Henry Woodyer Explained

Henry Woodyer
Birth Date:	1816
Birth Place:	Guildford, Surrey, England
Death Date:	1896
Significant Buildings:	Holy Jesus' Church, Lydbrook St Martin's Church, Dorking
Significant Projects:	Cranleigh School

Henry Woodyer (1816–1896) was an English architect, a pupil of William Butterfield and a disciple of A. W. N. Pugin and the Ecclesiologists.^[1]

Life

Woodyer was born in Guildford, Surrey, England, in 1816, the son of a successful, highly respected surgeon, who owned Allen House in the Upper High Street. His mother came from the wealthy Halsey family who owned Henley Park, just outside Guildford.

Woodyer was educated first at Eton College, then at Merton College, Oxford. As a result, he could claim to be one of the best educated architects since Sir Christopher Wren. Whilst at Oxford, he became involved in the Anglican high church movement and throughout his career he saw his work as an architect as a means of serving the church.

Works

Churches (new)

• Holy Innocents' Church, Highnam, Gloucestershire (including sexton's cottage), 1847
• St Michael's Church, Camberley, Surrey, 1849-51^[2]
• St Paul's Church, Sketty, Swansea, Glamorgan, 1849–50, for John Henry Vivian
• Holy Jesus' Church, Lydbrook, Gloucestershire, 1850–51
• Christ Church, Christchurch Road, Reading, Berkshire, 1861-2^[3]
• St Peter's Church, Hascombe 1862, described by Betjeman as "a Tractarian work of art"^[4]
• St Paul's Church, Langleybury, Abbots Langley (1863-5)
• St Augustine's Church, Haggerston, 1866-7, Woodyer's only London church, closed in 1983^[5] and converted to arts centre in 1997^[6]
• St Martin's Church, Dorking (1868–77) described by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as Woodyer's most important^{[7] [8]}
• All Saints Church, Portfield, Chichester (1869–71)
• St Andrew's Church, Grafham, Surrey
• St James Church, Farnham, Surrey (1876)
• St John the Baptist Church, Odo Street, Hafod, Swansea, 1878–80, for Henry Hussey Vivian
• St John the Evangelist Church, Woodley, Berkshire, 1873, for Robert Palmer
• Holy Trinity Church, Millbrook, Southampton (1873–1880)^[9]
• Church of St Luke, Burpham Surrey, 1859
• Church of St Peter and Holy Cross, Wherwell, Hampshire
• Chapel at Convent of St John the Baptist, Clewer, Berkshire (1881)

Churches (restoration or rebuilding)

• St Blaise Church, Milton, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire), 1849–51^[10]
• St Nicolas' Church, Newbury, Berkshire, 1858^[11]
• St Mary's Church, Caldicot, Monmouthshire, 1859
• St Andrew's parish church, Clewer, Berkshire: north arcade, 1858^[12]
• St John the Evangelist, Twinstead, Essex, 1859-60^[13]
• St John the Baptist parish church, Berwick St John, Wiltshire, 1861^[14]
• St Bartholomew's parish church, Wanborough, Surrey, 1861
• St George's parish church, Evenley, Northamptonshire 1864-5
• St Lawrence parish church, Toot Baldon, Oxfordshire, 1865^[15]
• St Swithin's parish church, Compton Bassett, Wiltshire: chancel, chancel chapels and north porch (1866)^[16]
• St Laurence parish church, Caversfield, Oxfordshire, 1874^[17]
• All Saints parish church, Wokingham, Berkshire.
• St John the Divine parish church, Patching, West Sussex, 1888–89^[18]

Other institutional buildings

• School (now the Stewart Hall), Sketty, Swansea, 1853, for John Henry Vivian
• St Edmund's Church School, Salisbury, Wiltshire, 1860^[19]
• Fisherton Anger Church School, Fisherton, Salisbury, Wiltshire, 1867^[20]
• House of Mercy, Clewer, Berkshire, 1853–73^[21]
• Cranleigh School, Surrey 1863-65 and the Chapel 1869
• New Schools, Eton College, 1861–63^[22]
• The "Burning Bush", Eton (1864)
• St Michael's College, Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire
• The Chapel at St Thomas's Home for the Friendless and Fallen, Darlington Road, Basingstoke dedicated on 21 July 1885, the eve of St Mary Magdalen's feast day
• All Saints Hospital and Chapel, Eastbourne (1867–74)
• House of Mercy, Ditchingham, Norfolk (1859)

