1825.]

THIS

Trinity Church, Newington Butts, Surrey.

NEW CHURCHES.-No. V. Trinity Church, Newington Butts. HIS edifice stands in a populous and increasing neighbourhood. It is situated on the South side of Suffolk-street East, at a short distance from Blackman-street, and nearly on the verge of the parish of St. Mary, Newington. It will be enclosed in a small square formed by Suffolk-street on the North, and new rows of houses running at angles with that street on the East and West, and continued on the South side of the Church to a street which will lead from thence to Horsemonger-lane.

Encircled as it obviously would be with houses, it was evident that the general plan must be deviated from; this the architect, Mr. Bedford, of Camberwell, has done by placing the portico and principal front of the edifice, with the steeple, on the North side of the body of the Church, instead of the usual situation at the West end. The engraving shews the West and North sides (see Plate I.), a point of view in which the Church will not long be seen. The portico consists of six fluted Corinthian columns, raised upon three steps, and supporting a plain entablature and pediment. In the wall behind are five entrances, and above are the same number of windows, four of which are blank, the central alone being glazed, and lighting the belfry. The side window seen in the building behind the portico lights the gallery for the male charity children, as a corresponding one eastward does that appropriated to the girls. In addition to these several galleries, this attached building contains the different staircases, and the basement story of the tower.

From the roof rises the steeple in three stories. The first two are decided copies from the steeple of Camberwell new Church, built by the same architect; the sole variation in the present instance is the filling up the intercolumniation with weather boards. Upon the second story a square pedestal, ornamented on its sides with long pannels filled with carved honey-suckles, serves as a plinth to an octagon tower, with a ball and cross on the apex of its roof, which finishes the elevation. In the arrangement of this part of the erection, the architect has deviated from the simplest rule of building. Did he GENT. MAG. November, 1825.

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never hear that it was inconsistent not only with the laws of architecture, but the laws of taste, to elevate a heavier order above a lighter one? or was he so straitened for a design that he could form no other than the present, which was rejected at St. John's Church, Lambeth, and now forms the tower of Norwood? so that three adjacent Churches would, in the event of this precious piece of building having been retained at St. John's, have displayed but one steeple. Originally designed to surmount a portico of the same order, it was less objectionable than here, but who would set up a Doric steeple above a Corinthian portico? Painful as it is to every admirer of tasteful building, to witness nothing but these pepper-box towers on every new Church, it is more so to see obvious and well-recognised rules departed from without any cause but mere caprice.

The body of the Church is a parallelogram situated East and West, and in height is divided into two stories, by by a plain course. In both stories is a series of windows, as shewn in the engraving. The angles are finished with antæ, and the entablature is continued as a finish round the whole building; both the East and West ends are terminated with pediments.

On the centre of the South side is

an unsightly projection, containing a flight of stairs to the gallery, and an entrance beneath it to the Church. The roof is covered with copper.

The interior presents a large unbroken room roofed in one span. The walls are finished with an entablature, charged with a rich honey-suckle moulding, resting on antæ of the Ionic order, ranging from the floor of the Church to the architrave. The ceiling is made into square panels by archi traves, crossing each other, and entering the walls of the Church, above the surrounding cornice; in the centre of each panel is a large expanded flower. The South, North, and Western sides are occupied by galleries resting on Doric pillars, the fronts panelled with slight mouldings. The whole of the interior as exactly resembles Mr. Bedford's other Churches as the steeple does those already named. Of those Churches I shall have occaion to speak before long. The genius of an architect derives but little credit from designs which are such exact counter

parts

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Trinity Church, Newington Butts, Surrey.

parts of each other, as the productions of Mr. Bedford in this neighbourhood. The unoccupied Eastern wall is cold and unornamented, a pediment surmounting four slabs, inscribed with the decalogue, &c. and a small space railed in, informs us it is intended for the altar. The window above is -adorned with fillets of poorly executed stained glass; and the usual crimson velvet covered communion-table stands below; but all this is not enough. Architects should know that a distinction ought to be made between the altar of a Church, and the upper end of a Presbyterian Conventicle. Surely a spot where the most solemn rites of our religion are solemnized, where an Episcopal communion is administered, to which we have from our infancy been taught to look up to as the most sacred part of the building, and which in an architectural point of view is regarded as the principal object in the edifice, should be marked by some distinguishing feature. I could wish our Hierarchy would enforce the old and almost disused practice of placing the holy table in a recess distinct from the rest of the Church. At all events, some care, some little attention should be paid to its decorations; it is discreditable to the Establishment to see the altar adorned with such inferior ornament as in the present case. The Dissenters always place their pulpit in a situation corresponding with our altar, in which respect they are consistent with their principles, which we are not.

The uniformity of the building is greatly broken by the situation of the portico. A large space on the North side, is occupied by two deep recesses on each side a window, which receives a false light from the belfry story of the tower. These recesses contain additional galleries for the charity children, ranging on each side of the steeple; they are consequently hid from the view of the greater part of the congregation. This fault is not attributable to the architect so much as to the site; but it is to be lamented, inasmuch as the effect of the interior is greatly hurt by this irregular arrangement. The pulpit and reading desk are counterparts of each other, and stand on opposite sides of the Church, a fashionable arrangement among architects, but nevertheless an absurd one, They

[Nov.

forget that the service is read from a desk, and not a pulpit. An useless sacrifice is here made to uniformity of appearance, at the expence of propriety. If the profession would condescend to look into the older churches of the Metropolis, they might learn an arrangement in this respect far superior to their modern ideas.

