Church of All Saints, Hollybush

Summary

A church, designed by Frederick Preedy of Worcester in 1869. The chancel was extended by Nicholson & Clarke of Hereford in 1929.

Reasons for Designation

The Church of All Saints, Hollybush, Worcestershire is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* the design of the church, by a noted local architect, has distinct quality despite being relatively compact and built to a limited budget;
* the addition of 1929 was handled with considerable sensitivity;
* the great majority of the original fittings survive and include an eastern window of quality which was designed and made by Preedy.

Historic interest:

* as a church built in an outlying area for a community of quarry workers and built with the help of local people, who donated materials and fittings and carried them to the site.

History

The church was initially built as a chapel of ease to Castlemorton in 1869 on common land. Money was raised by a local benefactor, Mary Selwyn, with help from her aunt, the Countess of Beauchamp and the chapel was intended to serve the quarry workers at Hollybush Quarry. The architect was Frederick Preedy and he estimated the cost at £500. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners gave an acre of land and Earl Somers offered the stone which was hauled to the site by local farmers. An extract in the Worcester Journal of Saturday 6 November 1869 described the church as having the eastern window by Preedy at its benediction, as well as the piscina with a carved lip. The reredos had not been fitted, however, as there was a crimson cloth above the altar. The chapel became a parish church in 1912. A vestry is shown on the north side on the Ordnance Survey map published in 1884. In 1929 a further bay was added to the east end of the chancel, extending the length by seven feet, but wholly in keeping with the earlier building, and using much of the earlier material. The drawing and memorandum of works show that the vestry was also extended at this time and the reredos and piscina from the chancel were both referred to as suitable for refitting once construction had been completed.

Frederick Preedy was born in Worcestershire near Evesham, but moved his practice to London in 1860. He designed churches and schools and was an associate of William Butterfield, whose work influenced his style. Perhaps uniquely for a C19 architect, Preedy learned to make his own stained glass which was esteemed. Butterfield used his work in his own church of St Laurence Alvechurch, Worcestershire.

Details

A church, designed by Frederick Preedy of Worcester and built by Smart of Malvern Wells in 1869. The chancel was extended by Nicholson & Clarke of Hereford in 1929.

MATERIALS & PLAN: rock faced Beaconshill stone, brought to course, with Hollington stone, ashlar dressings and a tiled, gabled roof. The church has a nave and chancel, grouped under one roof, with a south-western porch and western bell-cot above the gable end.

EXTERIOR: a projecting plinth with offset ashlar top surrounds the building. The western front has two lancets to the lower body and a central rose window with plate tracery, set in an ashlar surround with a relieving arch. Corners here and across the building, have ashlar quoins. The gable has kneelers and coping stones. The bell-cot, which sits above the gable, is buttressed and gabled with a single arched opening. There is a cross to its apex.

The south front has the gabled porch at left and a wide buttress with offsets, which marks the junction between nave and chancel, to right of centre. The chancel has a single lancet with cusped head to right of the buttress and a similar window to its left, but with a separate trefoil placed immediately above it in the same ashlar surround. To its left again is a window of two lights with cusped heads and a quatrefoil to the apex. The gabled porch at the far left has an arched portal with chamfered arch, kneelers and coping and a cross to the apex. Each of its flanks has a quatrefoil window.

The north front has a two-light and single lancet to the nave with quatrefoil and trefoil heads and a single lancet to the chancel. The buttress marking the division between nave and chancel supports a chimney which has been decapitated and sealed. Below it is a vestry with lean-to roof and rendered walls. It has a lancet window to its eastern flank, which may be reset.

The east front has a single, central window of three lights with trefoils at either side of the head and a hexafoil to the apex. Above this, in the gable is a blind quatrefoil panel.

INTERIOR: the wooden roof is supported by wall posts which rise from large stone corbels. Trusses have arched braces which rise to connect with collar beams which support crown posts. The heavier truss at the division between nave and chancel springs from richly-carved corbels showing the letters Alpha and Omega and foliage. There are trefoil patterns cut through the cusped arch braces of this truss. The octagonal stone font and the pulpit, with blind tracery to its outer sides, appear to be original. The alabaster reredos was apparently added in 1929, although it has the appearance of a later C19 work. It has three arched panels showing a cross at the centre, flanked by the Alpha and Omega letters. In the panels to either side are carvings of angels, that to the right holding a lily and that to the left bearing the Crown of Thorns. The piscina in the south wall has a richly-carved lip with ferns and lilies in high relief. The stained glass east window, whose three principal lights show the Ascension flanked by the Deposition and Christ with Mary in the garden, was designed and made by Preedy and funded by Mary Selwyn and Lady Beauchamp.

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Brooks, A, The Buildings of England: Worcestershire, (2007), 378
Bridges, T, Churches of Worcestershire, (2000), 125
Benediction of Hollybush Chapel, Castlemorton in Worcester Journal, (Saturday, 6th November 1869), -

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