Page:Life of Thomas Hardy - Brennecke.pdf/117



OHN HICKS of Dorchester was, by all accounts, a rather colorless individual. A dubious fortune, nevertheless, was smiling upon him at this time. As a country architect, he could have hoped for little besides general farmhouse repair work, with now and then the job of designing a new building of a more or less standardized pattern. Chance brought him something better. It directed his efforts into ecclesiastical channels.

A veritable architectural mania was sweeping through the western counties of England. Parsons, squires and bishops were regarding their crumbling sanctuaries with dissatisfaction and alarm. The old stone and wood was slowly succumbing to the gnawing tooth of Time. Towers and floors were becoming shaky and unsafe, altar screens were fading and wearing out, churchyard monuments were tumbling over.

All this dilapidation was to be summarily "restored." Towers were to be torn down and rebuilt, altar screens were to be replaced, churchyards were to be renovated. A furious restoration-movement gripped everybody.

Unfortunately, a policy of thoroughgoing replacement was generally adopted and followed, instead of one of mere preservation of the remains of old art. Neo-Gothic