The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1885-02-17 00:00:00

BT. PETER'S CHURCH.

Tlit ItaUPOSiD

The adj inroad vestry wee boll on Ibnreday to
madder M. Cricket'''. repert t . the ~psir ... I
enlargement of the ceurch. Ti, H 'et ,r (It vT. IV.
Hail's) presided, stud 10 ri were preeent . U.
Pommy an I B. A. 1114 (a .asth ser io.•),
Burden, %V. llerd to, J. F. II Ages, 11. B oieonba,
Motile, Uizo rhorin en, I'. P manor. J. K .I.ins ,n,
/an., J• Gov, Y ,ung, 'l'. U. Bryer, and T. A
The Barrios said he Wkilll,l to put himself r.e. t
with the vedef. by ist r-peeting, not st eny length,
but still to • oedema extent what was said it their
lad meeting. (Mr. Cro.tmsy'd report via then read,
th• clod of reetoration losing setimat sd at about
There might be, the Rioter continued, some minute
details in the report before them, width might be
open to their soluiry, hut he thought on the whole
the parish, as represented by the vestry, was favour-
able to their putting the venerable structure in re;,air.
Bat ft eppee•ed te him while they were eh .01 it, it
would be • good opportenil, which in otbir .lays
they might think was lo.t, t mike the church more
In proportion to the present popolation .f the psish.
He wsis afraid it had been 'ether mieuaderstood. ant
he referred to &letter tat h ol appeared to the Dorad
ooungv lotus. He hoped the writer of that Ist r
would not think he wa• at all augry with him.
It vu • good tempered Idtir enough. but
be should haya respected the writer m re if he had
put his name 13 it. Ton enlargement of the church
well said to be an act of van Lamm, bat they under-
stood by that that there wise • pleasure in J.-slit:4l.g
works of mt. Now, as far as motel* might use the
tarns, his idea of that whloh Mr. Crickiney had
posad, WM to create and not to destroy. He mentioned
at the 1.. t time, ant be did oat say it from aoy
realty' that church srabitectore hat been • hobby of
his 01i his life long. Ile blleved be knew something
abort it, but he was perfectly ,avicioad that if :he
vestry had taken the present opro:tunity of isolsig-
lag the ohurch, the manner in which it was prop .•ed
to be carried out would have greatly beautified the
edifice, and wonld have met with the approval of
those most capable of lodging. Betides that it would
hay• lawn don+ tattlaont any appnwlabla loweeant *I
0 tel to the popish bemuse they wadi go to the Ohorob
Building Society, and they could app..) to per-one
outman the palish and town if thsy intended to
enlarge the °beech, w'alele he thought thy a .ul I hard y
d/ if they merely :avant to rest re it. tie believed iii
alter deys (although it we.. nil or he liked to
remain here) punk.. =Aka nay, when they were abut
doing so-and-so why sb ,ul.l they not have aided to
it. He was Limed' ou the Is of doing it ell at
ones. The parish evidently took another vof the
. . . . .

. .
subject, butle was uu4gir.g t cusrrel with any rasa
shalt inch a matter. 'lle rulargtrnsot wou!cl bare
involvol him in a grezt deal of tr, 'Ol., an icon; him
mare money than he shoall he able I, PIT sr.]. Per.
Donald, it would give him a great deal of or ;,
and there won those abaut hiui kin 104010 W take no
interest in bin 1p lath, arid who woreil be exo.e t-
ingly glad it ha had not bayou,' upon him
the very serious reeponeibility and difg :Late
which • larger undertaking than the rot ,ration
would have involved. AI be h.' earl, he would not
give his oonseat to the w.stk being d ins until
they had the miney in band, but if they
thought fit to release him from the onerous duties
which it would entail he ghoul I not c rnpiauu Toe
parish were evidently net se favourable to it, but
he bad delivered his swirl, bai done whit be thought
was right, and reenained of the gains opinion still. In
the aiouree of further reinarka the rev. gentleman
repudiated the idea of vandalism. Although the
parish were evidently august enlargement there could
be no doubt the church was out of proportion as
regsrdsd the population of the parish. He then asked
sow gentlemen to propose what they should do and
what they should not.
Mr. HODOIS : What is the eetimatel coat of the
additional able?

