William Morris and the campaign to save St Mary’s aisle

Judith Field, Fundraising Lead at Truro Cathedral, explores one of the SPAB's earliest campaigns, opposing the demolition of the sixteenth-century St Mary’s Church to make way for a grand new cathedral.

Do you have William Morris oven gloves, duvet covers or curtains in your house? If so, you are not alone. William Morris was a giant of Victorian society; the leader of the Arts and Crafts movement, his medieval-inspired textile and stained-glass designs were very influential and are still much admired today.

Morris was a passionate man. He campaigned vigorously for the protection of historic buildings at a time, in the late 19^th century, when many were being unsympathetically “restored” to fit with a raging fashion for creating an idealised medieval past. Often, genuinely historic features were being replaced with more palatable replicas, and the story told by alterations and additions to buildings over many centuries was being wiped out.

Ancient churches were often targets for “improvement,” and Morris was determined to save them. In 1877, he founded the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. One of its earliest campaigns was to oppose the demolition of the sixteenth century St Mary’s Church in Truro, to make way for a grand new cathedral. Edward White Benson, the newly  appointed Bishop of Truro, was a member of SPAB. Surely they could rely on his support

SPAB’s campaign to save St Mary’s was widely covered in the press, and led to increasingly acrimonious letters flying between William Morris and his SPAB colleagues and Bishop Benson.

In a letter to Bishop Benson dated March 26^th 1878, Morris argued that a different site should be chosen for the new cathedral.  “Difficulties ought, if it is anyhow possible, be overcome rather than that the old parish church should be pulled down,” he wrote.

The Bishop did not welcome his interference. Stung by a public rebuke from the society, and concerned that the Truro Cathedral project was being unfairly criticised in the press, by 27^th August 1879 he had had enough of SPAB. “I shall be obliged if you will kindly remove my name from the membership of the Society,” he wrote, protesting that he continued to support its principles but disapproved of the tactics it employed.

SPAB may have had the last word. Whether due to its campaign or not, part of the old church, St Mary’s Aisle, was saved and can still be visited today.

When John Loughborough Pearson’s designs for the cathedral were published in May 1880, “The Architect” magazine commented that retaining the aisle had some interesting effects. Not only did it enable an unusual view over the choir, crossing five aisles north-south instead of the usual three, but the 16^th century Aisle was joined onto the 13^th century-inspired cathedral, giving a curious impression that the Aisle was a later addition to the cathedral, rather than the other way around.

This article was written by Judith Field, Fundraising Lead at Truro Cathedral. Truro Cathedral is open daily. Entry is free, with donations very welcome. Find out more at www.trurocathedral.org.uk. 

Photo credit: Jack Pease Photography (CC by SA 4.0)