Knowle Centenary 1904 - 2004

It was a  memorable day on 6th December 1904 when the Methodist Church at Knowle was opened.  Methodism first came to Knowle 250 years ago when an entry in John Wesley's journal of 15th October 1759 describes how he 'walked the mile to Knowle to visit the French prisoners of war'.

The church is built from Blue Pennant stone with Petersbury Red Deal timber and the roof of Broseley tiles. In 1909 it was suggested by the architects that some decoration would improve the internal appearance of the church and as a result a picture of "The Ten Virgins" was painted in the arched recess behind the altar.  This was painted by W.A. Chase. .

In December 1940 a bomb fell outside the cellar door in Redcatch Road. This did extensive damage to the wall & the roof of the Church in addition to weakening the foundations. Services were transferred to the Church Hall for two years. Emergency repairs then made it possible to use the Church again but it was to take protracted negotiations with the War Damage Commission before the necessary rebuilding could begin. On Saturday 13th June 1951 it was re-opened by one of the original Trustees.

In 1960 thoughts were expressed about the future of the two Methodist Churches in close proximity to each other at Knowle and Harrowdene Road. Amongst it recommendations was the proposal that the two societies should be invited to share in a plan of co-operation, fellowship and growing together, with the aim of developing and extending the Methodist witness in the area. The District Commission re-examined the Knowle / Harrowdene Road situation toward the end of 1964;  however it would be another five years before the two societies were merged on 1st September 1969.   A new society known as Knowle Methodist Church' came into being from that date and Upper Knowle ceased to exist.

Great efforts were made to raise money for a new Hall. With the help of grants from the Joseph Rank Benevolent Trust and other organisations, not the least by our own members. the new Hall was opened in September 1979 by our oldest member Mrs Mabel Higginson who attended that first Sunday School in 1904.

At this time too the United Reformed Church was seeking ways and means to provide ministerial care of the churches at Knowle Park and Whitchurch. The Methodist Church was approached to share in the cost of the venture. The scheme was to be for an initial period of five years, subject to revision at the end of that time. An induction service was held in November 1981 for Rev. Sam Madin (URC) and he then shared the pastoral care of Knowle with Rev. Bryan Spinney. The United Reformed Church at closed in 1985 and our family was greatly strengthened and enhanced when some of the congregation of this Church subsequently transferred their membership to us.

In May 1991 a new electronic organ was installed to replace the pipe organ which had served the church since 1912. It is not expected that the electronic organ will last 100 years as the pipe organ did.

Following many discussions in 1994 it was decided that we should publish a new Mission Statement, 'This Church exists for everyone'.

1996 saw a change in pastoral oversight for the Circuit. Our minister was released from the oversight of Whitchurch Ecumenical Parish and took over responsibilities of Chew Stoke, Stanton Drew and Knowle whilst continuing to be Superintendent of the Circuit.

As 1996 drew to a close the Church Council decided that a Lay Witness Weekend would be held in March 1997, which was named SACK, (Sharing And Caring at Knowle), its object being 'people meeting people to share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ'. People sharing with others their personal experience of trying to live the Christian life.

Plans were set in motion in 1999 for various improvements to be made to the buildings to include alterations to the Sanctuary and an overhaul of general premises including the roof as part of a Millennium project.

This brief history was compiled from a booklet written by Mr. Len Richards to whom I am gratefully indebted. If anyone is interested in obtaining a copy of the full history please e-mail your name and address to chris.gummer@tiscali.co.uk.

If you wish to see other pictures of Knowle Church and of the Bristol area, please visit www.graham.uk.net.  Photos from this website are courtesy of Graham Spinney, one of our church members.

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Restoration of the Knowle Church Mural

On Sunday 22nd July 2007 we celebrated completion of the restoration of our delightful mural painting which has adorned the forward arched recess in our Church for over 100 years.

The work that has been done and the organisation to bring it to a successful conclusion owes much to the sheer enthusiasm and dedication of Mr. Ron Snook, and for this we owe him a great debt of gratitude.

How this painting by artist W.A.Chase (who must have been the last of the 19th Century Pre Raphaelite painters) came to be located at Knowle has been outlined by the late Len Richards booklet "100 Years 1904 - 2004."  Ron Snook, Senior Property Steward at the time (1997), also wrote on the Millenium Project and stated that the painting had been viewed and examined by experts who were all impressed and stressed the importance of preserving it as part of our heritage.

This painting is a work executed on canvas spread on to a plastered wall surface. It was not painted on the spot but in a barn near Bristol, brought to the Church and fixed permanently to the wall. This is somewhat unusual for a large wall painting. The traditional method is known as Fresco painting and is carried out by laying pigment on to a prepared lime plaster ground. The colours penetrate the surface and when dry are fixed and insoluble to water. The painting should then last as long as the wall, as witness many Renaissance paintings in Italy such as Raphael and Michel Angelo's work in the Vatican. However, beyond the 16th century, artists gave up true Fresco for other methods, one problem being that the painter must work rapidly and finishing off-has to be done with tempera paint. The Italian artist and biographer Vasari in his book "Lives of the Artists" called it "a vile practice". As a matter of interest, in the 19th century the Pre Raphaelites attempted to revive this technique and it was used, not very successfully, by William Dyce for murals in the Houses of Parliament. All this may have influenced Chase in his choice of method, known technically as Marouflage. The French artists Delacroix and Puvis de Chavannes had also done work earlier this way. It was becoming quite clear that cleaning and conservation work on the painting was essential and Ron set about obtaining quotations. Initially, estimates in the region of £16,000 were received and it was necessary to get in touch with several expert conservation companies. Finally, after a great deal of paper work and examination of the painting by experts, the Bristol based firm 'International Fine Art Conservation Studios Ltd' offered the best estimate and advice. Ron confirmed that these people had carried out a lot of conservation work world wide on wall paintings from early Baroque to the present time. Hogarth, Dyce, Rossetti and Burne-Jones work had all been cared for by these people. Costs for scaffolding and so on were discussed and a notional price of £7,168 was given. This was reduced to a firm price on 6th November 2006 to £6,100. Funds had been put aside to cover the remainder of the price. Mr. John Gibbs of the Gibbs Family Trust became interested in the project and after conversations, he generously offered E2,500 towards the cost. Mr. Gibbs was not able to be present on Sunday July 22nd.

A lot of interesting work was done by Ron in an attempt to locate other work by William Chase who had also exhibited in the Royal Academy exhibitions. One of his flower paintings was thought to be owned by Queen Mary, wife of King George 5th. An Annunciation painting I saw in an art dealer's catalogue cannot be traced. We also found a small pastel painting in St, Michaels' Church at Blewbury, Didcot in Berkshire. Prints of these works were displayed by Ron in the Church for the re-dedication service.

Ron's keen persistence and business acumen have enabled us to see this splendid work of art as it was painted 100 years ago. We hope we have it established for 100 (even 1,000) or more years to come.

John Meacham  

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