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Churches which still retain west gallery
features or connections |
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Alresford, Dedication
not known
|
"Nice west
gallery with twisted balusters." (Pevsner) |
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Belchamp Otten, Dedication
not known
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Box-pews and NW
gallery. Early 19th C. (Pevsner) |
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Billericay, Dedication
not known
|
Late 18th C interior,
3 galleries and other fittings. (Pevsner) |
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Boxted, Dedication
not known
|
West gallery dated
1836 (?) on cast-iron columns. (Pevsner) |
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Chingford, Dedication
not known |
Church dates from
1836 and has west gallery on cast-iron columns. (Pevsner) |
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Chipping
Ongar, St Martin |
The chancel and nave
date from the 11th C. Original date of west gallery
not recorded, but it was certainly in being in 1752-53 when
other work was done. West gallery rebuilt in 1860.
1896 new organ positioned on gallery and choir moved to
chancel. |
|
Colchester, St Botolph |
Church dates from
1837, and contains galleries. (Pevsner) |
|
Colchester, St Giles |
Now a redundant
church, the interior dates from 1819, and includes a west
gallery. (Pevsner) |
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Colchester, St Peter |
Church dates from
18th C. and contains North and South galleries. (Pevsner) |
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Danbury, St
John the Baptist |
"In the tower arch . . . is a pretty
gallery of circa 1600" (Pevsner) |
|
Harwich, St
Nicholas |
Built in 1820 - 21, with
west gallery surmounted by organ, north and south galleries,
high pews at west end, and a pew set aside for the Mayor and
Corporation. |
|
High
Ongar, St Mary the Virgin |
The west gallery was
constructed in 1858. The organ now in the centre of
the gallery was purchased in 1871 |
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Hornchurch, St
Andrew
|
The church was certainly in
existence by 1163. Payments to the singers were made
during the 19th C., but appear to cease when a barrel organ
was first purchased. This was placed at the front of
the west gallery (this being the first mention of such a
gallery yet found) In 1861 a larger pipe organ was purchased
and installed close to the chancel, the barrel organ being
sold. The west gallery is now used as a ringing chamber. |
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East Horndon,
All Saints |
A church with a cruciform plan, with small
galleries in each transept, which take the form of upper rooms. These were
built in the 17th C.
"Balconies or galleries divide the narrow
transepts into two storeys" (Pevsner)
|
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Gosfield, St
Katherine |
The church contains a theatre-box type of
Squire's pew. |
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Lambourne, St Mary & All
Saints |
A simple mediaeval aisleless church which
contains a gallery dated 1704, the gift of a London ironmonger. It was
plastered "sumptuously" in Georgian times. (CEPC)
|
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Lawford, Dedication
not known |
North arcade built
1826; North aisle has early 19th C. "wooden gallery on
cast-iron shafts. (Pevsner) |
|
South Benfleet,
St Mary the Virgin |
West gallery 1931 by Sir Charles
Nicholson. (Pevsner)
Used essentially as an organ
gallery. Rood screen and early ballusters around Sanctuary. |
|
Stanford Rivers,
St
Margaret |
Nave mid-12th C. Chancel 14th
C. West gallery constructed 1817. Bomb damage
1944 and restoration 1948-52. The west gallery was not
taken down, but a partition was was fixed to the front of
it, so converting it into a Parish Room,
thus rendering it unusable as a gallery.
This partitioning has now been
removed. "Bits of tracery [from the screen] have been reused
in the west gallery."
(Pevsner)
|
|
Wanstead, St Mary the
Virgin |
Said to be the best example surviving of an 18th
C. church in Essex. It was entirely rebuilt in 1790 by Thomas Hardwick.
The
pulpit has a sounding board supported by slender palm tree columns; box-pews;
three (N, W, & E.) galleries. (CEPC) |
|
West Bergholt, Dedication
not known |
"Rustic C18th gallery"
(guide
book) On Tuscan columns. # |
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Churches which are known to have had west
gallery features or connections |
|
Bobbingworth, St
Germain |
Chancel built in 14th C. onto a 13th C. nave.
