall, the white facade of Church Steps Cottage is visible. Between the wall and the cottage are cobblestoned steps (not visible) leading up to the church. Church Road runs between Church Step Cottage and the homes seen past the Old Forge roof tops. From the left they are No. 1 Church Street (aka Norman Cottage), No. 3 Church Street and some of the future Hope Cottage (likely known as Nos. 3 and 4 Church Street at the time of this photograph). Past the churchyard's yew tree are glimpses of the 18th century Great House Farm (9). Seen more clearly, to the right of the church but also facing Church Street (from the other side of the road), are the semi-detached Knapp Cottages under a single gabled roof with three chimneys. The section closer to the church (later known as The Knapp) was built by 1836 and the other section (later called Higher Ledge) was completed shortly afterwards (10). Both were erected by Edward Cording, a farmer and a preacher for 52 years at Timberscombe's Methodist Chapel, when it was the Providence Bible Christian Chapel--also built by Mr. Cording (11).
This (rather full) photograph was reproduced and captioned "ST. PETROCK'S CHURCH, TIMBERSCOMBE", on page 27 of the 1955 booklet, "THE VILLAGE OF TIMBERSCOMBE AND ITS CHURCH', written by James Henderson, a Churchwarden of St. Petrock's, who farmed at Allercot and his brother, Edward Henderson, Bishop of Bath and Wells from 1960 to 1975 (12).
The placement of the church, over and at the centre of the village, was hardly incidental. The elevated land was near the crossroads of ancient tracks, with proximity to the nearby medieval Churnet Ford-- all still extant. The name of the church comes from the belief of its founding by St. Petrock, born in South Wales, possibly the son of a Welsh king. Between 500 and 600 AD, Petrock and his followers established churches throughout Cornwall and Devon and perhaps on this excursion into Somerset, as well as a monastery at Padstow (13). The church, as seen photographed here by Mr. Vowles, has its origins in the early 1100's (14), but further (scientific) monitoring of a trench, being dug across the churchyard on the southern side of St. Petrock's between March and June 2020, verified the existence of Saxon wooden settlement(s), likely religious, already at this site ---that subsequent carbon dating certified as being here in 777 AD (15).
The centre photograph features the southern side of the church. The trench was dug closely along the edge of the south aisle (under the three 3-light mullioned windows ), which was built in the early 16th century (16). Looking closely at the photograph, on the western end of the aisle, between the first and second left windows (and past a gravestone), an outline of an enclosed doorway can be seen. It was more common for the main entrance of a church to be on its southern side (17), although as seen in both the top and bottom photographs, St. Petrock's main door is the North Porch on the northern side. It has been proposed that this smaller door was a priest's door. It has also become known as the Tudor Door, possibly used in earlier liturgical and processional pre-Reformation ceremonies and filled in with masonry subsequent to the Reformation (18). It was reopened on the 9th of June 2020 (19).
The eastern end of the south aisle is set back from the northern side of the church, where the extended area, visible past the south aisle, houses St. Petrock's chancel, rebuilt in the 15th century (20). In modern times, the recessed eastern end of the right aisle is the location of the church's organ, but when first built in the early 1500s, a side chapel was located here, seemingly devoted to St. Michael and indeed many references to the church, until the early 1900's refer to St. Petrock's as St. Michael or St. Michael and All Saints (21).
Back on the western end of the south aisle is a flat roofed, single story vestry, recorded as built in 1936 or 1937 (22). It does look new and implies that at least this photograph could actually be taken slightly after 1936. Also past the vestry is a small building, just down a slope and with a roof, that when the photograph is enlarged, appears to be made of corrugated metal. This is one of the relatively rare views of Timberscombe's Reading Room, built by the end of 1913 but which accidentally burned down in February 1944 (23). What looks to be windows on the Reading Room's southern end are actually silhouettes of gravestones. In the top photograph, a large shadow is in the foreground, likely cast by the Reading Room and it is possible Mr. Vowles took that photograph from its roof.
Past the Reading Room, the two storey house, with windows across the first story, was St. Petrock's Vicarage. With possible post-medieval origins, in 1962 this building was sold and converted to flats, then becoming known as Old Vicarage (24).
The bottom photograph highlights the churchyard yew tree and St. Petrock's two-stage tower. The yew tree has been here since 1400 and has been declared as a Notable--a tree that has been measured and found to be between 300 and 700 years old (25). 1708 is usually given as the year this tower replaced an earlier tower, financed by 16-year-old Richard Elsworth of Bickham Manor (also seen as Ellsworth and Elsworthy), who on his death bed in 1714 also endowed the future Timberscombe School (26). The four corners of the tower represent four Evangelists. A Man's Head is St. Matthew, a Lion is St. Mark, an Ox is St. Luke and St. John is an Eagle. The tower has eight bells. On Christmas Day, 1952, the Timberscombe bells were chosen to ring on the day by the BBC, thus were heard around the world (27). On the north side of the tower is a memorial tablet to Richard Elsworth, apparently not accurate. Its gives the date of the tower as 1701 and is faded and difficult to read (certainly in this photograph) but has been carefully conserved and restored in 2021 and now the wording can be better seen. Perhaps a better tribute is the weathervane on top of the 19th century pyramid at the tower's roof, inscribed with "1708", as well as an "RE" for young Mr. Elsworth. In this photograph there is also a pole at the tower's northeastern corner with a rather glorious ribbon (or something of that sort) blowing in the breeze.
