News
8 October 2009. Darling Point Glass.
It has now been confirmed that the glass discovered last month (see entry below) is in fact Pugin's window. Some panels have been cleaned revealing richly-coloured work in the English thirteenth-century idiom.
Image: courtesy Rick Allen
22 September 2009. Pugin Stained Glass Discovery.
In mid September 2009 work was being done on the church hall adjacent to St Mark’s, Darling Point, in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, under heritage architect Paul Davies. In a ceiling cavity above the toilets what appears to be the original Pugin three-light chancel east window was discovered. Because the space was boarded in there was no knowledge of the existence of the glass, which must have been removed from the church in the 1880s when a replacement window was installed.
The window was covered in over 120 years of dust and some sections appear to be missing. Other parts are broken. However, the original cartoons exist in the Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, so anything is possible. It has been transported to the studio of Mass Vale stained glass conservator Rick Allan. Apparently a miraculous survival, being one of just three Pugin-designed windows in Australia.
Pugin's design for the glass (Courtesy Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery)
28 June2009. Pugin Trail Material Now Available.
The first material for our planned Pugin Trail is now available online. St Patrick's, Colebrook, is the first Trail church to be documented here. The documentation includes a downloadable guide(pdf/1.06Mb) to the building and its environs.
24 June 2009. Colebrook Conservation Works.
The latest phase in the conservation of St Patrick's Church, Colebrook, by the Pugin Foundation is now complete. Works comprised: extensive structural strengthening; conservation of all the crown glass windows; complete re-wiring and installation of new lighting; and replacement of the roofing, flashings, gutters and down-pipes.
Image: Michael Sternbeck
11 March 2009. Transcript of 1999 Newman Society Lecture.
The transcript of an October 1999 lecture given by Brian Andrews to the Newman Society, Hobart, entitled 'Mr Pugin the Bigot' is now online and can be downloaded here.
Christmas 2008.
We wish all our viewers the compliments of the Season and hope you will continue to enjoy this website in the New Year.
Our Lady of Colebrook
1 November 2008. Review of Pugin biography.
Rosemary Hill's 2007 biography of Pugin has been reviewed in the most recent issue of the British journal Ecclesiology Today by architectural historian Anthony Symondson SJ. This balanced review is now available for download as a 4.33MB pdf file and can be accessed here.
2 August 2008. Essay on St Benedict's, Broadway, is now online.
The series on this church, which we ran recently in the Friends of Pugin Newsletter, has been consolidated into an essay with additional text and illustrations, and can be downloaded here. You can download other essays on Pugin's works in England, Ireland and Australia here.
Courtesy: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
1 August 2008. Colebrook conservation works resume.
Strengthening of the floor of St Patrick's, Colebrook, has just been completed in preparation for the use of scaffolding and vertical lift machines inside the church. They will be required for structural strengthening works within the building as well as for rewiring the church and installing new lighting. Our image shows stonemason Edrei Stanton hammering wedges into place between the floor joists and new beams installed between the nave pier foundations. These beams will halve the unsupported span of the joists, effectively increasing their stiffness by a factor of eight.
Image: Brian Andrews
10 June 2008. New book on Hardmans.
We have just received a copy of the recently published book by respected Pugin historian Michael Fisher on the Birmingham firm of John Hardman and Company. Hardmans manufactured Pugin's metalwork and, from 1845, his stained glass. This highly readable and superbly illustrated quality publication comprehensively covers the history of the company from its roots to the present day, its content a tribute to Fisher's meticulous scholarship. The 240-page book, printed on quality art paper and case-bound with an attractive dust jacket, is a major addition to the body of Pugin-related publications and we can unreservedly recommend it.
Details of the book are: Michael Fisher, Hardman of Birmingham, Goldsmith and Glasspainter, Landmark Publishing, Ashbourne, 2008.
25 March 2008. Essay on St Patrick's, Colebrook, is now online.
The series on this church, which we ran recently in the Friends of Pugin Newsletter, has been consolidated into an essay with additional text and illustrations, and can be downloaded here. You can download other essays on Pugin's works in England, Ireland and Australia here.
Image: Brian Andrews
14 March 2008. Decorated rood screen, St Patrick's Day, 2008.
The decoration of rood screens on festive occasions was a feature of Tasmanian Catholic churches in the latter part of the nineteenth century. This beautiful custom was revived for the first time in well over a century at St Patrick's, Colebrook, for the patronal feast day of St Patrick. The screen, restored in 2006, was decorated with green ribbons and bunches of Tasmanian blue gum, the latter symbolising the adopted homeland - Australia - of so many Irish people.
Image: Jude Andrews
2 February 2008. New town signage for Colebrook, Tasmania.
In what must be a world first a Pugin church features on town signage. The Southern Midlands Council in Tasmania has just installed new town signage on the approaches to Colebrook featuring Pugin's Church of St Patrick and including the words 'Pugin church'. The Foundation's Executive Officer Brian Andrews assisted the Council in this project.
Image: John Miller
31 January 2008. Heritage listing.
On 28 January 2008 Pugin's Church of St Francis Xavier, Berrima, New South Wales, was placed on the New South Wales Heritage Register. This is the culmination of a process initiated in March 2006 by the Foundation's Executive Officer, Brian Andrews.
Image: Ian Stapleton