| Charles Kirk | |
| Nationality: | English |
| Birth Date: | 10 March 1791 |
| Birth Place: | Wigston Magna, Leicestershire, England |
| Death Date: | 1847 |
| Death Place: | Sleaford, Lincolnshire, England |
| Practice: | Kirk and Parry |
Charles Kirk (1791–1847) was a builder and architect who worked on many buildings in Sleaford and South Lincolnshire, England.
The architect and builder Charles Kirk was born on 10 March 1791 at Wigston Magna, Leicestershire. The Kirk family had long been connected with the building trade and Charles' father, William (1749-1823), was a builder and architect in Leicester.[1]
Charles Kirk came to Sleaford in 1829 to undertake the building of the new Sessions House at Sleaford which had been designed by the London architect H E Kendall[2] and when the work was completed he decided to stay in Sleaford. In the years that followed, Kirk's building business and architectural practice flourished and he was involved in the construction or planning of many of Sleaford's new buildings, including Carre's Hospital, Carre's Grammar School (1834) and the Gasworks (1838). He formed a partnership with Thomas Parry, who had been an articled clerk with Kirk's firm. In 1841, Parry married Charles Kirk's daughter, Henrietta. Following Charles Kirk's death in 1847, the firm was taken over by his son, also called Charles in partnership with Parry. The business continued to prosper and Kirk and Parry established a countrywide reputation for their railway buildings and church restorations. Kirk was buried at Quarrington near Sleaford.[3]
Fortunately Kirk’s journal and account book have survived and are now held by the Lincolnshire Archives Office.[4] The journal covers the period 1828-32. A particularly interesting entry is 30 October 1828: "At Sleaford and Lincoln. I was very much pleased with Smirk's [sic] County hall. There is an ancient grandeur about this modern edifice". This entry shows the great influence that Robert Smirke’s Gothic revival County Hall in Lincoln Castle had on Kirk. The Gothic revival was a style which Kirk was to adopt, very successfully for many of his buildings in Sleaford and elsewhere in Lincolnshire. The accounts at the back of the journal provide a record of the many surveying and building projects undertaken by Kirk over the period 1833-1848. He frequently carried out work on many of the bridges in the Sleaford area. He was the main building contractor for the Stamford architect Bryan Browning for Folkingham House of Correction [5] and supervised extensive alterations to Browning’s Bourne Town Hall in 1845.[6]
The Sessions House in Boston, Lincolnshire, was built between 1841 and 1842 and very similar to the Sessions House in Spalding (which was completed in 1843).[7] The new building accommodated the Quarter Sessions and the Kirton and Skirbeck Bench. It has been subject to very few alterations, most of which have been carried out in the custody and service areas located to the rear of the ground floor. The custody area has four cells which were labelled on the original plans (the location of which is now unknown) as ‘Male Felon at Hard Labour’, ‘Male Felon not at Hard Labour’, ‘Female Felon at Hard Labour’ and ‘Common Ward’. The Sessions House ceased to be used as a Magistrates Court in 2003.
The Sessions House in Spalding, Lincolnshire, was built in 1842 to 1843 and was designed by Charles Kirk and erected at a cost of £6,000. It was opened on 30 June 1843. There are two crenellated side towers and a recessed centre, which is two storeys high, with three bays divided by buttresses. In the centre are heraldic beast finials. There are three windows between the buttresses with 'Perpendicular' tracery and a central four-centred doorway.[8]