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George Frederick Bodley (1827-1907)
Architect of St John the Baptist, Epping
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Bodley was born in 1827 and as a
young man became a pupil of Sir Gilbert Scott – famous for the Albert
Memorial and St Pancras Station as well as Ecclesiastical buildings
such as St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh. He remained with
Scott for a five-year apprenticeship and confessed that he had a
‘dreary time of it.’ In 1849 he set up on his own and subsequently went
into partnership with Thomas Garner. Later he joined forces with Cecil
Hare who had much to do with St John’s, designing, amongst other
things, the Triptych and the East Window.
Bodley belonged to a school of
architects who were influenced by the High Church Tractarian movement
of his time and as the Victorians expanded church building, so he had
the opportunity to design many fine churches. He also had associations
with the Pre-Raphaelite movement and was a friend of William Morris who
lived, for a time on the edge of Epping Forest near Chingford.
In his book, Muscular Churches,
C M Smart said of Bodley:
No architect in the second half
of the nineteenth century was more successful or more prolific than
George Frederick Bodley (1827-1907), whose innumerable churches in the
Gothic style represent the climax of the Gothic Revival in England… The
heaviness of Bodley’s High Victorian work of the 1850s and early 1860s
evolved by the end of the decade into church designs that featured
simple spaces, magnificently decorated.
Although Bodley was an architect of
considerable ability, his greatest talent was as a decorator of
churches. His talent in this area lay in his ability to see the
interior as a whole and to be able to bring all decoration – patterns,
fittings, glass – into a harmonious unity. In order to do this, he kept
tight control over every design decision, often even designing altar
vessels and vestments.”
Bodley was the leading exponent of the
Gothic revival in ecclesiastical architecture in England during the
19th century and his work was greatly influential on British architects
such as Sir Ninian Comper and on those continuing to work in the Gothic
tradition in America.
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He was a great sponsor of other artists including the
Pre-Raphaelites. He was associated with William Morris and the
stained-glass artist Charles Eamer Kempe who
designed the organ case and three of the stained glass windows at St
John's
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Bodley quickly
developed his own style and, influenced by the writings of John Ruskin,
sought to create churches that featured simple spaces, magnificently
decorated. The interior of St John's is an essay in the 14th
Century East Anglian Gothic style
In the room at the base of the Tower
(which was built to Bodley's original designs in 1907) is a memorial
stone to the architect who - in the words of the tablet - died as the
tower rose up.
St John's is a building
which encapsulates Bodley’s philosophy of space and grandeur – an
Extravagant Vision which is all of a piece – a lofty, decorated space
which carries the soul towards God.
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St. John’s Church
has Bodley’s vestment design which was restored by Watts & Co in
2007, in time for the centenary of Bodley's death, and the White Festal
Frontal, restored by Tine Rumble.
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