All Saints’ Church in Thorney Hill – a New Forest church steeped in history
JUDE James, the previous writer of this Reflections column, has been a great mentor to me with my local history studies. His advice is invaluable, writes Nick Saunders. He encourages me to research the local churches as there is a remarkable amount of history to be discovered and studied in the religious buildings of the New Forest. Often, they are the oldest building in a Forest village or town, and their architecture and contents are a valuable resource for historians.
One church that is fairly modern in comparison to others is All Saints’ Church at Thorney Hill, near Bransgore. This is a spectacular architectural gem and well worth a visit. The history linked to the church is fascinating.
The church was built in 1906 by Lord John and Lady Constance Manners of Avon Tyrrell. Lord Manners had won a considerable fortune in 1881. He was a serving officer in the Grenadier Guards when he accepted a wager to purchase, train and ride a winning horse in the Grand National of that year. Riding the horse ‘Seaman’ to victory that year won John Manners £28,000, which is the equivalent of £3.6 million today. John and Constance were married in 1885. They used some of the money to build Avon Tyrrell House on land inherited by Constance in the New Forest. The house was completed in 1892. Lord and Lady Manners had five children. Their eldest daughter Mary Christine was known as Molly. She was followed by twins, Betty and Angela. Lord and Lady Manners’ son John Neville Manners was born in 1892, with Francis their youngest boy born in 1897.
In 1904 John and Constance Manners toured India accompanied by Molly. Sadly, she contracted cholera and died on 15th February that year aged only 17. Her body was brought back to Britain and buried in the church at Clovelly, which was her mother’s childhood home.
Lord and Lady Manners wanted to have a memorial for Molly at Avon Tyrrell. They commissioned the architect Detmar Blow to design a church for them perched on top of Thorney Hill where it could be seen from Avon Tyrrell. Detmar was a leading architect of his time, and was heavily involved in the Arts and Crafts movement. He is famous for some of the houses he created and for his work at Stonehenge. All Saints’ is his one and only church design. He later became the full-time architect for the Duke of Westminster.
The church is built of white Caen stone and is unusually on a north-south axis. Conventionally churches are laid out with the altar at the east end. The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner describes the building as being “essentially symmetrical with very big semicircular gables and hipped roof. The effect is somewhere between Baroque and Italian”. There is a doorway and cupola at the north end and shallow apse at the south behind the altar. The main doorway is on the east side of the church, facing out to the road. Above that door is the carved face of a cherub, which is believed to be the image of Molly. Inside, four large Tuscan columns support a central groin vault. The windows ensure the church is well lit. At the north end there is a memorial plaque for Molly. This was carved directly onto the wall of the church by the controversial sculptor Eric Gill, who later carved the 14 Stations of the Cross that are to be found in Westminster Cathedral. Some of his other works include the figures of Prospero and Aerial outside Broadcasting House in London. Gill, carving freehand, made one slight error which was cleverly concealed on the ‘E’ of wife.
The church was not intended to be a private memorial chapel. On 16th October 1906 it was dedicated by the Bishop of Winchester who, in his address to a congregation of over 100, spoke of the double purpose of the church, in that it preserved “the loving memory of a beautiful life” and would provide “a help and stimulus to holy living for all those who should worship there in days to come”.
On 27th August 1913, John Manners, the eldest son, was commissioned into the 2nd Battalion the Grenadier Guards as a 2nd Lieutenant. He served as a platoon commander in No.4 Company. On 4th August 1914 Britain declared war on Germany when it violated Belgian neutrality by sending troops through the country as part of the Schlieffen Plan to knock out France. John’s battalion was mobilised for war the same day and arrived in Le Havre on 12th August. The British Expeditionary Force fought the German army at Mons on 23rd August 1914 and was pushed back to the River Marne, just outside Paris. The 4th Guards Brigade halted on the northern edge of the forest of Villers-Cotterets on 31st August and faced the approaching enemy. John, as a second lieutenant, would not have been issued a horse and he would have marched with his men for over a week in hot weather and with little food or sleep. The German attack came around 10am on the morning of 1st September. The fighting took place in heavy undergrowth in the forest and with a thick morning mist in the air. This caused confusion on both sides as the fighting became intense and hand to hand. The action of the Guards Brigade temporarily halted the German advance allowing the bulk of the British Second Division to break contact with the enemy, pull back and reform a line of defence. The cost to the Guards Brigade was heavy, with over 300 officers and men killed and many more wounded or missing. Sixty per cent of the officers were old Etonians. The 2nd Battalion the Grenadier Guards had left England with 19 officers and by 1st September there were only three left.
