St George's Church, Portland

St George's Church is a Church of England church on the Isle of Portland, built between 1754 and 1766^[2] to replace St. Andrew's which had fallen into disuse and was no longer suitable as a place of worship.^[3] It is situated at the end of Reforne, close to Easton village.

During the 1960s a restoration of the church took place under the stewardship of a group formed to protect the church. It then came under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust, which continues to the present. No longer retained for regular worship, services are nevertheless held twice annually, on St George's Day and Christmas Day. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a Grade I listed building, having been designated in January 1951. It is one of three buildings on Portland to be Grade I Listed.^[4] In addition to this, the graveyard wall surrounding the church became Grade II Listed in September 1978,^[5] and the lych gate entrance to the church and its churchyard became Grade II Listed in May 1993.^[6]

History

The history of St. George's Church began in August 1753. A committee of Portlanders was formed to decide whether to put further finances into the dilapidated St. Andrew's Church or to erect a new church at a more accessible position. St. Andrew's suffered from an unstable site above Church Ope Cove, on the eastern side of the island, and was prone to landslips (notably those in 1665 and 1734). Within two months a decision was made, with a survey of the old church finding that repairs would be at least half the cost of a new building. A new site, situated at the end of Reforne, close to Easton and Weston, was chosen. This was partly to make the church more accessible to the parish, but also as it was one of the few places where graves could be dug the required six feet deep.^[7]

Before the fundraising could commence, an initial appeal proved to be successful in gaining some funding, with King George II donating £500. Another pair of benefactors were John and Richard Tucker, two of the most influential quarry owners of the time. Other sources of funding included the local Stone Grant Fund and a Parish rate, but most notably the decision was made to sell the box pews as freehold. One particular pew was left reserved for the rector's family, and this pew, nearest the pulpit, still has a small hole created by the rector's daughter, allowing her to see her father as she was not tall enough to see over the tip of the pew.^[8]

Work commenced on the construction of the church in 1754, with the laying of the foundation stone. During its period of construction, and with St Andrew's now too dangerous to use, a temporary meeting place was established two years later, for the local populous, at the lower end of Wakeham hamlet. The church's Act of Parliament was granted in 1755, allowing construction to become fully operational, with a contract of £2200 already in place. One necessity of the act was for all freehold owners to maintain their own pews, which proved to be successful initially, however when the pews began being divided over families, and members moved away, the requirement could no longer be enforced.^[9]

The church was completed in 1766, and a year after the completion of the church, a house was built nearby for the parish clerk, and this building would become The George Inn, one of Portland's oldest inhabited buildings today. In addition, the rectory to the church, The Old Rectory, was built on a scarp slope above Fortuneswell, at Old Hill. It later became a private hotel, and is now three dwellings.^[10] By 1794, however, the church's roof timbers became so decayed that the entire roof had to be replaced. A year later saw the first of two donations from King George II towards a new roof, the second of which followed in 1798, the latter one being a total of £200.^[11] Although the church was uncomfortable and exposed, it continued to serve the parish.^[7]

Over time more funding was needed to repair the church, along with a need to extend the church due to the dramatic increase in the population. By the 1830s the church had becoming increasingly impractical for the expanding Underhill population. It was decided to built a new church for the Underhill community within the centre of Fortuneswell. By 1840 St. John's Church had been built. In 1857 two schools were built to serve the island - St George's School in Reforne and St John's School in Fortuneswell. Beforehand Maister's School had been Portland's first and only free day school for over a hundred years since its establishment in 1720. When Rev T. A. Ottley from Radipole became vicar of St John's in 1874, this triggered a feud with the rector of St George's Church; Rev J. Augustine Beazor. This situation added to the traditional rift between the Portland communities of Tophill and Underhill. Beazor had criticised Ottley for permitting Tophill couples to marry at St John's Church. Eventually this matter was taken to the Bishop of Salisbury, and the outcome was judged in Ottley's favour. However, the feud became considerably more serious in 1883. Rev Ottley's wife disclosed to Rev Beazor that her husband was having an affair with his 17-year-old housekeeper. With this Rev Beazor quickly alerted the church authorities to the accusations against Rev Ottley. The case was taken to a court at the House of Lords, where Rev Ottley was later cleared of all charges. In April 1885 Rev Ottley returned to his Portland occupation at St. John's Church.^[12]

By 1901, many of the freeholds in St George's had become untraceable and the then bishop strongly objected to the seating arrangement, and expressed wish for a new church to be constructed.^[13] Those who owned pews were also in a position to reserve them for exclusive use, and this often led to the church being poorly attended.^[14] The original pews still survive due to the island's unusual land-law, Gavelkind, a custom of shared inheritance with the island's properties being passed on by equitable division among beneficiaries. These rights were split between hundreds of members of Portland families so modernising the seating was deemed impossible to get agreement from all part-owners involved.^[15]

By the early 20th century plans for a new Portland parish church were put forward to replace St George's Church. It was approved in 1913, partly due to the fact that the poorly attended St George's was not only unheated and uncomfortable, but the issue of the private freehold pews. All Saints Church was completed and consecrated in 1917, and succeeded to the rights, privileges, registers and silver of St George's Church.^[16]

