Superquick church

[C&WR]

...Finally, I'm suspicious of that door in the north wall of the chancel. Someone will surely find one if I stick my neck out and say that such doors in the north and south walls of small chancels like this did certainly exist in the past, but mostly have now long been blocked. If they remain in use, it is invariably because an 18/19/20th century vestry has been added to the outside of the church and they have become an internal doorway....

 

I won't argue with such a scholarly answer, but on the subject of doors note a local church to me (albeit the South side):

 

 

As a boy we used to enter by the larger door to the left (West) with the porch into the nave. In the '80s (?, I'd gone away at that point) the interior was completely remodelled so the door to the right (East) became the entrance with the Chancel becoming just a chapel for small services & the focus of the church being to the West where there was space for happy-clappyness, spiritual dancing & the like. The West door is occasionally used, though.

[Clive Mortimore]

There are quite a few Essex Churches in the same style as the Superquick one, St Peter And St Paul Black Notley http://www.peterjoslin.btinternet.co.uk/black_notley1.htm , St Etheldreda White Notley http://stepneyrobarts.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/white-notley-essex.html and All Saints Stock http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/128915 come to mind.

 

Clive

[Barry Ten]

I for one as a model think it looks good, although these days I would go along the scratch building route of something similar.

 

So would I, but I've got this "thing" about rehabilitating old Superquick kits that were made for me by parents when I was small.

 

eg:

 

 

and:

 

 

My church is in good repair apart from a slighty dented steeple but I wouldn't mind doing a few tweaks to it, and perhaps it wouldn't be too ridiculous in a Dorset setting?

[Campaman]

I think the main problem with the Superquick church is the wooden/cladding part of the tower, I have had a real good look through the site below, and there most churches seem to have square towers rather than pointed spires.

 

http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/

[C&WR]

My church is in good repair apart from a slighty dented steeple but I wouldn't mind doing a few tweaks to it, and perhaps it wouldn't be too ridiculous in a Dorset setting?

 

Wouldn't be out of place in Chesterfield!

[buffalo]

I won't argue with such a scholarly answer, but on the subject of doors note a local church to me (albeit the South side):...

Thanks for finding that, I knew if threw down the challenge, someone would find one. Mind you, it is easy to appreciate its use in a church of that size, though somewhat less so in such a small one as the Superquick model.

 

There are quite a few Essex Churches in the same style as the Superquick one, St Peter And St Paul Black Notley http://www.peterjosl...ack_notley1.htm , St Etheldreda White Notley http://stepneyrobart...tley-essex.html and All Saints Stock http://www.geograph....uk/photo/128915 come to mind.

Thanks for those, Clive. They do appear to fit well with what we've learnt to call the "Essex Vernacular" style.

 

...and perhaps it wouldn't be too ridiculous in a Dorset setting?

You can certainly get away with flint and limestone walls. The combination of all the features may be difficult, but here's a small wooden boarded belfry, and a broach spire, though not in the same church. The main problem, I would have thought, is that like several other south-western counties, Dorset towers tend to be fairly substantial square stone structures. Time to invoke Rule No 1, methinks.

 

I think the main problem with the Superquick church is the wooden/cladding part of the tower, I have had a real good look through the site below, and there most churches seem to have square towers rather than pointed spires.

 

http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/

Whilst some earlier comments referred generally to East Anglia, I thought we had subsequently narrowed this down to Essex where the timber belfry clad with weatherboard or shingles is very common. As you say, the churches of Suffolk and Norfolk are indeed quite different and reflect some significant differences in the rural and economic history of these counties.

 

Nick

[trisonic]

Nick,

 

I should have revised "Stafford" to "The Black Country"!

Now I'm wondering whether the photo was in one of the Black Country Blues threads....I'll have to check later.

 

Another interesting Essex Church is at West Hanningfield - I haven't looked for that yet...

 

Cool thread!

Pete.

[Peter Kazmierczak]

I think Ian Allan missed a trick on not having an ABC of churches.