1900s

An undated photograph of the interior of the church provides some extra information about its
appearance, and confirms some of the changes for which there would otherwise be only
documentary evidence. The observations made here, as a result of studying the photograph, start at
the east end of the church, and proceed in a westerly direction. The picture is tentatively dated as
having been taken between 1902 and 1914. It is in good condition for its age, but it is not very finely
detailed, and there is an element of personal opinion about the identity of some of the items to be
seen.
The clothed altar shown in the picture is not the long one that we see today, but the short and
nicely-carved one that is beneath it, and which is hidden from casual view by the altar frontal. The altar
probably was positioned hard against the reredos below the east window. This arrangement would
have provided the priest with enough room in front of the altar to administer the sacrament to
communicants kneeling at the two communion rails. These were not on the floor of the chancel, but
were set on the top step immediately in front of the altar, and each consisted of a heavy wooden rail
set above a low carved screen. Ranged along the back edge of the altar are what could be the wood
and brass candlesticks that were in use until they were replaced with modern brass ones in Easter
1988, and, in the centre, a cross. No bible or prayer book is visible on the altar, but there is a
book-like object on the shelf protruding from the base of the little triangular niche in the north wall of
the sanctuary. On either side of the altar, and perhaps three or four feet away from it, are two, tall,
triple-headed, wooden, candlesticks.
The only carpeting to be seen is a strip of dark-coloured carpet on the short flight of steps leading up
to the altar. The floor of the nave consists of the chequer pattern quarry tiling that may be seen today.
There are no choir stalls in the picture. The congregation's pews extend right up to the single step
fronting the large raised area in front of the altar steps. On the extreme right of this raised area can be
seen, indistinctly, a large, heavily-built, ornate piece of furniture, which it has not been possible to
identify. At the east end of the nave aisle, and against the chancel step, is a prayer desk with an
integral kneeler. The desk has a cloth draped over it, and on the cloth is what could be a bible or
prayer book.
The organ is probably the original single-manual one. Certainly it is not the present one, since the
picture shows the front pipes descending from the left and right to form a central valley, whereas the
present one has the front pipes arranged to form two valleys with a large central peak. The organ is
more or less in the same place as it is today, but is set at ninety degrees, so that the organist sat
facing the altar.
The pulpit is shown in what is taken to be its original position, whence it was entered, from the vestry,
via a doorway in the blocked archway now occupied by the war memorial. Beside the pulpit, and to the
immediate west of the top of the archway, hangs a hymn board. This is not the main one in regular
use today, but could very well be the lancet-shaped one that is used as a secondary board.
The font is in the same position that it occupies now. It has no lid, but otherwise looks exactly as it
does nowadays. The view along the nave aisle, with its chequer patterned floor tiles, shows two pipes
running along the plinths on which the pews stand. These, presumably, are hot water pipes, supplied
from a solid fuel boiler. The flue still exists, in the south-west corner of the vestry, and is used for the
present heating system.
In addition to the oil lamps already mentioned, a small, wall-mounted, one can be seen on the south
wall of the sanctuary, above and behind the unidentified item of furniture. Another one is positioned at
the junction of the chancel arch and the most easterly arch of the south aisle arcading. The main
source of artificial light seems to have been a series of large oil lamps suspended from the roof
timbers. The lamps were much larger than ones in general domestic use, with great big spherical
brass reservoirs, and even larger white glass globes. The angle from which the picture was taken
means that only two lamps can be seen - one in the sanctuary, and one below the chancel arch - but
there were probably at least two more providing light in the nave.
When was the photograph taken? Anyone who has read this work critically may have spotted an
anomaly in the dates. The photograph shows the pulpit in its original position, and the available
evidence suggests that it remained there until 1894. The photograph shows the organ, and not a
harmonium, but the harmonium was not replaced until 1902. So, on the face of it, the photograph was
taken before 1894, but after 1902! The answer to this problem may never be known, but it is almost
certainly tied up with the data conundrum, when doubt was first cast on precisely when the pulpit was
moved to its present position. Our best effort in providing a date is to put it after 1902, when we know
the first organ was purchased, and before 1914, when we know the present choir stalls were placed
in the eastern end of the nave.

There is another early but undated photograph (shown above) of the interior of the church, but in this
case the camera had been positioned quite close to the altar, and so no font or pews appear in the
view. The church is shown decorated profusely with foliage arrangements, suggesting perhaps that
picture was taken at Eastertide. The present processional cross can be seen standing to the right of
the altar, with the heavy lectern positioned several feet in front of it in the nave. Perhaps the most
significant difference between the two views is that this second one shows that gas lighting had
superseded the original oil lighting. Each of the large single oil lamps had been replaced with three
gas burners with white glass globes, and each set was supported on an ornamental circular frame
suspended by chains from the roof timbers. It is not known when the gas supply was laid on into the
church, so the presence of the gas lighting does not help date the photograph. However, the pulpit is
shown in its original position right up against the base of the chancel arch.