The font stands in the nave beneath the Western gallery; it is made of composition in imitation of stone, and enriched with honeysuckles and other Grecian mouldings. The design is an antique vase, with handles. It should have been an imitation of veined marble, for as it at present appears, it resembles both in 'de- · sign and composition the vases which may be purchased for a few shillings of the itinerant Italians, who are met with in every part of the Metropolis. In this gallery is placed the organ, in an oak case, with gilt ornaments. A noble chandelier of brass depends from the centre of the roof, which diffuses a brilliant light over the greater part of the Church.

The first stone was laid on the 2d of June, 1823, by his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, attended by the Bishop of Worcester, and the Rector, Trustees, and parochial officers of Newington. The foundations had been raised to a level with the ground, at that time having been in progress for nearly six months previous. On the 16th of December, 1824, it was consecrated by the same Primate. The service was read by the Rev. C. V. H. Sumner, the first incumbent. The Rev. A. C. Onslow, M.A. the Rector of the parish, preached an able sermon from the 93d Psalm, v. 6, "Holiness becometh thine house for ever."

The parish, though situated in the diocese of Winchester, is a peculiar of the Archbishop, who was attended by Sir John Nicholl, knt. as Dean of the Arches.

The present is said to be the largest of the new Churches yet erected. It contains sittings in pews for 1277 persons, free seats 519, seats for charity children 252, making a total of 2048. but a far greater number can always be accommodated without inconvenience.

The tower contains a peal of eight powerful bells, from the well-known

foundry

1825.] Progress of Discovery, Navigation, and Commerce.

foundry of Mr. Mears, of Whitechapel. The tenor weighs 20 cwt.

The ground on which the Church is built was given by the Corporation of the Trinity House, who are the owners of considerable property in the vicinity.

Yours, &c.

E. I. C.

Note.- NEW CHURCHES, No. IV. Vol. XCIV. ii. p. 489.-Camden Town Chapel was built by the Parish, unassisted by the Commissioners for the building of New Churches.

Brief Historical Sketch of the Progress of Discovery, Navigation, and Commerce.

GISBORNE in constitutes, humanly speaking, the difference between savage life and civil society. This assertion must be received with one important limitation, that the Chaldeans, who are described as expert armourers, were rude in the extreme. Nevertheless, this remark illustrates one of Montesquieu, that discovery was formerly the result of conquest, as conquest is now of discovery.

ISBORNE observes, that the pos

The latter acute writer has defined the history of Commerce to be that of the intercourse of nations, whose calamities and migrations form a material part of its.

66

cur

After the dispersion at Babel, there is no professed notice of Commerce. The purchase of a burial-ground by Abraham was made with silver coin, which is particularized as being rent with the merchant" (B.C. 1860); and the descendants of Ishmael are introduced about a century after, as dealers in spices and slaves. During the same age, a miraculous famine made Egypt the staple and granary of the East, while the influence arising from its ability to supply other nations with corn, occasioned many colonial

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removals from that country to Greece. Sidon, as appears from the expressions of Jacob, had already obtained importances; the epithet "great" is applied to it by Joshua, who also terms Tyre "a strong city";" and its quiet and security are expressly stated by the succeeding annalist".

The Phoenicians, although cooped within a narrow territory, possessed some valuable advantages: to an excellent harbour were added the forests of Lebanon, and the strong impulse of necessity. Their unfortunate brethren, in their flight from a conqueror whom they termed

66 a 'robber," lined the African coast, from Kartha-kadtha (or, in its corrupt but softer form, Car thage), to Tangier9. Yet there is a

clear indication of hostility at an early

period between the kindred nations. The possession of a settlement on that side of the Strait was undoubtedly al-> luring, though unkind treatment is the traditionary cause; however, the Tyrian chief (the Hercules of antiquity) attacked the infant settlement, reduced it by blockade, and put Antai, the founder, to death. In the true. spirit of a warrior, he married the woman he had widowed, and, long after, the Kings of Mauritania adorned their ancestry with his name 10.

The Pelasgi, whether Cuthites or Aborigines, first rendered Peloponnesus entirely habitable. About 1820 B. C. Enotris led the superfluous population to Italy, and settled in Lucania; subsequent establishments were made by the Arcadians, Lydians, and Thessalians, and the colonists were so nicely blended with the natives, that their descent became the undisputed property of fabulists and poets".

Passing along the stream of tradition, we arrive at the voyage of the Argonauts, B.C. 1263, which derived its common name from the fleeces extended across the rivers to catch the

' Natural Theology, p. 98. 2 De L'Esprit des Lois, b. xxi. c. 9. 3 Ibid. c. 5. * Genes. xxiii. 15.-St. Augustine remarks (De Civ. 1.4), "Ut Argentinus Deus diceretur filius Esculani, quod area moneta argentum præcessisset....Jano tribuitur à plerisque origo signandæ pecuniæ, quod in altera fronte nummorum adscriberetur ejus caput, in alterâ vero fronte, vel navis, vel pons, vel corona. Licet alii velint navim appositam fuisse nummis Italicis, quod Saturnus navi vectus fuisset in Italiam.” Suarez de Nummis, Amst. 1683, pp. 7, 8. 5 Gen. 49, 18. 8 Gen. x. 15-19. 9 See Bochart, and the authorities referred to in Horne's Crit. Introd. iv. 32. 10 Plutarch, Vit. Sertor. Strabo, 3. Newton's Chronology, p. 198, 233, et seq. Bryant, Anal. of Myth. iv. 21. D'Hancarville notices historiques sur l'origine des Pelasques, &c. apud Ant. Etrusques, vol. V.

6 Josh. xix. 28, 29.

7 Judges, xviii. 7.

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