St. John the Divine Brooklands Sale

In 1856, Samuel Brooks purchased a large area of ground alongside the recently opened Manchester to Altrincham railway. The railway company opened a new station for the area and named it Brooklands. 'Old Stink o' Brass' as Samuel Brooks was jokingly called (for he was a tough but friendly Lancashire man with a liking for repartee) had made a fortune in banking in Manchester, whilst indulging at the same time his passion for land development. Having transformed large parts of Sale and created a garden suburb at Whalley Range, he entered upon his new project with equal vigour in his retirement. He successfully drained the marshy ground and built a road running southeast across it for one and a quarter miles as straight as an arrow. Stately mansions were built by wealthyManchester businessmen on each side, and trees lined the road presenting a green avenue of pine, beech, lime and poplar. But Samuel Brooks was a churchman and he knew that to make a district into a community, it needed a church. He had already built a church at Whalley Range and he now looked 'around for a competent architect for his Brooklands church. He decided to employ a young Manchester architect called Alfred Waterhouse who had recently won renown with his plans for the Manchester Assize Courts. Brooks gave 8500 square yards of land and granted £10,000 for the building and endowment of the church which was to be 'the centrepiece of a respectable suburb.' This was at a time when churches in Manchester were being built for £2000.

Work began in 1864 but was delayed by the death of Samuel Brooks later that year. Waterhouse had not previously built an Anglican church, and despite his growing reputation for secular buildings such as the Assize Courts and Strangeways Gaol, St John's was not an easy commission. There existed a powerful society in the 1860's, the Cambridge Camden Society, which had over the years dictated how Anglican churches should be built. Even architects of the stature of Gilbert Scott and Butterfield awaited its critical  pronouncements anxiously. 'Laws' were laid down on the length and width of the nave, the length of the chancel, the number of steps leading up to it, and where to place fonts, pulpits and reading desks. Waterhouse as a young man cautiously obeyed many of these laws at St John's. Towards the end of his career when famous and much in demand, he was able to ignore them as is noticeable at St. Elizabeth's Reddish, where the difference between the two churches can be attributed partly to the development of his ideas over a period of 30 years. At St John's, which was completed in 1868, he concentrated on the building itself and how its ornamentation. It is built of good Yorkshire stone with two fine facades to east and west. The interior is lined with cream and brown brickwork in horizontal stripes and diaper work ('Bristol Byzantine' some called it). The plan is simple, small transepts, no aisles, no clerestory and roofed in one span. The four columns supporting the transept arches were kept plain and squat and there was no tower or spire other than a small bell fleche which was destroyed in a fire in 1945. An interesting feature is the double gabled roofs to the transepts. In 1968 (the centenary) the church hall was built alongside the west end of the church. It is a fine building in its own right and has proved invaluable in the work of the church for this parish, yet one feels Waterhouse would have regretted the concealment of much of the west facade which was considered the finest elevation of the church.

Finally, the stained glass should be mentioned. Waterhouse did not approve of strong, bright colours but the glass installed in the late 19th century is exciting and of high standard. A wrought iron chancel screen, designed by Henry Wilson of the Arts and Crafts Movement, was an attractive addition in 1907.[Vic Soc Newsletter Winter 2005 Rex and Irene Collins]

On Thursday week, the new church of St. John the Divine, Brooklands, near Manchester, was consecrated by the Lord Bishop of Chester. The style is Gothic of a simple type, belonging to the earlier period of French work rather than to that of England. The materials of which it is built are Yorkshire shoddies of a warm tint, with dressings of Halifax stone, ihe walls being lined internally with fire‑bricks, cream and brown, in bands and diaper work. The plan is a nave of six bays, 90 feet long by 33 feet wide, without clerestory, roofed in one span, having transepts north and south, taking up the two easternmost bays, divided from the nave by arcades of two arches. The extreme width across the transepts is 68 feet. Beneath the eastern rose window is a reredos painted in wax colour, covering a space of 13 feet. wide by 6 feet 6 inches. high; it is divided into three compartments, the central subject being our Lord in glory, with, on either hand, angels in postures of adoration, and at the four corners of the central panel are cherubs apparently full of song; the background of the work is filled in with plants of wheat and vine, conventionally treated. Above the reredos, in the spandrels below the rose window, are two medallions, filled with Caen stone, heads of the Blessed Virgin and St. John, with gilded aureoles. The building is arranged to accommodate at least 500 worshippers, and a large proportion of the seats are free. The general contract for the work has been carried out by Mr Joseph Robinson, junior, of Hyde, from the designs and under the superintendence of Mr Alfred Waterhouse, architect, of London and Manchester. [Building News 17 April 1868 page 264]

