of Great Britain
What are the characteristics of an Arts and Crafts Church? Can a church be built in the spirit of the Arts and Crafts movement? The ideas behind the Arts and Crafts philosophy:
Distrust of the effects of the industrial revolution
'Our old modes of exertion are all discredited, and thrown aside. On every hand, the living artisan is driven from his workshop, to make room for a speedier, inanimate one. The shuttle drops from the fingers of the weaver, and falls into iron fingers that ply it faster'
Thomas Carlyle
Coalbrookdale by Night, Philip James de Loutherbourg (1740-1812) Science Museum / Science & Society Picture Library
The value of craftsmanship
For there is this difference between the English and Venetian workman, that the former thinks only of accurately matching his patterns, and getting his curves perfectly true and his edges perfectly sharp, and becomes a mere machine for rounding curves and sharpening edges, while the old Venetian cared not a whit whether his edges were sharp or not, but he invented a new design for every glass that he made, and never moulded a handle or a lip without a new fancy in it. John Ruskin
Social Harmony
A society will not be able to produce great works of art if is riven with inequality.
First, I will say what I mean by being a Socialist, since I am told that the word no longer expresses definitely and with certainty what it did ten years ago. Well, what I mean by Socialism is a condition of society in which there should be neither rich nor poor, neither master nor master's man, neither idle nor overworked, neither brain-sick brain workers, nor heart-sick hand workers, in a word, in which all men would be living in equality of condition, and would manage their affairs unwastefully, and with the full consciousness that harm to one would mean harm to all-the realization at last of the meaning of the word COMMONWEALTH.
The Tithe Barn at Great Coxwell was William Morris' favourite building
Local Materials and building techniques
Randall Wells described the building of the church at Kempley thus:
‘The work was done without a contractor, and the labour was mainly local, assisted by masons who had previously worked with the architect.(this was at All Saints Brockhampton RB)
The stone used was from the Forest of Dean quarries, about seven miles distant. The walling is of the usual rough character adopted in the district, with quoins as little wrought as present day masons’ training will allow. The roof timbers were of oak cut on the estate and used green; the covering of stone tiles diminishing from a length of 5 ft. at the eaves to 1 ft. at the ridge. The bulk of these slates were quarried by the workmen from a piece of land hired in the Forest of Dean, stone tiling having fallen into disuse in the district.