Mistley Towers are the twin towers of the now demolished Church of St. Mary the Virgin at Mistley in Essex (sometimes known as Mistley Thorn(e) Church). [1] The original Georgian parish church on the site had been built in classical style early in the 18th century following the death of Richard Rigby Esquire. Later in that century there was a grandiose plan by his son, the wealthy politician Richard Rigby, to transform Mistley Thorn into a spa town.
Rigby wished to see a church from the windows of his mansion and a suitably grand church was required for the affluent visitors expected to patronise the new spa. Thus in 1776, the renowned architect Robert Adam was commissioned to enhance the church. His design was in the neoclassical style, with a tower at both the east and the west ends of the church, and full height porticos to the north and south of the nave.
After just under a century in this form, the nave was demolished in circa 1870, when the new parish church of Church of St. Mary and St. Michael was built [2] in New Road. Columns from the porticos were reused at the inner corners of the towers, and the towers are now all that now remain of the once magnificent structure. [3]
The square symmetrical towers are in the neoclassical style, resembling tall pavilions rather than towers, with each facade pedimented and the whole surmounted by a cupola decorated with blind windows interspersed by Ionic columns. At ground floor level two unfluted ionic columns at each corner support a decorative cornice. The columns are decorative only, and appear to serve no structural purpose. The design of the towers creates the impression that the building was once more of a miniature cathedral than a parish church. However, the main body of the church was small and occupied the (now empty) site between the two towers. It was a single storey structure with a simple hipped roof and entrance porticos at its centre. This was the part of Adam's church which was demolished in 1870. The remaining towers are Grade I listed and a scheduled monument. [3] [4]
Sir Arthur William Blomfield was an English architect. He became president of the Architectural Association in 1861; a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1867 and vice-president of the RIBA in 1886. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied Architecture.
St Peter's Church is in Church Road, Woolton, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Liverpool South Childwall, the archdeaconry of Liverpool, and the diocese of Liverpool. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. It is one of the largest parish churches in Liverpool, and its bell tower stands at the highest point of the city. The church also has connections with The Beatles.
Thomas Harrison was an English architect and bridge engineer who trained in Rome, where he studied classical architecture. Returning to England, he won the competition in 1782 for the design of Skerton Bridge in Lancaster. After moving to Lancaster he worked on local buildings, received commissions for further bridges, and designed country houses in Scotland. In 1786 Harrison was asked to design new buildings within the grounds of Lancaster and Chester castles, projects that occupied him, together with other works, until 1815. On both sites he created accommodation for prisoners, law courts, and a shire hall, while working on various other public buildings, gentlemen's clubs, churches, houses, and monuments elsewhere. His final major commission was for the design of Grosvenor Bridge in Chester.
All Saints Cathedral, Camden Street, London, originally All Saints Church, Camden Town, St Pancras, Middlesex, is a church in the Camden Town area of London, England. It was built for the Church of England, but it is now a Greek Orthodox church known as the Greek Orthodox Cathedral Church of All Saints. It stands where Camden Street and Pratt Street meet.
Mistley is a large village and civil parish in the Tendring district of northeast Essex, England. It is around 11 miles northeast of Colchester and is east of, and almost contiguous with, Manningtree. The parish consists of Mistley and New Mistley, both lying beside the Stour Estuary, and Mistley Heath a kilometre to the south. Mistley railway station serves Mistley on the Mayflower Line.
All Saints' Church, Northampton is a Church of England parish church in the centre of Northampton. The current church was largely built after a fire and was consecrated in 1680. It is a Grade I listed building.
Colchester in Essex, England, has a number of notable churches.
St. Mary Somerset was a church in the City of London first recorded in the twelfth century. Destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, it was one of the 51 churches rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher Wren. The tower is located in Upper Thames Street, the body of the church being demolished in 1871.
St Dionis Backchurch was a parish church in the Langbourn ward of the City of London. Of medieval origin, it was rebuilt after the Great Fire of London to the designs of Christopher Wren and demolished in 1878.
St. Peter's Church, Eaton Square, is a Church of England parish church at the east end of Eaton Square, Belgravia, London. It is a neoclassical building designed by the architect Henry Hakewill with a hexastyle portico with Ionic columns and a clock tower. On 19 October 1991 The Times newspaper wrote "St Peter’s must now rank as one of the most beautiful churches in London". It is a Grade II* listed building.
Francis Octavius Bedford (1784–1858) was an English ecclesiastical architect, who designed four Greek Revival churches in south London during the 1820s. He later worked in the Gothic style.
St Mary's Church is a city centre church in Lichfield, Staffordshire in the United Kingdom, located on the south side of the market square. A church is reputed to have been on the present site since at least 1150 but the current building dates from 1870 and is a Grade II* listed building. The church was remodelled in the early 1980s and again in 1997-1999 and now serves a variety of purposes including Lichfield Library and Tourist Information on the ground floor, and on the top floor, The Hub at St Mary's is now home to a speciality coffee shop, art gallery, treasury exhibition and performing arts space.
The Milton Mausoleum is a redundant Anglican church in the village of Milton, Nottinghamshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is under the care of The Churches Conservation Trust. The church, which stands on a hill and is visible from the Markham Moor junction on the A1 road, has also been known as All Saints Church, West Markham, and been confused with the medieval parish church of All Saints' Church, West Markham.
St John's Church is in Washington Street, Workington, Cumbria, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Solway, the archdeaconry of West Cumberland, and the diocese of Carlisle. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. It is a Commissioners' church, having received a grant towards its construction from the Church Building Commission.
St Mary's Catholic Church in Hokitika, New Zealand, is a Roman Catholic church. It is a landmark on the country's West Coast.
St Giles' Church is in the hamlet of Barrow, Shropshire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Telford Severn Gorge, the archdeaconry of Ludlow, and the diocese of Hereford. Its benefice is united with those of All Saints, Broseley, St Mary, Jackfield, St Bartholomew, Benthall, and St Leonard, Linley. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. It is one of the earliest surviving churches in Shropshire, and contains the county's only Anglo-Saxon chancel.
St Lawrence Church is an eighteenth-century, neoclassical church in Ayot St Lawrence, Hertfordshire, England. It is also known as New St Lawrence Church to distinguish it from the ruined Old St Lawrence Church.
St John The Baptist Church is a Grade II* listed parish church in the Church of England in Buxton, Derbyshire.
Holy Trinity Church, Theale is a Church of England parish church in the Diocese of Oxford. It was completed in 1832 in the Early English style, influenced by Salisbury Cathedral. The church is a Grade I listed building.
The Corn Exchange is a commercial building in the High Street in Manningtree, Essex, England. The structure, which is now used as a public library, is a Grade II listed building.
Tuscan columns NOT Ionic.