Domestic buildings

• Woodyer House, Bramley, Surrey
• Muntham Court in Findon, West Sussex rebuilt in Jacobean style between 1877 and 1887^[23]
• Alterations to Parc Wern (now Parc Beck), Sketty, Glamorgan, 1851–3 for H.H. Vivian
• Church Cottage, Tutshill, Gloucestershire, c. 1852.^[24]
• Brynmill Lodge (gate-lodge) and (attributed) Verandah (a small Gothic house, 1853) at Singleton Abbey, Swansea) for J.H. Vivian
• Alterations to Hall Place, Buckinghamshire, 1868^[25]
• Alterations to Tyntesfield, Wraxall, Somerset for Matilda Blanche Gibbs, 1885-89
• Twyford Moors House Twyford, Hants 1861
• The Old Rectory, Creeting St Mary, Suffolk 1863
• St Paul's Church Hall, Reading - Built 1859 as a school, but for the first two years was used for religious services before the completion of Christ Church. Later the building was used as a church hall for the adjacent St Paul's Church, Whitley Wood. It was sold by the church in 1983 and was converted to private housing.^[26]

Sources

• Book: Elleray, D. Robert. Sussex Places of Worship. 2004. Optimus Books. Worthing. 0-9533132-7-1.
• Book: Elliott, John . John Prichard . Henry Woodyer: Gentleman Architect . University of Reading . 2002 .
• Book: Nairn. Ian. Ian Nairn. Pevsner. Nikolaus. Nikolaus Pevsner. The Buildings of England: Sussex. Penguin Books. Harmondsworth. 1965. 0-14-071028-0.
• Book: Newman, John . Stephen Hughes . Anthony Ward . Glamorgan . Yale University Press . 2004 . New Haven and London . 0-300-09629-1.
• Book: Pevsner, Nikolaus . Nikolaus Pevsner . . 1966 . . Harmondsworth .
• Book: Pevsner, Nikolaus . Nikolaus Pevsner . The Buildings of England: Buckinghamshire . 1960 . . Harmondsworth .
• Book: Pevsner, Nikolaus . Nikolaus Pevsner . Cherry, Bridget (revision) . . 1975 . 1963 . . Harmondsworth . 0140710264 .
• Book: Sherwood, Jennifer . Pevsner, Nikolaus . Nikolaus Pevsner . . 1974 . . Harmondsworth . 0-14-071045-0 .
• Book: Tyack, Bradley and Pevsner, Geoffrey, Simon and Nikolaus. The Buildings of England: Berkshire. 2010. Yale University Press. New Haven and London. 978-0-300-12662-4.

Notes and References

1. Newman, Hughes & Ward, 2004
2. Nairn, Ian and Nikolaus Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Surrey, 1970, page 128
3. Tyack, Bradley and Pevsner, 2010, page 445
4. Mural Painting in Britain 1840-1940: Image and Meaning, Clare A. P. Willsdon, p232 (2001)
5. Web site: Inside the Grade II-listed Gothic Hackney vicarage conversion for sale. 2017-03-22. Homes and Property. 2020-04-12.
6. Book: London 4 : North. 2002. Yale University Press. Nairn, Iain . Cherry, Bridget., Pevsner, Nikolaus, 1902-1983 . 0-300-09653-4. New Haven. 513. 719418475.
7. Book: Nairn . Ian . Ian Nairn . Pevsner . Nikolaus . Nikolaus Pevsner . The Buildings of England: Surrey . . Harmondsworth . 1962 . 1st . 168 .
8. Quiney . Anthony . 1995 . 'Altogether a Capital Fellow and a Serious Fellow Too': A Brief Account of the Life and Work of Henry Woodyer, 1816-1896 . Architectural History . 38 . 192–219 . 10.2307/1568628 . 1568628. 195026384 .
9. Web site: Holy Trinity Church, Millbrook. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304052051/http://www.plimsoll.org/resources/SCCLibraries/2714.asp. usurped. 4 March 2016. Photograph from 1930. Port Cities: Southampton. 19 May 2012.
10. Pevsner, 1966, page 178
11. Pevsner, 1966, page 180
12. Pevsner, 1966, page 300
13. Book: Bettley, James . Essex . 2007 . Yale University Press . Nikolaus Pevsner . 978-0-300-11614-4 . New Haven, Conn. . 794 . 78988869.
14. Pevsner & Cherry, 1975, page 108
15. Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 819
16. Pevsner & Cherry, 1975, page 188
17. Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 523
18. Web site: A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 6 Part 1 – Bramber Rape (Southern Part). Patching. Hudson. T. P. . 1980. Victoria County History of Sussex. British History Online. 185–192. 24 May 2011.
19. Pevsner & Cherry, 1975, page 444
20. Pevsner & Cherry, 1975, page 459
21. Pevsner, 1966, page 305
22. Pevsner, 1960, page 129
23. Book: Stanley, Donald . 1992 . Muntham Court Estate and Worthing Crematorium . D. Stanley . 6 . A Short History of Muntham . 0952030101.
24. Steven Morris: "The ultimate Harry Potter memorabilia: JK Rowling's childhood home is for sale", guardian.co.uk, 13 July 2011.
25. Web site: Hall Place Parterre . 31 December 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080127202624/http://www.andersonandglenn.com/urban2.htm . 27 January 2008 . dead .
26. Book: Elliott . John . Pritchard . John . 2002 . Henry Woodyer : Gentleman architect . University of Reading . Reading . 978-0-7049-1331-8 . 133–134.