Book: St Alphege's - Little Gem of a Church

St Alphege's

A new book has been released chronicling the history of the church of Our Lady and St Alphege in Oldfield Park, Bath. The book on architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott's "Little Gem of a Church" has been published as part of the national commemoration of the millennium of the martyrdom of Saint Alphege (954-1012).

Saint Alphege was born in Bath. He spent his early life in the city, first as a hermit and then as Prior of Bath Abbey, before being appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. He was martyred for his faith by the Vikings at Greenwich in April 1012. The church of Our Lady and St Alphege was named in his honour.

Parishioner Caroline Shaw, who wrote the book on Our Lady and St Alphege, explains: "When Fr Richard Barton, the parish priest at St Alphege's, first suggested a new guidebook we thought it would be a simple matter of updating the existing eight-page booklet on the church, with a few new photographs and some refreshed text. However, when I started researching the history of this beautiful building, it became clear that there was so much more to say about it, and we decided the book should be a proper architectural study.

"Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, who designed the church in an early Christian style in the 1920s, was one of the most celebrated architects of the twentieth century, and enormously versatile: he designed Battersea Power Station and Bankside (now Tate Modern), the nave of Downside Abbey and the K2 telephone box. The fact that we have a church built by him in the suburbs of Bath - and a building that he always claimed was one of his favourites - is really something to celebrate.

"The book explores, among other things, the strong connection with the Benedictines at Downside who commissioned the church, and the links with the basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome, which provided much of the inspiration for Scott's design. I looked at original correspondence, drawings and plans of Scott's held at the Royal Institute of British Architects, together with letters, photographs and other documents held at Downside and in St Alphege's itself.

"The book is richly illustrated. We had a very talented designer and photographer working on it - parishioners Teresa and Alfonsina Monachino, who grew up in the Oldfield Park area of Bath, and who have fond memories of the church. The architectural historian Gavin Stamp, who has provided the Foreword, described the book as 'everything an architectural guide should be'.

"It is wonderful to be able to celebrate the millennium of Saint Alphege - a local saint with national importance - with a publication that finally does justice to the church named in his honour in his home city. The church is Grade II* listed, and there is a great deal of maintenance work to be done. All proceeds from the sale of the book go straight to the church's fundraising appeal."


The fully-illustrated book has 120 pages with historical photographs and reproductions of Scott's plans and drawings. It costs £9.99 plus £3.50 postage and packing.

To buy a copy please send a cheque made out to 'St Alphege's Parish' to:

St Alphege's Presbytery
Oldfield Lane
Bath
BA2 3NR

Email: stalpheges@gmail.com
Web: www.saintalphege.org.uk