One of the officers posted as missing was the Honourable John Neville Manners. Also missing was 19-year-old George Cecil, a close friend of John Manners and the grandson of Lord Salisbury, the former prime minister. Lady Cecil and Lady Manners desperately sought any information about the fate of their sons. Lady Cecil actually went out to France in September 1914, and with the aid of the American ambassador was able to visit the forest at Villers-Cotterets to search for her son George and his friend John. Lady Manners had been given the names of three guardsmen who were now in captivity. She was able to send them care packages and letters asking if they had any information about her son. Two soldiers replied saying that they had buried John in a mass grave and had marked a nearby tree to indicate where the grave was. Eventually the grave was located and 94 bodies were exhumed. Although George Cecil’s body was positively identified, John Manners was not. His name is now recorded on the Commonwealth War Grave Commission memorial on the Marne at La Ferte-Sous-Jouarre, along with 3,739 other men who are listed as having no known grave.
Lady Constance chose an Australian sculptor, Bertram Mackennal, to make a life-size bronze effigy of John Manners, which would be placed in All Saints’ Church. Mackennal was an acclaimed sculptor who had studied under Rodin and had received commissions for his work from royalty. He had been chosen to design the coronation medal of King George V and created the king’s profile for use on the coinage. He was knighted in 1921. The sculpture shows John Manners in full uniform with his sword at his side. He is lying on matting with a soldier’s knapsack as a pillow. A shield with the Grenadier Guards cap badge is at his feet. To one corner is Mackennal’s signature and the date 1917. Two prostrate grieving angels with faces hidden are carved in white stone above the effigy. This symbolises the grief of the Manners family at losing their daughter in 1904 and eldest son in 1914. John Manners’ name is also inscribed on the war memorial in the grounds of All Saints’ Church.
Lady Constance Manners died in 1920 at the age of 58. She had never really recovered from the death of Molly and John. In a tribute to her, the family decided to have a mural painted on the curved apse wall behind the altar at All Saints’ Church. Phoebe Traquair was commissioned for this. She was an accomplished artist, a member of the Scottish Royal Academy and a leading member of the Arts and Crafts movement. She was aged 68 and this was to be her last great work which she finished in 1922 after two exhausting years of climbing ladders and scaffolding to work at height in the church.
The dome above the altar is gilded and portrays Christ in Glory. Beneath him, the faces of children can be seen looking down. These images were taken from photographs of pupils from the nearby Thorney Hill School. The main part of the mural depicts members of the Manners family, including Molly and John, who is shown as a shepherd boy. Lord John and Lady Constance Manners are also depicted. Others include the 4th Baron Manners who married the Honourable Mary Cecil, daughter of the bishop of Exeter. The bishop, famously eccentric, is portrayed in the mural as well. The background is of the New Forest with the roofline of Avon Tyrrell House just visible. There are so many details to spot including a workman with his sack of tools on his back, and Lord Lucas who had at one stage lived at Ashley Arnewood Manor in New Milton before moving to Picket Post. He became a Royal Flying Corp pilot in the First World War and was shot down and killed during the battle of the Somme. Also featured in the mural is Lord Tennyson along with William Blake. Both of these poets Phoebe tried to include in many of her paintings. During restoration work in 1988 following a fire, a note scratched into the plaster high up towards the ceiling was discovered. Phoebe had written “It’s awfully damp up here”. The mural was last expertly restored in 2010 by the artist Tom Organ.
Phoebe Traquair’s mural is fascinating to view, especially with notes or a guide to help identify the people depicted in the painting. This additional information adds another layer of interest. Fortunately, a guided tour is possible as All Saints’ Church will be open to visitors from 2pm till 4pm on 11th and 25th June, 9th and 23rd July, 13th and 27th August and 10th and 24th September.
The church is part of a Forest-wide graveyard project. People who have relatives buried at All Saints’ can come along and share information on 25th June, 23rd July and 27th August between 2pm and 4pm. Tea will be served to visitors on 25th June.
On 16th September a lecture will be given at All Saints’ Church on the work of the Phoebe Traquair. Dr Tom Bromwell, researcher at the Paul Mellon Centre at the University of York, will talk on the subject ‘Phoebe Anna Traquair: Journey to All Saints’ Church Thorney Hill’.
More information is available on the Facebook page All Saints Thorney Hill Raise the Roof or www.newforestedgechurches.org
All Saints’ Church at Thorney Hill is a wonderful place to visit and contains artwork, sculpture and local history, as well as commemorating the tragic deaths of Molly and John Manners at an early age.
Email nick@miltonheritage society.co.uk or call 01425 618549.
