[Illustration: NEW CHURCH OF ST. DUNSTAN IN THE WEST, FLEET STREET.]
In our fourteenth volume we took a farewell glance of the old church of
St. Dunstan, and adverted to the proposed new structure. Little did we
then expect that within three years the removal of the old church would
be effected, and a fabric of greatly surpassing beauty raised in its
place. All this has been accomplished by the unanimity of the
parishioners of St. Dunstan, unaided by any public grant, and assisted
only by their own right spirit, integrity, and well-directed taste. The
erection of this Church, as the annexed Engraving shows, is not to be
considered merely as a parochial, but as a public, benefit, and must be
ranked among the most important of our metropolitan improvements. The
different situation of the new and the old churches will occasion an
addition of 30 feet to the width of the opposite street, and it will be
perceived by the Engraving,[1] that improvements are contemplated in the
houses adjoining the church, so as to give an _unique_ architectural
character to this portion of the line of Fleet-street.
[1] Copied, by permission, from a handsome Lithograph, published
by Mr. Waller, Fleet-street.
The church has been built from the designs and under the superintendance
of John Shaw, Esq., F.R. and A.S. the architect of Christ's Hospital.
The tower is of the Kelton stone, a very superior kind of freestone, of
beautiful colour, from the county of Rutland. Of this material King's
College Chapel, Cambridge, and many other of our finest edifices have
been constructed. The tower has below an entrance doorway, finished with
rich mouldings and tracery; on each side are the arms of his Majesty and
the City of London. Above is a clock with three dials, and a belfry to
admit the fine set of bells[2] from the old church, the sound of which
will doubtless receive effect through the four large upper windows which
are the main features of the tower. Above these windows, the tower,
hitherto square, becomes gradually octagonal, springing from corbeled
heads; till terminated by four octagonal pinnacles, and crowned by an
octagonal moulded battlement. Upon the tower is an enriched stone
lantern, perforated with gothic windows of two heights, each angle
having a buttress and enriched finial; the whole being terminated by an
ornamental, pierced, and very rich crown parapet. The height of the
tower, to the battlements, is 90 feet; and the whole height of the tower
and lantern is 130 feet.
[2] The tower of the old church was furnished with a set of
eight very excellent bells: there was also a bell of a smaller
size suspended in one of the turrets, which was rung every
morning at a quarter before seven o'clock. On the walls of the
belfry were some records of exploits in ringing, which had been
performed there on different occasions.
The body of the church is of fine brick, finished with stone, and of
octagon form, about 50 feet diameter. The interior has eight recesses;
one of these being occupied by the altar with a large pointed window
above, and three others by the organ and galleries for the children of
the parish schools: the remaining four recesses are unoccupied by
galleries; against their walls are placed the sepulchral monuments from
the old church. The octagon form was often adopted in the lady-chapels
at the east end of our most ancient cathedrals, where the recesses were
devoted to tombs and private chapels. The upper or clere story is
supported on arches, with an enriched gothic window in each compartment.
The roof springs from clustered columns, branching into an enriched
groined ceiling, with a very large and embellished pendent key-stone in
the centre, from which will be suspended the chandelier to light the
whole of the interior. The ornaments of this key-stone are of a very
elegant character: its foliated tracery, as well as the richness of the
bosses, corbels, and other embellishments throughout the interior, are
extremely beautiful. The pewing, gallery fronts, and fittings will be of
fine oak; and we learn that the altar and eight clere story windows will
be filled with painted glass. The church is calculated to hold about 900
persons.
The tower is connected with the main body by a lobby, and will front the
street, enclosed with a handsome railing. The builders of the church are
Messrs. Browne and Atkinson, of Goswell-street, London; and the pewing
and interior fittings are about to be executed by Messrs. Cubitt.
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We could occupy a column or a page with enumerating the monumental
remains of the old church, although we have already mentioned the
principal of them. (_See Mirror_, vol. xiv. p. 145-243.) It is our
intention to return to them, even if it be but to point the attention of
the lover of parochial antiquities to a Series of Views of St. Dunstan
and its Monuments, with an Historical Account of the Church, by the Rev.
J.F. Denham; which by its concise yet satisfactory details, leads us to
wish that every parish in the metropolis were illustrated by so
accomplished an annalist.
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