Arts and Crafts Cathedral

Over hand tooled oak,
The sun and all creation.
Celestial blue.


This is the church of St Andrews in Roker, Sunderland. Visiting this arts and crafts masterpiece was one of the main reasons for coming to this area. What can I tell you ... tapestry designed by Burne-Jones and made by Morris and Co, carpet by Morris, foundation stone carved by Eric Gill ...I could go on ... here's an excerpt from the wikipedia entry about the interior ..

Ernest Gimson provided the altar rails, Bishop's chair, altar and processional crosses, candlesticks, pulpit, choir seats and lectern. The tapestry altar cloth is from cartoons of Edward Burne-Jones and was made by Morris & Co, as was the chancel carpet. The foundation stone was carved by Eric Gill. After Prior's death MacDonald Gill painted the dome over that chancel to Prior's sketch scheme, depicting the days of the Creation.
The baptistry contains a stone bowl font by Wells with carved hexagonal piers and a wood cover by Robert (Mouseman) Thompson of Kilburn.
The walls of the nave are panelled in oak to 7' 8" high with boards of uneven width, fixed with hand made nails.
Henry Payne designed the glass in the two main windows in the church: the east window which depicts the Ascension and the south transept window depicting the biblical text “Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden”. In the lower lights of the south transept window, Payne drew his figures in contemporary dress and in the upper lights a group of angels are shown carrying Christ’s cross.

The church didn't disappoint ... the most joyous thing was that it is all of a piece, everything belongs to the design even down to joints in the pews ... (no nails or screws but crafted wooden joints) ... truly the result of art and craftsmanship .... wonderful.

Comments off due to being away on hols .. will catch up when I can.