St George’s is one of only two churches in England designed by FC Eden, an authority on Italian art and architecture.
Newbury, Berkshire
The Italianate style, tall, light and airy, was also thought more suitable (and less costly) to the heavy clay subsoil of the common than the traditional Gothic that had also been considered.
The rood beam has figures carved in Italy by Alphonse Nofleur. The baldachino, based on drawings by Eden, is the work of Sir Stephen Dykes-Bower, architect and surveyor of Westminster Abbey and the designer of the rebuilt St John’s church in Newbury.
The memorial chapel of St Michael also has a reredos designed by Sir Stephen. The other major artistic contributions to St George’s are by John Hayward: the superb circular stained glass west window in reds and golds shows St George; the Lady Chapel reredos depicts the Annunciation; the St Michael Window; the pulpit, lectern and priests’ stalls; and the Processional Cross and Churchwardens’ staves.
Newbury, Berkshire
It seems odd to us, in an age where it is accepted that the super rich spend all their money on themselves, that it was not at all unusual for wealthy medieval people to spend some of their own fortunes on such things as churches.
Burghclere, Hampshire
World famous chapel containing Stanley Spencer's visionary paintings.
Shaw cum Donnigton, Berkshire
A beautiful Victorian church with a stunning chancel designed by the renowned architect William Butterfield (who designed Keble College, Oxford) under the initiative of the rector John Horatio Nelson, nephew of Admiral Nelson.
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