LINK WITH THE PAST

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27274, 28 December 1949, Page 4

LINK WITH THE PAST

Restoration Of Old Church In Chelsea Resident Correspondent LONDON, Dec. 12. Until May 17, 1941, when it was demolished by a German landmine, one of the most famous landmarks of romantic Chelsea was the Old Church standing in Cheyne Walk by the north bank of the Thames. Every year before the war 10,000 people visited this church. Scores of them were New Zealanders, as the visitors’ book still bears witness. They came, not to see an architectural masterpiece, for there are many finer buildings in London, but for its quiet beauty, its historical associations over six centuries, and for its monuments and memorials judged to be second only in London to those of Westminster Abtjey. The Old Church was considered by many to be the most human and eloquent of all London’s old buildings.

The most famous figure connected with the thirteenth century church was Sir Thomas More, judge, statesman. philosopher and martyr, the greatest Englishman of the Middle Ages who was beheaded by Henry VIII because he refused to recognise the King as superior to the Pope. Today the cruelly torn walls of the south side of the church are all that remain of the chapel which More built in 1528 for his private worship. Close by he erected a tomb in which he buried his first wife and in which he hoped to be interred himself. However, such was not to be. After being displayed on the Tower for some days his head was taken to the family vault of his son-in-law at St. Dunstans, Canterbury, but the mystery of what happened to his torso has never been cleared up. The legend that he was budied at Chelsea Old Church has now been disproved. Royal Troth Pledged

Catholic Church in Chelsea came further volunteers. Catholics are especially interested in the old chu:ch because of its associations with .More, who has been declared a saint.

Actual building could only proceed as fast as licences were allotted, but this year the vestry was finished. Debris was cleared from the churchyard and devoted women replanted and tended a garden that now provides a vivid splash of colour amid the grey stones. More Chapel Almost Rebuilt But other than that voluntary labour could do little for restoration is work for craftsmen. The wages of these men, who have been employed for some months now, are paid by donations from interested visitors, including some from. as far afield as New Zealand and even the Solomon Islands. Today the walls of the More Chapel have been almost rebuilt, a roof has been erected and its monuments have been skilfully repaired and restored. To complete the rebuilding of the old church, however, much more money is needed, and next year a world-wide aDpeal for funds is to be made. At Christmas the first service since 1941 is to be held in the restored chapel. It will be a service of thanksgiving for what has been achieved; an expression of faith and determination in the future.

It was here in. this church that Henry pledged his secret troth to Jane Seymour and here worshipped the young Princess Elizabeth 'and the studious little Lady Jane Grey. Within the now blasted walls preached famous men, including John Donne and Dean Swift, who were listened to through the centuries by many outstanding characters of English life. Although the bomb reduced N all but More’s Chapel to a tumbled ruin—and killed five fire watchers, one of

whom had been, confirmed here only the previous Sunday—it is surprising how much escaped total destruction. The renowned carved capitals designed by Hans Holbein for More still stand. The black slab of slate bearing More’s latin epitaph was broken* in four pieces but not, so badly that it could not be repaired. , The tablet commemorating Henry James, the great American novelist, who became an English citizen when World War I broke out. and who received the Order of Merit on his deathbed, was salvaged intact. Saved, too, were the great monuments and memorials to important people of the neighbourhood, the Dacre family, the Stanley family, the Duchess of Northumberland (whose son Guilford married Lady Jane Grey, and who were both beheaded for their part in the rising of 1553), Edmund ana Reginald Bray, Sara Colvile, Arthur Gorges, Hans Sloane and Henry Lawrence—a wonderful record of the development of English sculpture since the sixteenth century. • These, together with oak beams, carvings, altar rails (“so thick with pillars that dogges may not gette in ), the seventeenth-century marble font, the chained books including the 1717 Bible with its misprint of “vinegar for vineyard in St. Luke’s XX, and 3 hundred other relics were carefully collected and stored in *a neighbouring church. Decision to Rebuild

Very soon the congregation was meeting for worship in the hospital next door, but it was determined that the Old Church should rise again almost exactly as it was. After many disappointments it was agreed by the London Church authorities that when conditions improved another church should be built capable of holding the salvaged memorials and of providing a worthy setting for them. It was obvious that many years would elapse before the whole church could be .rebuilt, but that did not discourage the parishioners from commencing work. Every week volunteers came along to clear the rubble and construct a central vestry, the bricks for which were carted from Sevenoaks, 20 miles away. Some were soldiers on leave from the army, some were artists and students, some were retired bankers and professional men, many were women. Belgian students helped, so did an Admiral, while from the Roman