--fh—e-filicyo—i--Mplbed in round numben It would about
double the intimated cost of repair, But he reminded
them they oould g to the Oburob Building Society,
sad with regard to vandalism their plata would b• put
before the leading architects of London, and if
approved they would probably gin Nam • grant of
a hundred or two—perhapa 2300. Besides that they
*mild, no doubt, have obtained • grant from the
Diocesan Society then be would have taken the
trouble to advertise It in the local papers, and put
up Bete at the banks. Them wee no doubt they
would ham Not the money, 13 thud could be no
fiessolal lie wool I pledge himself, if he
were called away, be • ,u,d no: leave tipi paridi In
debt, for he would not b.gin till be ea • hie way 1, the
__ _ .

SiOULN : I. there soy other plat propeed for
ealseging the oheroh
The ligaroz: low not Rms.., there le. Have yaa

-1-tiMottli replied he had not. He asked in Moe
, spirit of favour, as far as hi, in.ig,itioaat opinion went,
tower is the additim of the north slide. H. was per-
fectly aware It was a legitimate thing architatut ally.
There were even five aisle church., not only four and he
mentioned the church of St. Michael'', Yarmouth; that
I was a live•alskt church, an I other. might be mentioned.
this was • bad plan, what wee • better' It rouat
b. reCognised churches were liable to be enlarge!.
Populations wore liable to imamate, and therefore
churehee 'e.t.a Reale to eulargemeet. It appeared
him thaw who fail it we vandalism should be pre.
pared with some better plea. The only thin* would
bs to put bade the wort gallery, sad that In the pre.
sent day w tul I not be heard of.
Mr, AV DiaDta : I should like to know, btforn we
' go any furt'mr. is there any nooewity for eularglue.
Ilave we not ample room alrealy ! I was very much
surprised to eee it stated our choral' wanted to be
enlarged, for I have over weo the church full e
on occwinne of special iLisifon..
I The RUltoll sal I there war, to one in hie poeit'en, •
delicacy ;Adage in answering that, lie could only
say in provetion to the popul also the church ought
to be 611 rd. He calculate I the PoPtistion of the
pariah at 1,600 and the church brld 500. They cer-
tainly ought to have acammodation for half the
poptlation. He admitted the• had three large N
oonformtat chapels, ad ths Miesion.roona it. N nth-
square, but many and many • time it was s tid
persons that they w..uld like too me too urch if they
only knew where to go, but Si it WWI uow, the wife
we., put in one place an.l the draught. r in another.
The Grammar School were entitled to certain seat.,
but as It was occupied ct certain time; by children
from all parte of the tow', It wee o-tcti to dome
°Nation.
Mr. Yonne oonsidered the very fact of holding the
'wiry In the church ehowed thet so for as • vestri-
room weal concerned, it oug,P to be altered. There
ought to be • prop r vestry fr church meetings, and
for the raeator and churobwordens to occupy. With
regard to what Mr. Du ..jsn had sal!, he was an old
inhabitant, but he (Idr. I"..nag) was in the
parish for some months before the church.
wardens could find a vent for him, and
even now he only bed 11,11 a moat, and as h•
unfortunately had a large family, it was impoesible
to put them all toga' x. Ho was an advocate for
the new aisle, and be had no doubt there would he no
difficulty in getting the money. It woe rather • large
sum, but they could appeal oot.ide the parish for it.
If they went lound t their o xn pariehionen for •
small sum like £5OO, they would probably Ora a
small sum, say the usual guinea, hut if they wanted
£l,OOO, they would probably give five or ten time, as
muoh. He himself guaranteed to collect a awl ler.
able sum; he bad done so for • similar object before,
and could do so again. 11. thought th-y ought to
have • little regard for the coming generatioa also,
for unless they kept abreast with toe tim. e in religion
ad in other thing", in these chingeful times they could
not bold their own. They would have to work to bold
their own. Another this( he might mention. Cardinal
lima* used to implies upon the people to look

