On the 1st of December 1842, a young clergyman was killed by a falling vault at Benjamin Ferrey’s new church in East Grafton. It has been suggested that this collapse in turn led to a greater stylistic collapse: that of the Romanesque Revival itself.
Ferrey, who as a boy had toured France with the Pugins, was one of the most enthusiastic practitioners of the Romanesque style during its short-lived revival in the 1840s. His churches at East Hyde, Melplash, and Morpeth rank among some of his most striking work and deserve to be better known. But did the collapse at East Grafton really lead to the death of that revival?
With the aid of eyewitness accounts, this talk will examine the ‘lamentable accident’ at East Grafton in detail, seeking to discover who was really at fault and assessing what the long-term consequences of that tragedy were.
Harry Spain is an architectural historian based between Oxford and London. He has written and lectured on a range of church architecture, particularly the work of Sir Ninian Comper. Most recently, Harry has been engaged in writing the biography of Benjamin Ferrey (1810-1880) which is set to be published by Unicorn later this year.
All attendees will be sent a recording of the talk.
Image: East Grafton Church