Page:The Building News and Engineering Journal, Volume 22, 1872.djvu/480

 TOWERS AND SPIRES OF SUSSEX. fee county of Sussex is exceedingly beautiful, its varied scenery being in many ways un- surpassed. Its architectural features render it one of the most interesting counties in England, whether we view the charming old farmsteads and cottages which stud the landscape or the picturesque little churches which are conspicuous on every side. Every hamlet contains its sacred edifice; here it occupies a gentle eminence, while yonder . . + it lies perhaps a little low, Because the monks preferr'd a hill behind To shelter their devotion from the wind. The picturesqueness of these churches seems to exist in their extreme simplicity, whether of plan, outline, or detail. The materials usually employed are sandstone, chalk, and very often rough flints. Poynings Church is, however, cased with dressed flints, which, although expensive to work, are very effective. There is an example of a brick church at Twineham, late sixteenth century, but it is very unusual. The roofs are generally covered with red tiling or Horsham stone, commonly called Horsham slates, or heeling (?). ~ Almost every church possesses either a tower, tower and spire, or bell turret; the spires are mostly con- structed of timber and covered with oak shingles; the tower, with very few exceptions, occupies the west end of the nave. There are three round- towered churches in the county—yviz., Piddinghoe, Southease, and S. Michael, Lewes—the two former are given in the illustration. These round towers all stand near the west bank of the river Ouse and within a mile or two of one another. At Southwick the belfry windows have been blocked up, and two circular piercings made on each side. The pyramidal shingled spire at Rodmell is a form seldom seen. Crawley has a late, but well-proportioned, tower ; on its west front is a canopied figure, representing S. John the Baptist, to whom the church is dedi- cated; among other features of interest in the build- ing is a beam carved with an old English inscription : “Man yn well bewar, for warldly good makyth man blynde. Bewar befor what cumyth behynde.” A local history says of Newhaven Church : ‘“ The tower, placed near the east end of the building, with a semi-circular apse, is remarkable, and bears a striking resemblance to that of Yainville, near Jumiéges, in Normandy. It is probably one of the earliest Norman erections in England.” In Brandon’s “ Analysis” there is an engraving of the belfry window. A very common form is that of Slaugham, which consists of a small square tower, with angle buttresses, and surmounted by a low shingled spire ; these low spires are sometimes tiled. The tower of Sompting Church has many peculiar features, which give it an important place among the village churches of this county ; it was illustrated in the Burtpine News of Jan. 26, 1872. H. W. Prarr. a LONDON WELLS. EFORE Sir Hugh Myddelton brought water to London, and while yet the only extraneous source of supply open to its thirsty inhabitants was the Thames, they had almost at their doors ‘ wells and springs of water” of no mean capacity. Even in these days, “‘spring water,” as it is called, is pre- ferred before all other for drinking purposes, and in the early morning long processions of office boys and porters may be seen journeying to and from many of the City pumps, carrying away with them the water for the replenishment of the office bottles. Any danger from organic impurities is readily risked for the sake of the cool, sparkling draught, so re- freshing in comparison with the soft, insipid taste of cistern and drinking fountain water. sanitarians have peremptorily shut up many of our metropolitan wells; in some the water has spon- taneously disappeared ; and, in other cases, railway companies and other authorities, equally regardless of public convenience and comfort, have built over or otherwise appropriated the sites. The House of Modern THE BUILDING NEWS. Commons recently ordered to be printed a return, which professes to give the name, position, and depth, where known, of every public surface well within the metropolis, and specifies which of them have been closed. This the report does not do. There is no mention, for instance, of the well-known pump in S. Paul’s Churchyard, nor of another which formerly existed in Chequer-yard, Dowgate-hill— now swallowed up, pump and all, by the South Eastern Railway Station—and to which people resorted from far and near in such numbers that it became necessary to lock up the pump handle at certain times. One of the most famous wells still open in the City is that at the corner of Idol-lane, in the parish of S. Dunstan-in-the-East. The soil is gravel, and at the bottom is placed chalk to the depth of 1ft., which is occasionally taken out and cleaned. The water is considered so good that the fishermen from Billingsgate are in the habit of filling their casks with it to take to sea, and, it is besides, much used in the neighbourhood. Another well, until recently of good reputation, is the corporation pump in Guildhall-buildings, which is nearly 50ft. deep. This is not yet per- manently closed, but the handle has been for some time removed. The return altogether enumerates 40 wells still open in the metropolis and the suburban parishes, and a much larger number permanently closed. In four of the City pumps in the neighbourhood of the excayations in connection with the extension of the Great Eastern Railway to