after the children, for they would be eventually the
men and worm to of the future, ant be sp be in
favour of making their servile, and p'acel of w, ',hip as
attractive as p lie did not mean any mere-
triolous dressing., but If they had woolen and saes
for the people, and made the services pleasing, they
would have very large oongiog.tions and bold their
own. As churchmen they had been, pease" rather
lax. and be thought they might with profit take •
leaf horn the book of their Monde In the neighbour.
hood. FI.ICO his point of view there should be no
difficulty ab .ut the latilanement. £l,OOO c family
be raised. At any rats he should be lather ashamed
if they could e. t else I', If the ohoroh rod I be
improved, he did n t au why it shoal I not be
done. If they °out.' r store and t ii,itit'fy it, let them
span no exertions to do it, He believed the church
scald well be enlarged and be made a better
place.
Mr. Tensing mentioned he had been in the pariah
17 moth., and bad not been able toot lain • seat for I
himself ; and the Rice a said there wen very many,
he was a .rry to say, In the same position.
Mr. Moine said he could not obtain a seat either.
Although he woe • new parishioner, he was occupying
the oldest hones in the pariah, aid it might be
expecte' to have • pew •pp.otioned to it, butt had
no seed at all. The aburohwr-dens had treated him
with the utencret Meditate, and be wee put in • pew
V.'s% accommodated the greater part of his family.
But it wee only on sufferanoe, as the pew belonxed
to $ gentleman who was unfortunately invalided, and
he had told tOn he might come kat any time.
Mr. Basookin said be should Ike to see all the
seats fro.
In the nano of further discussion the Bgcroa
said if the church Cal enlarged he gave them hie word
It should b o done in strict en dolance with archite Aural
taste ant propriety.
Mr. Honors said the actual necessary repairs,
which would entail a cost ,d £5OO, ought certainly to
be carried out, toot to regard to the etalergemmt. Mr.
Hoiden asked it thin was any necessity for it, and
he himself hal been told there wee not. It was said
the church was never filled but on ezeeption/
occulobs, as when Mr. Aitken hs:d his mission here.
If that was the owe, then was no used fr enlarge-
ment ; but tit y could net disregard the atetement
made by the Rector, that the parish oon-ided of a
popo'ation of 1,1100, and they only ba 1 accommoda-
tion for 500. He also told them there were many
poor people who would come to oberoh if there was
accommodation. The remark. of Kr. Young, Mr.
Thurman, awl Mr. Monte went to show there wag •
necessity. ['hey could not ignore facts. If
they had not accommodation for m re thao one.
third of the perimbionen it did seem •
little out of proportion. With regard to
the omr, he suppoesed it would oast £l,OOO
extra ?—(The Rector estimate' it would oast
£1,200 to carry out the repairs and enlargement.)—
He agreed with the rector If it could be proved
there was • necessity now would be the time to do
It. He did not know how themoney was to be raised,
but he suggestsel that they should put both schemes
before the public and ask them what they were wiling
to sire towards the restoration, and what towards the
additional aooommodatioo. They might by this
means obtain the opinion of the tarts& He was
sorry any one should have eurgeend that it was an
ant of vendallun ; for he wee sure Mr. Snipe, with
his knowledge of church arobiteetare, would satisfy
anyone that he would not aoguiseoe is any such thing.
He then proposed " Teat steps be taken to spoeetaln
the amount which anbecribere woald be willing to
gire—first towards the necessary repairs, and
stolidly towards the proposed enlargement of the
church."
Mr, (1. YouXer seconded the motion.
Mr. Motu said as there bad been some feeling
expressed trolls an architectural point of view, he
wool I angreat that Mr. Cricket:lay should be asked to
go de precedents tor the proposed alteration.
Sir. H. Demos. proposed as • sort of compromise
that the necessary restoration be carried out, ad
that funds he ,Ilected for that worn se. He would
eiot outer into the idea of a new aisle until they hat
folly oonsidered the necessity of ie which they
cepuitttiainng alyLakilthe nr aisleotyet don'
the
church it them ii.
fore tliaytehoug.htito.f
all the space they had now; put chairs up the aisle—
be would go further, and even say let the gallery be
restored—not in its primitive form, but improved.
he had been e churchwarden, and he for one had
not forgotten the very unpleasant feeling of the
parish being In debt • greet number of year. He for
one should decidedly object to the pariah being in
debt agate.
Mr. Hodges' motion was adopted, and on the motion
of Mr. Hogg • committee w is formed to 11111:11&411 the
town, and report at the Easter Vestry.