What were the names of the churches built as memorial churches for Frederick Grantham Vyner?
Burges's two finest gothic churches were also undertaken in the 1870s, the Church of Christ the Consoler, Skelton-on-Ure, and St Mary's, Studley Royal. His patron, George Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon, although not as rich as Bute, was his equal in romantic medievalism and had been a friend of Bute's at Oxford, which may account for the choice of Burges as architect. Both churches were built as memorial churches for Ripon's brother-in-law, Frederick Grantham Vyner, who was murdered by Greek bandits in 1870. Vyner's mother commissioned the Church of Christ the Consoler and his sister St Mary's. Both begun in 1870, Skelton was consecrated in 1876 and Studley Royal in 1878.The Church of Christ the Consoler, in the grounds of Newby Hall in North Yorkshire, is built in the Early English style. The exterior is constructed of grey Catraig stone, with Morcar stone for the mouldings. The interior is faced with white limestone, and richly fitted out with marble. The work was undertaken by members of Burges's usual team, Gualbert Saunders making the stained glass, from cartoons by Lonsdale, and Nicholls sculpting the carvings. Leach and Pevsner describe the scheme of stained glass as "uncommonly excellent." It is particularly interesting as representing an architectural move from Burges's favourite Early French style to an English inspiration. Pevsner considers it: "Of determined originality; the impression is one of great opulence, even if of a somewhat elephantine calibre."
The Church of St Mary, Studley Royal, is also in the Early English style and is located in the grounds of Studley Royal Park at Fountains Abbey, in North Yorkshire. As at Christ the Consoler, the exterior is of grey limestone, with a two-stage west tower topped with a soaring spire. The interior is equally spectacular, exceeding Skelton in richness and majesty, Leach commenting that "everything is precisely calculated as to its visual impact." The theme, previously used at Gayhurst, is Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. The stained glass, by Saunders & Co, is of particularly high quality. Pevsner describes St Mary's as "a dream of Early English glory" and Crook writes, "[although] Cork Cathedral may stand as Burges's greatest Gothic work, Studley Royal is his 'ecclesiastical' masterpiece." Burges also constructed an estate cottage in 1873.In 1870, Burges was asked to draw up an iconographic scheme of internal decoration for St Paul's Cathedral, unfinished since the death of Sir Christopher Wren. In 1872, he was appointed architect and over the next five years produced what Crook describes as a "full-blown scheme of early Renaissance decoration" for the interior which he intended would eclipse that of St Peter's in Rome. However, as Crook writes, his plans were "rather too creative for most Classicists" and these artistic, and linked religious, controversies led to Burges's dismissal in 1877 with none of his plans undertaken.
the Church of Christ the Consoler, Skelton-on-Ure St Mary's, Studley Royal