BROOKLAND, DIOCESE OF CHESTER – A very handsome church at Brooklands, dedicated to St. John, has just been consecrated by the Bishop of Chester. It has been erected in accordance with the will of the late Mr Samuel Brooks (Messrs. Brooks, Cunliffe, and Co., bankers, Manchester), who set apart £10,000 for the purpose. The architect is Mr Waterhouse. Though the style of the building is undoubtedly gothic, its most distinctive features are suggestive rather of the early French than of English development. The internal arrangements, including a spacious chancel, are very satisfactory. The font is of Caen stone, with an oaken cover of simple tabernacle work. The decorations, of lotus and lilies, are in good keeping. The top is surmounted by a tripartite finial, symbolic of the Holy Trinity. The Adytus to the chancel is by six stone steps. To the right of these steps is an eagle lectern, bearing the Inscription: Ex dono Gulielmi Brooks, MA. and to the left is the pulpit, which, though raised above the floor of the nave, is entered on the same level as the chancel. The pulpit, like the font, is of Caen stone, but has richly carved panels, the subjects, which are finely executed, being—first, the emblematic eagle, symbolical of the patron saint, while the other three, viz., the winged ox, the winged lion, and the man, represent the other Evangelists. Beneath the oriel window is a reredos of extraordinary beauty. It is painted in wax colour, and covers a space of 18 feet in width by 5 feet 6 inches in height. The painting is divided into three compartments. The centre one represents our Lord in glory, the robes being richly jewelled and starred, while the mace, the crown, and the ball are simply marvels of the art of illumination. The panel on the left, which is of equal dimensions, and equally highly decorated, bears on the top the inscription, “King Of Kings," and on the bottom is the legend, “I am the Bread of Life." The subject of the panel is an angelic figure waving the censer, and the decorations are ears of wheat. The corresponding panel on the right is similarly treated, the inscription on the top being, “Lord of Lords," and the legend at the bottom is I am the True Vine." The panel is decorated with vine leaves, the angelic figure in this instance being that of “Adoration." Above this painting, in the spandrels below the window, are two medallions filled with Caen stone heads, one being that of the Madonna, and the other St. John. The aureoles of these medallions being gilded, the halo of pale gold has an almost illusive effect when, as happened during the consecration, the sunlight falls upon them obliquely. The same elegant costliness seems to characterize the altar. The chief ornament is a massive gilt cross, with a flower vase on each side, and a candlestick at each end. The altar cloth was of purple velvet, and the frontal (which is moveable) showed an emblematical design, in a trine form, of fish—this being the furniture for Lent. There are three other cloths of equal costliness, though of different hues, and there are also three other moveable frontals, the decorations of which are the passion flower, the lily, etc. These frontals, and likewise the cloths which are respectively green, red, and white, will be used suitably to the several seasons of the Christian year. These are the work of Messrs Brown and Son, the Church furniture decorators of Manchester. The only remaining feature to be noticed is the sacramental plate, which was displayed on a table to the left of the chancel. The several vessels are simply yet elegantly chased, and each of them bears a similar legend, in Latin, to the one engraved upon the eagle lectern. [Church Times 18 April 1868 page 149]

BROOKLANDS (MANCHESTER) - The church of St, John the Divine, at Brooklands, built and endowed at the cost of the late Mr. Sam Brooks, has been formally consecrated by the Bishop of Chester. The building, which was commenced in 1864, has only just been completed. It is situated on the west side of the road running through the Brooklands estate, due south from the South Junction Railway. The church is in style Gothic, and as evidenced by its most distinctive feature, such as sections of mouldings, proportions of arches, and carving, of a simple typo, belonging, perhaps, to the earlier period of French work, rather than to that of England. The materials of which it is built are - externally, Yorkshire shoddies of a warm tint, with dressed work of Halifax stone, whilst, internally, the walls are lined with fire-bricks, cream and brown, in bands and diaper-work. The plan is a nave of six bays, 90 ft. long by 33 ft. wide, without clearstory, roofed in one span, having transepts north and south, taking up the two easternmost bays, divided from the nave by arcades of two arches. The extreme width across the nave is 68 ft. Reached by a broad flight of steps are a choir and chancel, 32 ft. long by 20 ft. wide, with organ-chamber to the south, and on the north a small door leading to the sacristy. The building is entered at three doorways, one in the west front, a porch on the north-west, and a porch at the angle of the sacristy and north-west transept. The chief facades of the building are the west and east. Right and left of the canopied western doorway the wall-space is broken up with a simple arcade, above which, and occupying nearly the whole of the gable, rises an arch, filled in with a pair of three-light windows, with traceried heads of three plain circles, a piece subdivided by geometrical iron glazing grilles. The sill of these windows is kept up a considerable height from the ground, and between it and the subsill of the main arch, under which the windows are grouped, are two large circular medallions, one on either hand of the door canopy, filled with highly relieved sculpture. The subjects are the Call of St. John from his fishing-net to become a “fisher of men,” and his writing of " the things he saw in the isle called Patmos.” At the east is a rose window, of seven circles: all but the centre are cusped cinquefoil. Below the window is an arched panel, containing, in relief, the evangelical symbol, the eagle. The reredos, painted in wax-colour, covers a space of 13 ft. wide by 5 ft. 6 in. high; it is divided into three compartments, the central subject being our Lord in Glory, with, on either hand, angels in postures of adoration, and at the four corners of the central panel are cherubs. The background of the work is filled in with plants of wheat and vine conventionally treated. Above the reredos, in the spandrels below the rose window, are two medallions, filled with Caen stone heads of the Virgin Mary and St. John, with gilded aureoles. The choir and chancel-floor and walls, to a height of 4 ft. 6 in., are laid with encaustic tiles. The whole of the windows are glazed with two tints of green glass, with the geometric forms in tracery picked out with touches of brilliant colour. The church is at present towerless, having but a slight beaded wood bell-fleche rising from the nave-ridge, and supported by the roof-trusses. The building is arranged to accommodate at least 500 people, and a large proportion of the seats are free. [Builder 25 April 1868 page 303]

Reference        Builder 25 April 1868 page 303
Reference        Building News 17 April 1868 page 264
Reference        Church Times 18 April 1868 page 149
Reference        Vic Soc Newsletter Winter 2005 Rex and Irene Collins