A Handbook to St Mary Redcliffe Church, J. Chilcott 1848

RESTORATION on ST. MARY REDCLIFFE. 55
passed by none; whilst it is re-eininent in its position, on a lofty
bank of the Avon, within t e commercial capital of the west of
England. We have already intimated that the solid structure
of the tower is sound and trustworthy, and that it is capable of
being easily made to bear all that it was ever intended to carry.
............It would appear, however, that when the church was
built, the idea of completing the spire was abandoned, as the
south-western buttresses of the tower were reduced in projection,
and otherwise altered to compose with the west from of the
church,——and the south-eastern angle was altered, throughout,
to extend the nave of the church uninterruptedly to its western
front. The tact and skill with which the outer, or south-western
angle of the tower was altered, and the fine taste with which
the turret pier, in front of the church, which composes with the
reduced buttress of the tower, is arranged, to connect the parts of
the composition, are most admirable; but not so the arrangement
at the other angle, where a low, heavy arch, and an unmeaning
blank, upon a heavier pier, obtrude themselves immediately within
the church door; contrasting, most disadvantageoust too, with
the composition of the arches of the aisle, and with the clerestory
on the other side of the entrance.
“ It may be remarked here, that, at the time Redclifl'e church
was built, the taste which produced the original design of the
magnificent superstructure to the tower no longer existed: spires
were not built to Gloucester cathedral nor to Bath Abbey church,
in the 15th century,—-as they had been at Salisbury, Norwich,
and Litchfield, in the 13th and 14th centuries: comparatively
small spires, on lofty towers, as at Louth and Newcastle,—or
lanterns, as at Boston,—indicate the prevailing taste, in that
respect, when this church was built, and the abutments of the
spire of the original design were altered or removed. In this
manner, the incomplete or demolished spire was left, and the
original composition was shom of its fair proportions.
“ In compliance with the instructions to us, to advise as to such
alterations in the restoration of the ornamental parts of the
fabric, both external and internal, as may seem necessary for
reinstating it to its ancient and pristine beauty, we urge, most
strongly, the necessity of restoring, at the same time, the perished
surfaces of the tower, and its immediate accessories,—adapting
it to receive the completed spire,-—and carrying on, to comple
tion, that beautiful feature of a masterwork of architectural
composition, which, in its truncated state, is but an unpicturesque
deformity. Thus the original design may be both restored and
completed, and Bristol possess a noble national monument, that