Church Of The Holy Trinity Platt Lane Fallowfield

Holy Trinity, Platt Lane, Fallowfield, was the second of Edmund Sharpe's churches built almost entirely of terra cotta which, according to Eastlake, were "the first attempts to adapt that material to the construction and enrichment of every part of a Gothic church."

In 1845, shortly after the completion of Sharpe's first terra cotta church, St. Stephen at Lever Bridge, Thomas Carill Worsley (1792 1848), of Platt Hall, at the suggestion of the Archdeacon of Manchester, commissioned Sharpe to design another church using terra cotta. Worsley, an evangelical Anglican, had heard of plans to replace the nearby Birch Chapel with a new church.  To rival Birch, he therefore decided to build his own church which was to be finished before it, Trinity Sunday, 7 June 1846, being set as the date for completion. The church was consecrated on 26 June 1846 by the Bishop of Chester although the spire was not finally completed until 1851.  Holy Trinity, Platt, was more correct in plan than the church at Lever Bridge, with a nave 75 feet by 20 feet, a deep chancel, 24 feet by 20 feet, and 15 feet wide aisles. The church provided seating accommodation for 650 persons and cost an estimated £4,000. Sharpe described it as: "... of a more Mediaeval type than that at Lever Bridge ....  a genuine example of the true Lincolnshire type of the fourteenth century ....  they have treated The whole work, as will be seen, as a work of masonry and I believe very few of those who live in the populous neighbourhood in which it stands are aware that it is not so".

Doubtless because of his experiences at Bolton and possibly for technical reason, Sharpe chose a far simpler form of the Curvilinear style, that of a Lincolnshire church of about 1300. However, in 1845 Sharpe had also taken E.G. Paley into partnership. Paley had previously made a detailed study of Lincolnshire church architecture for his brother Frederick=s book on Gothic mouldings. However, the extent of his contribution at Platt is difficult to establish with certainty. Pevsner notes various historical inaccuracies and anomalies in the design, including some ogee details and the appearance of geometrical tracery in the bell openings of the steeple. The whole of the exterior is built of coursed walling of terra cotta blocks five inches high with their outer faces moulded to emulate dressed stone as at Lever Bridge, although at Platt the backing walls are of brickwork, plastered internally. A diaper patterned parapet is provided to the aisle and clerestory walls while the large east window is of five lights with flowing tracery. The tower and slender octagonal spire, more than 150 feet high, are more highly ornamented with elaborate flying buttresses supporting the spire. Internally ornamentation was used sparingly, being restricted to the clustered piers, floriated capitals and moulded nave arches. However, the use of terra cotta included the original pew end carvings, painted to give the appearance of wood.  Because of the problems experienced at Lever Bridge, Sharpe ensured that the blocks were more thoroughly burnt at Platt and generally a more satisfactory result was obtained.  However, in 1875 Sharpe noticed that serious cracks had appeared In 1891 the floors, roof and north aisle pews had to be replaced following a serious outbreak of dry rot Additional repairs were required in 1906 and the roof was again replaced in 1957. In 1910 12 the tower was dismantled, repaired and rebuilt. On the whole Sharpe considered the experiment successful, commenting that A'The whole work has been treated, as will be seen, as a work in masonry, and I believe very few of those who live in the populous neighbourhood in which it stands are aware that it is not so". However, most critics at the time considered this attempt to make terra cotta resemble stone to be entirely reprehensible, and it was this that was the core of their objections to the two churches.

This major contemporary criticism of the church was extended further by one critic who argued that not so much did it 'dishonestly' attempted to imitate stone with another material but rather that this imitation was not sufficiently successful. An article published in The Builder in 1845 highlighted the problems of shrinkage and warping:  Parts of the mullions are out of perpendicular and the lines of the window sills undulate in a very unsatisfactory manner. Indeed, the whole building, though good in design, and not deficient in ornament, will not bear a near approach. The structure may please the traveller, from his post chaise, but will not satisfy those whose praise the architect is most desirous of receiving, that of his brother artists, of men of education and refinement of taste. The Ecclesiologist noted that these "two experiments of the practicability of building in terra cotta ...must set the question at rest for ever, as far at least as Mr Sharpe's process is concerned  ...  The precise faults which were likely,  a priori,  to have been committed with this material have been committed, and the work combines thinness with over ornament ... Terra cotta is not to our mind a legitimate material for such details as in the church before us; but at least if it is right to sham stone, which we deny, it ought to sham it successfully, which in this case it does not. We are sorry to see the question of building in brick (for terra cotta is but a sort of brick) prejudiced by such an unsatisfactory experiment."

