Choir stalls and Reredos; Church of St Margaret Prestwich

Provided at the expense of Sir Edward Holt, brewer, sometime Lord Mayor of Manchester, and a member of the congregation of St Margaret’s Church, the oak choir stalls were accepted for exhibition by the Arts and Crafts Society in 1906.

Edward Holt was a frequent visitor to the Lake District and in 1898 commissioned M H Baillie Scott to design a new country residence, Blackwell, on high ground overlooking Lake Windermere. Edward Holt and his wife had visited Simpson’s studio at Gill Head on the Bowness to Newby Bridge road, and only a few hundred yards from the site of Blackwell, as early as 1894 and he later commissioned work from A W Simpson both for Blackwell and the church at Prestwich.  It is assumed that the selection of Dan Gibson as designer for the work at Prestwich was at the recommendation of Simpson.

The Simpsons continued to add to the chancel and sanctuary furniture after Dan Gibson’s death in 1907 to the designs of W T Dolman and R B Preston. These works included the rood screen of 1920, incorporating a fallen soldier, said to be Sir Edward’s eldest son, Joseph, killed at Gallipoli.

Reference           Eleanor Davidson: The Simpsons of Kendal, Craftsmen in Wood 1885-1952, Page 51