<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nMarjorie Heal was the aunt of the writer John Mortimer. He often stayed at Darwell Hill as a boy. His memoir Clinging to the Wreckage <\/em>contains hilarious descriptions of his eccentric uncle and his home.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSt Bartholomew’s Church, Chichester<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nIn 1919 when Max’s work on the Bladen Estate in Dorset came to an end, he moved – with his growing family – back to Chichester where he’d lived as a boy. He bought West Lodge, a detached house in the heart of Chichester, almost opposite the Cathedral. Although there were numerous churches within the city walls he chose to worship at St Bartholomew’s, a small church just beyond the Westgate in Mount Lane. He became a church warden and member of the Parish Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
St Bartholomew’s \u2013\u00a0 a Grade II listed building \u2013 stands on the site of a Norman church destroyed by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War. It was rebuilt in 1830 by George Draper (a Chichester architect better known for his Methodist churches) in neo-Georgian style with a short tower at the west end. By the 1920s, however, the tower was unstable so Max was asked to draw up plans for its removal as well as for the addition of a chancel and adjoining sacristy. Several years of fund-raising ensued before the works were finally carried out in 1929.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nAfter the structural works were complete, the interior was redecorated in arts-and-crafts style. The timber panels of the chancel ceiling were painted in lapis blue with gold stars and floral borders with the initial letters of the church’s name spelt out in gold leaf. The window recesses in the nave were also painted in blue with gold edging. According to a priest visiting in around 1929, Max’s original scheme was to make the entire church ‘a blaze of colour’ but this was never completed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
St Bartholomew’s chancel with painted ceiling and carved, gilded and painted timber reredos with candlesticks and cross. Photo taken c.1929. Note disappearance of chevron decoration on reredos.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n\u00a0\u00a0 Max also designed new furnishings. These included a tall panelled reredos with a carved and gilded top panel, a set of altar candlesticks as well as carved and gilded prayer desks. The church’s final incumbent – evidently a puritanical type \u2013 disliked the decorations so much he had the blue paintwork in the nave window recesses obliterated with white paint. Mercifully this ‘act of vandalism’ (as the Principal of Chichester Theological College called it) did not reach the chancel\u00a0ceiling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure><\/li> <\/figure><\/li><\/ul>Carved and gilded prayer desks, St Bartholomew’s Church, 1929<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nSt Bartholomew’s Church closed in 1959 but was then used as a chapel by the Theological College until its closure in 1991. From 2005 to 2018\u00a0 it was leased by Chichester College for use as a chaplaincy centre and drama studio. Two years later\u00a0 the diocese decided to sell the building and it was put on the market with Spratt and Son with a price tag of \u00a3500,000. I understand an offer has been received from a local dance school. Local residents are naturally concerned about possible alterations to this listed building. I’ll keep readers updated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter. Till the next . . . <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nMy best wishes <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nCaroline<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The last year has been a strange one for everyone. I hope that you’ve all stayed well, had vaccinations, and coped with the several lockdowns we’ve had to endure. Inevitably the pandemic has led to the disruption of events including the small Max exhibition at West Sussex Record Office. This is now likely to take… Read More »Spring 2021 MacDonald Gill Newsletter<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/macdonaldgill.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/994"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/macdonaldgill.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/macdonaldgill.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macdonaldgill.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macdonaldgill.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/macdonaldgill.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/994\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macdonaldgill.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/macdonaldgill.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macdonaldgill.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macdonaldgill.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}