Elevation for the south side of the new church at Wimpole, Cambridgeshire: No. 4
Henry Flitcroft (1697 - 1769)
Category
Architecture / Drawings
Date
circa 1748
Materials
Pen and ink with grey wash
Measurements
300 x 455 mm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Wimpole, Cambridgeshire
NT 206264
Summary
Henry Flitcroft (Twiss Green, Cheshire 1697 – Hampstead 1769). Elevation for the south side of the new church at Wimpole, Cambridgeshire: No. 4, c.1748, inscribed 'No.4', 'The South Side', signed 'H. Flitcroft', pen and ink with grey wash (300 x 455mm), scale given, watermark.
Full description
The western bay of the church, containing the family gallery, was also built in stone, but the body of the church, lit by four round-headed windows in the south wall, was constructed in brick. Brick earth was dug and fired locally according to Flitcroft's instruction. It seems, however, that the red brick we see today was to have been disguised. Elizabeth Anson (1725-60), Baron Hardwicke's eldest daughter, explains in a letter of June 1749 that Flitcroft had given her advice on the painting of brick to imitate stone, adding that the church at Wimpole was to be similarly treated. The windows were to be glazed 'with the best possible Crown Glass, in strong lead'. Michael Archer has suggested that Mr Minns, Flitcroft's glazier, responsible for the repair of the glass in the Chicheley Chapel, is likely to have been Richard Minns, Master Glazier to the Board of Works from 1744-61. A Minns senior and junior had been paid for glazing work done during the remodelling of the Hall. The roof was to be covered with Westmorland slates, partly recycled from those already at Wimpole. Catalogue entry adapted from David Adshead, Wimpole Architectural drawings and topographical views, The National Trust, 2007
Provenance
Sir Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, Lord Chancellor, PC, FRS, (1690-1764); bequeathed by Elsie Kipling, Mrs George Bambridge (1896 – 1976), daughter of Rudyard Kipling, to the National Trust together with Wimpole Hall, all its contents and an estate of 3000 acres.
Marks and inscriptions
Top, centre: No.4 Above scale: The South Side Left hand side: H Flitcroft [Henry Flitcroft]
Makers and roles
Henry Flitcroft (1697 - 1769) , architect
References
Adshead 2007: David Adshead, Wimpole Architectural drawings and topographical views, The National Trust, 2007, p.44, cat. no. 61