A LONDON VILLAGE CHURCH
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sue—Sir W. Beach Thomas is correct in writing of the " air of quiet rusticity " which our church and its surroundings bear. But, if he would allow me one day to show him the church, he would quickly discover that a large part of this " sixteenth century church " was built in 1873. All that remains of the sixteenth century building is the tower, the north wall and the west end of the chancel.
May I ask Sir W. Beach Thomas what our cathedrals would be like, if our forefathers had adopted his obilcr dictum that " it is generally, .wit;er ,to build a new church than to spoil an old " ? As far as I know, St. Paul's is the only old Cathedral which was, so to speak, built to plan. All the others are the more fascinating because they often show such totally different styles of architecture under the same roof. For instance, no archaeologists, as far as I know, rose in their wrath when Henry VII suggested adding his chapel to Westminster Abbey.—
Previous page