St George's closed in 1914, largely due to its poor state of repair and inconvenient location. It fell into disrepair since that time. This was despite the fact that the population of Portland had increased ten-fold between 1801 and 1901. In 1940, during the Second World War, the church suffered some bomb damage, and this furthered its decline. During the 1950s it was listed as being in use as a cemetery chapel only. In 1968 however, the church came under the protection of a newly formed group, the 'Friends of St George's Church', who were able to restore the church, now no longer needed for regular worship. The church is now a redundant church in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.^[17] It was declared redundant on 16 April 1970, and was vested in the Trust on 27 October 1971.^[18] Aside from the two annual services that the church continues to hold, St George's Church is also opened during the summer to visitors.

In June 2012, after five months of restoration work, visitors were flocking to enjoy the rejuvenated church. £800,000 had been spent on repairs. Wessex Archaeology carried out a full archaeological survey of the church, and soldiers returning from active service were involved in the restoration. This project was named "Operation Nightingale", and involved vital conservation and repair of approximately a quarter of the tombstones and memorials in the enormous churchyard which contains as many as 1,000 graves.^[19] It was reported however that another £500,000 is required to fund more vital repairs in the next five years.^[20]

Architecture

View of St George's Church from the south

Designed by architect and quarry merchant Thomas Gilbert, St George's is regarded as one of the most impressive 18th-century churches in Dorset.^[1] It is a large church built of Portland stone and has a tower, a nave, transepts, an apse, and a kind of 'abortive dome' over the crossing.^[1] The design is reminiscent of the works of Christopher Wren (particularly the tower, in relation to those of St Paul's Cathedral).^[1] The north porch was added during the early 19th century. The windows are arranged in two tiers, all with simple, broad raised frames that lack moulding. Architect John Vanbrugh called the result "a masculine show".^[1] The church has two central pulpits, one was used for the sermon, which could last up to two hours, and the other for reading the word.^[21] The box pews were originally built to hold 600 locals. These are overlooked by the twin pulpits and the galleries. Gilbert was also the architect of a number of houses within the local area, including the Grade II* Listed Queen Anne House, his own residence built circa 1720.^[22]

Various monuments inside the church include one in the sanctuary inscribed: "Underneath lyes interr'd the body of Thomas Gilbert of this island, Gentleman, Architect and master builder of this ch. departed this life the 25th of July Anno Domini 1776 aged 70 yrs". Another is also dedicated to John Penn, a Portland governor who had the Gothic Revival mansion Pennsylvania Castle built for himself, and he died in 1834.^[4]

Churchyard

The churchyard dates from 1754, although the return at the southern end is said to be a 20th-century replacement. It is a long rectangular enclosure, made of Portland ashlar. The wall, generally circa 1.6 metres high, completely encloses the church's large graveyard.^[23]

The entrance to the church and its graveyard is a lych gate. The lintel to the eastern entry side is inscribed 'To the Glory of God', that to the west with 'A Shelter for those who mourn'. The stone panel on the south side of the entry records that the gate is a memorial to Rebecca Newman Stone, who died in 1934, and that to the north, undated, 'Also erected in memory of Edward and Ann Comben Stone'. The churchyard wall is swept up at its junction with the lych, and has scrolled supporters. There are no gates. The entrance is a very seemly and appropriate entry to a splendid churchyard and church.^[24]

Only after half a decade from the completion of St George's, the churchyard had become unsuitable for burials as the ground was consistently wet and in a state of ruin. Whenever a fresh grave was dug it was often found full of water. A solution to this came in 1772, when all adult men and boys on Portland were ordered to help dig an expansive drainage ditch circling the perimeter of the churchyard. Those who refused to help were required to send someone as a replacement, or a fine would be handed-out from the authorities.^[25]

The churchyard has a trove of headstones and memorials, made from Portland stone, some of which reveal murder, piracy and adventure. There are estimated to be around 2,500 headstones and monuments, dating from the mid 18th century.^[26] This comprises an unusually complete historical record of the Island families through that time.^[27] Both Mary Way and William Lano lie here, who were shot and killed in 1803 by a press gang, known as the Easton Massacre. As the gang were supported by the Mayor of Weymouth, this lead to a long-time hatred of Weymouth people by the older Portlanders. Joseph Trevitt, an assistant warder at HM Prison Portland, was buried in the churchyard, who was murdered by a convict in 1869.^[28] A local named William Hansford was killed during the infamous storms of 23 November 1824 when his house fell on him. George Leggett went aboard RRS Discovery to the Arctic, and Richard Otter was one of the victims of the sinking of RMS Titanic in 1912. Johann Magdelinsky drowned when the Royal Adelaide sank off Chesil in 1872, and was buried in the churchyard, whilst William Pearce was struck by lightning in 1858 whilst on duty atop Chesil Beach.^[7]

See also

• Grade I listed buildings in Dorset
• List of churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust in South West England

References

Citations

Sources