Alfred Vowles was born at Stone Allerton, near Axbridge, Somerset in 1882. At the age of fourteen, he went to Greenwich, London to attend the Royal Navy College. He only stayed a few months but remained in London working as an office boy and then a clerk at various companies. In 1905, Vowles had returned to Somerset, when he applied for a position as a photographer's assistant. For the next five years he learned his craft and then moved to Porlock, where he began his career as a solo photographer. In the 1930s he had a studio at No. 3 The Avenue in Minehead and by the early 1940's, there was hardly a village or event in West Somerset (and to a lesser extent, Northern Devon) that he did not photograph. Vowles was also a founding member of the West Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society and served as its Honorary Secretary for 11 years (28). In 1931, Vowles married Lilian Ethel Bowerman. His second wedding occurred in 1947 when he married Dorothy Una (nee Clough, then Ratcliffe) Phillips (29). The couple relocated to Edinburgh, Scotland, where Alfred died on 22 February 1965 (30).
Creator
Alfred Vowles
Source
Date
c. 1936
c. 1936
c. 1936
c. 1936
c. 1936
Contributor
Language
English
Identifier
three views of St. Petrock's Church, c. 1936 and taken by Alfred Vowles / Timberscombe / village centre
Acquisition Date
2020
Acquisition Method
Gift
Category
PLACES: Churches and Chapels / Timberscombe
Condition
Good
Condition Notes
entered by Tom Sperling
Condition Date
2022
Dimension Type
W X L
Dimension Units
cm
Dimension Value
9.5 X 15
10.5 X 15
10.5 X 15
10.5 X 15
10.5 X 15
Institution Name
St, Petrock's History Group
Notes
(1) Historic Environment Record, Exmoor National Park, MSO 10613 (2) as recalled in 2018 by Richard Tilke, the current owner of Duddings (3) "St. Petrock's Church Timberscombe", church pamphlet written by Marion Jeffrey, 2017 (4) British Listed Buildings.co.uk (5) Victoria County History.ac.uk and as recalled in 2020 by Peter Rawlands, who lived at No. 2 Forge Cottage and previously at No. 1 Forge Cottage (6) the TIMBERSCOMBE TITHE MAP 1843, Source: Somerset Records Office, Taunton, as drawn and researched by John Burns for the Timberscombe School, February, 1989 (7) VCH (8) as recalled in 2022 by Joy (nee Land) Booth of The Knapp, Timberscombe, the grand-daughter of John and Florence Bertha Burnett and daughter of their daughter, Elsie May (nee Burnett) Land, who were among the first residents of the Old Forge, when converted to flats (9) VCH (10) at the time of the 1916 Public Auction of the Knowle Estate, the cottages were collectively called the Knapp Cottages, as detailed in "THE KNOWLE ESTATE, DUNSTER, SOMERSET, PARTICULARS, PLANS AND CONDITIONS OF SALE of THE KNOWLE ESTATE", by Messrs. W.R.J. Greenslade & Co. of Taunton and Wellington, becoming The Knapp and Higher Ledge c. post World War II (11) "WELCOME", church flyer for the Timberscombe Methodist Church, donated by Joy and Martin Booth in 2019 (12) "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, 1955 and the forward written by Marion Jeffrey of an published extract of the original, c. 2017 (13) celticsaints.org and "THE VILLAGE OF TIMBERSCOMBE AND ITS CHURCH" (14) "St. Petrock's Church Timberscombe" (15) "the Parish Church of St. Petrock, Timberscombe, Somerset, The Results of Archaeological Monitoring", Ref:18-30/2000. 21 April 2021, by James L. Brigers, PA PROSPECT ARCHAEOLOGY. Middlezoy, Somerset (16) Historic England.co.uk (17) "THE VILLAGE OF TIMBERSCOMBE AND ITS CHURCH" (18) "TIMBERSCOMBE St. Petrock", Somerset Churches Project, August 2019, Archaeological Assessment 2019, by David and Jerry Sampson, Buildings Archaeology (19) as detailed at SP-204 (20) British Listed Buildings.co.uk (21) "St. Petrock's Church Timberscombe" (22) HistoricEngland.co.uk and "St. Petrock's Church Timberscombe" (23) TimberscombeVillage.com/ The History of Timberscombe/ Other Historic Structures/ The Reading Room, compiled by Lesley Webb, "50 Years Ago" West Somerset Free Press, Friday, February 18th 1994 and as detailed at SP-065 (24) VCH (25) "St. Petrock's Church Timberscombe", church pamphlet written by Marion Jeffrey, 2017, where the yew tree being Notable is described (26) "PARISH OF TIMBERSCOMBE, RICHARD ELLSWORTH'S CHARITY" from the Charity Commissioner's Report (1819-1837) (27) "THE VILLAGE OF TIMBERSCOMBE AND ITS CHURCH" and The Evening World, Wednesday, December 24 1952 (28) "AROUND MINEHEAD FROM OLD PHOTOGRAPHS' by Joan Astell, Amberley Publishing, Stroud, Gloucestershire, 2010 and "Secure the Shadow: Somerset Photographers 1839-1939, by Robin Ansell, Alan Collier and Phil Nichols, The Somerset & Dorset Family History, 2018 (29) atisan-harmoney.com and England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 (30) "Secure the Shadow: Somerset Photographers 1939-1939" and Web: UK, Burial and Cremation Index, 1576-2014
Storage Location
St. Petrock's History Group Archive
Storage Date
2022
Storage Notes
St. Petrock's History Group PHOTOGRAPHS
Item Reference
SP-211
Technique
Copies
Citation
Alfred Vowles, “Alfred Vowles Photographs of St. Petrock's, From Three Angles, Possibly c. 1936,” St. Petrock's History Group, accessed May 2, 2024, https://stpetrockshistorygroup.omeka.net/items/show/3483.
Comments