The nave was rebuilt in brick in 1680, and the chancel was
replaced in 1840. A west gallery was erected in the
nave in 1770, but was removed in 1931-32 during repairs to
the roof and the south wall. |
|
Epping, St John the Baptist |
An ancient site. The first chapel of which
there is record was altered and enlarged many times. In 1838
a 'Singers' gallery was built. The chapel remained a
Chapel-of-ease for many years, and in 1812 a new chapel was
built on the same site. - this was rectangular with
galleries on three sides. (All this time the parish church
for Epping was at Epping Upland)
In 1889 St John's was rebuilt with Bodley as the
architect, in a style which was 14th C Gothic. It was
fitted with the tenets of the Ecclesiologists and the Oxford
Movement, and by Act of Parliament it became the Parish
Church of Epping. No galleries after 1889. |
|
Epping UplandAll Saints |
Had a
west gallery up until 1858. [Christopher
Bard] |
|
Fyfield, St Nicholas |
Nave 12th C. Chancel 14th C. A west
gallery was installed during the late 18th C., although the
date is not recorded. The gallery was removed during
1894 when "restoration" was being carried out. |
|
Havering-atte-Bower, St Mary the Virgin |
This was an ancient Royal Chapel, which was
rebuilt during 1374-77 as the village church. The
first mention of a west gallery is in 1745, although the
actual date of construction is not known. In 1836 the
church was enlarged, and the gallery was rebuilt for the use
of "The Charity School, Sunday School and
Singers." Forty years later the church, together
with the west gallery, was demolished, and a new modern
church as built and consecrated in 1878. |
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Helions
Bumpstead, St Andrew |
TL 6541. West Gallery removed due to
dry rot. Organ removed from gallery c.1924.
Organ thought originally to have been a barrel organ. http://lehuray2.csi.cam.ac.uk/ |
|
Moreton, St Mary the Virgin |
Present building dates from the 13th C.,
although there was an earlier church building on the same
spot. West Gallery built on 1727 as part of a
Benefaction. A Barrel organ was acquired after th
1868-69 "restoration". At the purchase of a
positif organ in 1905 the west gallery was taken down. |
|
Saffron Walden, St Mary the Virgin |
Gallery for Audley End family erected circa 1660
in place of rood loft, and gallery in north aisle in 1790. Removed 1860. |
|
Stapleford Tawney, St
Mary |
The chancel was built in 1220, and the nave
shortly after. A west gallery was constructed late in
the 18th C. by the Lord of the Manor for the use of his
servants and the 'singers'. Although done without a
faculty, retrospective consent was given. In 1862 a
major restoration of the church was carried out, during
which the gallery was removed. |
|
Stondon
Massey, St Peter & St Paul |
Church dates from ca. 1100. In
1825 a gallery for the singers and the church band was built
on the north side of the nave. In 1850 this was removed by a
new vicar, and a singers' pew at the west end developed into
a west gallery. A barrel organ was also installed. The
west gallery was demolished in 1873, being deemed
"unsightly", and the barrel organ replaced by a
harmonium.
William Byrd lived here for the last 30 years of his
life. |
|
Theydon Garnon, Dedication not known |
Chancel 13th C. Nave 15th
C. The first mention of psalm-singers is in
1774, by which time they could well have been singing
together for some time. The Vestry Meeting in 1774
decided to have a "Singers' Gallery" - location
not mentioned. Another source confirms that this was
in the north aisle. Gallery removed in 1863, when the
location was panelled. |
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Theydon
Mount, St
Michael |
The west gallery was erected in 1837
for the use of Hill Hall servants and musicians. It was removed
1926? 1929 when it
was feared to be in danger of collapsing. |
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Chapels which still retain west gallery
features or connections |
|
North End,
The Black Chapel, |
Timber-framed chapel
with attached priest's house. Early 19th C. box-pews
and west gallery with tiny organ.
(Pevsner) |
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| Asterisks denote churches in preparation
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