Medieval History
Great Kimble church sits on the busy A4010 that links Aylesbury and Princes Risborough in Buckinghamshire and hundreds of people pass by the church each day. How many are aware that this church contains a great treasure? A beautiful side chapel with fittings by Sir Ninian Comper, dating from the first years of the twentieth century. In truth it seems that the church people of Great Kimble are blissfully unaware of it too. The church guide book makes no mention of Comper and when I visited the church earlier in the year the chapel was being used as a dumping ground for all the rubbish it didn't want to store elsewhere. The altar was obscured by a couple of Victorian altar rails and stacks of chairs. Anyway once all this detritus is cleared away a beautiful Comper ensemble appears, which is the glory of this otherwise fairly ordinary building. Comper screened off this tiny side chapel from the chancel with Gothic parclose screens and placed in it a diminutive 'English' altar with iron riddel posts. Over it he has placed a tester, decorated with heraldic double-headed eagles. On the stone altar he has placed a lovely low painted reredos, decorated with a 'Vernicle' - Veronica's handkerchief imprinted with Christ's face is held between two lovely angels dressed in apparalled albs and amices. The altar is still adorned with its original embroidered frontal, the blue 'cathedral' damask now rather badly faded. The stonework of the east window is decorated with rich polychromy and the glass in the window is a Virgin and Child by Comper. The window in the south wall, an Annunciation (not pictured), is also by him. Both have a strong fifteenth century flavour, with a rich palette of yellow stain, and vivid blue, red and murrey. All in all this chapel is a glorious jewel-box and deserves to be better treated and certainly not obscured with rubbish.
A glimpse of the chapel through the parcloses that divide it from the chancel.
The interior of the chapel.
Detail of the altar
The painted altarpiece
The glorious embroidered frontal has sadly seen better days. It is worthy of conservation.
A detail of the frontal once again.
- Rycote Chapel, Oxfordshire
I may have drawn your attention to the excellent photography of my friend Martin Beek in some earlier posts, but can I mention his name again. As well as an being an excellent and photographer with a great eye for detail,...
- Comper Glass From Burgh -le-marsh
Manby, Lincolnshire, originally uploaded by Vitrearum. Manby church is only a minute or two along the road for me and for some reason I have always put off paying the church a visit, I think I always imagined it would be locked. I had noted some time...
- Dorchester Roman Catholic Church
Dorchester, St Birinus Catholic Church, Oxfordshire, originally uploaded by Vitrearum.The tiny Roman Catholic church of St Birinus in Dorchester-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, has undergone a radical transformation over the course of the last three of four...
- A Long-lost Comper Commission?
Great Haseley, Oxfordshire, originally uploaded by Vitrearum.The chancel of the glorious church at Great Haseley in Oxfordshire has an 'English altar'. You know the sort of arrangement I mean, one that is enclosed on three sides with curtains,...
- Hanging Pyxes Part Ii - Some Examples Of Its Modern Revival
Grosvenor Chapel 012, originally uploaded by sarumsleuth. The Gothic revival architect Sir Ninian Comper was the first to reintroduce the hanging pyx into Anglican churches. The image aboveis of a hanging pyx introduced by Comper into the Grosvenor chapel...
Medieval History
Neglected Comper work in Buckinghamshire
Great Kimble church sits on the busy A4010 that links Aylesbury and Princes Risborough in Buckinghamshire and hundreds of people pass by the church each day. How many are aware that this church contains a great treasure? A beautiful side chapel with fittings by Sir Ninian Comper, dating from the first years of the twentieth century. In truth it seems that the church people of Great Kimble are blissfully unaware of it too. The church guide book makes no mention of Comper and when I visited the church earlier in the year the chapel was being used as a dumping ground for all the rubbish it didn't want to store elsewhere. The altar was obscured by a couple of Victorian altar rails and stacks of chairs. Anyway once all this detritus is cleared away a beautiful Comper ensemble appears, which is the glory of this otherwise fairly ordinary building. Comper screened off this tiny side chapel from the chancel with Gothic parclose screens and placed in it a diminutive 'English' altar with iron riddel posts. Over it he has placed a tester, decorated with heraldic double-headed eagles. On the stone altar he has placed a lovely low painted reredos, decorated with a 'Vernicle' - Veronica's handkerchief imprinted with Christ's face is held between two lovely angels dressed in apparalled albs and amices. The altar is still adorned with its original embroidered frontal, the blue 'cathedral' damask now rather badly faded. The stonework of the east window is decorated with rich polychromy and the glass in the window is a Virgin and Child by Comper. The window in the south wall, an Annunciation (not pictured), is also by him. Both have a strong fifteenth century flavour, with a rich palette of yellow stain, and vivid blue, red and murrey. All in all this chapel is a glorious jewel-box and deserves to be better treated and certainly not obscured with rubbish.
A glimpse of the chapel through the parcloses that divide it from the chancel.
The interior of the chapel.
Detail of the altar
The painted altarpiece
The glorious embroidered frontal has sadly seen better days. It is worthy of conservation.
A detail of the frontal once again.
The east window.
- Rycote Chapel, Oxfordshire
I may have drawn your attention to the excellent photography of my friend Martin Beek in some earlier posts, but can I mention his name again. As well as an being an excellent and photographer with a great eye for detail,...
- Comper Glass From Burgh -le-marsh
Manby, Lincolnshire, originally uploaded by Vitrearum. Manby church is only a minute or two along the road for me and for some reason I have always put off paying the church a visit, I think I always imagined it would be locked. I had noted some time...
- Dorchester Roman Catholic Church
Dorchester, St Birinus Catholic Church, Oxfordshire, originally uploaded by Vitrearum.The tiny Roman Catholic church of St Birinus in Dorchester-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, has undergone a radical transformation over the course of the last three of four...
- A Long-lost Comper Commission?
Great Haseley, Oxfordshire, originally uploaded by Vitrearum.The chancel of the glorious church at Great Haseley in Oxfordshire has an 'English altar'. You know the sort of arrangement I mean, one that is enclosed on three sides with curtains,...
- Hanging Pyxes Part Ii - Some Examples Of Its Modern Revival
Grosvenor Chapel 012, originally uploaded by sarumsleuth. The Gothic revival architect Sir Ninian Comper was the first to reintroduce the hanging pyx into Anglican churches. The image aboveis of a hanging pyx introduced by Comper into the Grosvenor chapel...