Broad-street, the water has disappeared, owing, as it is believed, to the said excavations. One of these, in the Old Leaden-Hall, was sunk as early as the fifteenth century. JUNE 7, 1872. DESCRIPTION OF DESIGN FOR YVILLA— “GLASGOWEGIAN.” ea villa illustrated is designed for a gently sloping site, the windows of the principal rooms commanding the view across the valley. On the ground floor are the dining-room, drawing-room, and library, with the necessary kitchen offices, in- cluding a servant’s bed-room, which are shut off from the rest of the house by a small lobby. Be- tween the kitchen and the dining-room is placed the pautry, which is also to be used as aservery, being connected with the kitchen by a sliding service-board, and with the dining-room by a door. The inconve- nience of crossing the hall is thereby avoided. The closet under the stair is suitable either for a water- closet or wine cellar, but the former seems to be the greatest desideratum. On the upper floor are all the bed-rooms, dressing-room, bath-room, and napery closet. All the outside walls of main building to be 2ft. thick, and built of square dressed random rubble, with droyed dressings, the inside partitions being all brick, and carried up to support the roof, the timbers of which, together with the joists, to be of yellow pine. The dining-room and library ceilings, doors, &c., to be of oak, and the chimney-pieces of Caen stone; the timber finishings of other rooms to be pitch pine; the barge boarding and window sashes, being so much exposed to the weather, to be of teak. The upper sashes of windows to be glazed with quarried glass, the lower sashes having ordinary plate-glass. The roof to be covered with Westmoreland slates of a greenish colour. The plan appeared last week. ee NEW DRILL-HALL FOR THE QUEEN’S EDINBURGH RIFLE BRIGADE. gave last week (on p. 436) a detailed description of this building, lately erected from designs by Captain Menzies. It shoald have It may be questioned whether the plan of per- manently closing wells is altogether a wise one. They might, at any rate, be secured from the public and be used—as many of them, in fact, are—for road watering and similar purposes. The example of the Paving Board of the Liberty of the Rolls, too, is worth noting. There was formerly a well in Chancery-lane about 18ft. deep; the escape of gas from the mains affected the water. The then Paving Board, about 25 years since, closed the well and had the same filled up. At the same time they caused another well, of the same depth, to be made in Bream’s- buildings, Chancery-lane, erecting a pump; this is now open and used by the inhabitants. With the daily increasing necessity for an abun- dant metropolitan water supply, no source likely to help in eyer so small a degree should be neglected. ————— INSTITUTION OF SURVEYORS. HE annual general meeting of this Society was held at No. 12, Great George-street, on Monday, May 27. Mr. Edward Norton Clifton was elected President for the ensuing year in place of the retiring President, Mr. Richard Hall. It appeared from the report for the past year that the Society is rapidly increasing in numbers, and now iricludes in its ranks a large majority of the surveyors and leading land agents of the kingdom. Many valuable and interesting papers have been read at the fort- nightly meetings of the past session, and have been printed among the ‘ Transactions” of the Society. It was announced that arrangements were in pro- gress for the erection of a handsome lecture hall, library, and offices, and which, it is anticipated, will be ready for occupation by the commencement of the next session in November. The annual dinner will take place on July 1. been accompanied by the illustration which we now append. ————_> —_—_ HOUSE PLANNING COMPETITION. WE give another design this week, the one bearing the motto “* One ina Hundred,” by John Watts, 35, Bucklersbury. Mr. Watts sent us no description to accompany thedrawing. His motto was a some- what happy one, as there were just 100 competitors. —__@—__—_—__ BRYANT AND MAY TESTIMONIAL FOUNTAIN, BOW. AC LARGE number of persons engaged, or other- wise interested, in the manufacture of matches, having determined to mark their appreciation of services rendered to the trade by Messrs. Bryant & May, of Bow, a considerable sum of money was subscribed with a view of presenting them with a suitable testimonial ; they, however, declined to re- ceive any personal gift; it was, therefore, deter- mined to erect in their honour the fountain shown in the view. A site was granted by the Chairman and Directors of the North London Railway in front of their station at Bow, and the fountain is now in course of erection. The structure is 7ft. square at the base, and 35ft. high to the top of the vane. The lower part up to the caps of the lower buttresses is executed in Bristol blue pennant stone, and the remainder is carried out in Portland stone, all the columns being in red Mansfield stone. The centre stage is open on all sides, and forms a groined canopy, in which is placed a carved figure in Sicilian marble ; the whole is surmounted by a spire richly ornamented by diapered bands. The water service will be supplied gratuitously by the Drinking Fountains Association, and the fountain will be handed over to their care on its completion. The work is being carried out by Mr. J. W. Seale, sculptor, of Walworth, from the designs and under the superintendence of Mr. Rowland Plumbe, F.R.LB.A., architect, 13, Fitzroy-square, W.