Within three years of completion of the church, Ruskin had published the"Seven Lamps of Architecture" which demanded the 'honest' use of materials and from that date the use of one material to simulate another was generally considered aesthetically unacceptable. George Gilbert Scott, not always the most scrupulous of architects, in his Remarks on Secular and Domestic Architecture (1858), commented: "Terra cotta seems the natural accompaniment of brick, but it should not be used as artificial stone. It is merely the highest development of brick ... No attempt should be made to assimilate its colour to that of stone .... Terra cotta should always be constructively made and constructively used; not in great blocks like stone,   in which case it is always a mere sham,   but made of the dimensions most suitable to the nature of its manufacture, and the design made suitable to those dimensions;   thus treating it honourably as a genuine and acknowledged material not  insulting and  degrading  it  by making  it a mere pretender  in  "borrowed feathers" .... To take full advantage of the material, enamelled enrichments might with great advantage be used in it, Thus by the judicious use of brick (moulded as well as plain), encaustic tile, and terra cotta we might develop a variety of constructive decoration peculiarly our own."

Sharpe was well aware of the potential for misuse of the material. Hollowing out the blocks would diminish the length of burning required:  " .... but here we fall upon another evil almost greater than the first, for it is preeminently unsatisfactory to reduce the ornamental part, or show side, so to speak, of the block to the condition of a shell, whilst honest concrete or stone does duty at the back as the real masonry of the building. I need scarcely say that this is not the manner in which the terra-cotta used in these two churches has been treated; still there must always be the tendency on the part of the manufacturer to ensure the durability of his material by lessening the amount of its solidity, a  result. which goes far to prove that to employ this material in large masses is a use which is in a direction and of a nature opposed to its natural capabilities."

It is extremely difficult to assess the influence of the Lever Bridge and Platt churches on the development of terra cotta work in this country in the nineteenth century. A similar 'whole hearted use of clay does not appear to have been repeated anywhere else -the formidable disapproval of the Ecclesiological Society would have been sufficient to prevent that. However, the two churches do represent a genuine, enthusiastic, though possibly misguided, attempt to explore the full potentialities of the material.  Opponents to terra-cotta in building work chiefly objected to the repetition of mouldings and ornaments. This, they considered, reduced them to mere mechanical adjuncts that debased art. Sharpe met this argument by stating that in his Churches every detail was well thought out and carefully modelled. This being the case, he could think of no reason why there should be a prejudice against cast decorative work. It necessitated a repetition of parts and details, but to his mind one of the most interesting points in the examination of Gothic work Aas to trace out the idea of proportion  which  repeated again and again gave the key to the whole composition@.  Furthermore, from a practical point of view, facilities for mechanical repetition of design were the more needed, as the British workman was regrettably becoming less skilled, less careful,  and less industrious every year, and any means by which responsibility could be transferred from his hands to those of the modeller would be to the architect's advantage.

HOLY TRINITY, RUSHOLME, MANCHESTER. — This church and the one at Lever Bridge, Bolton, noticed in our first series, are two experiments by Mr. Sharpe, of the practicability of building in terra-cotta, which we should think must set the question at rest for ever, as far at least as Mr. Sharpe’s process is concerned. The edifice before us consists of a flowing Middle-Pointed chancel, and a geometrical nave and aisles with clerestory, and of the lower part of a tower, (which is to be hereafter crowned with a spire) at the west end of the north aisle. All the material, both the imitative ashlar and the imitative rough work, is of terra-cotta, which also we believe ekes out the internal woodwork. The precise faults which were likely, d priori, to have been committed with this material have been committed, and the work unites thinness with over-ornament. The chancel parapet is decidedly Flamboyant, while those of the nave and aisles are a series of solid diapering. The doors are flaunting and the pillars are thin with extravagant capitals. The copings rise extravagantly above the roofs, which are of a good pitch. The pavement, of a stamped pattern, is most unpleasant to walk upon. Terra-cotta is not in our mind a legitimate material for such details as in the church before us ; but at least if it is right to sham stone, which we deny, it ought to sham it successfully, which in this case it does not. We are sorry to see the question of building in brick (for terra-cotta is but a sort of brick) prejudiced by so unsatisfactory an experiment. The ritual arrangement is very unsatisfactory (with the exception of the commandments being placed over the chancel- arch). The prayer-desk under the chancel-arch faces due west. This was to have been anticipated from what we know of the history of the church. It is at least satisfactory to see that churches are now built like churches, even under influence from which a few years back we never could have looked for such results. The building before us has the various parts of a proper church, the style is Middle-Pointed, the chancel is of a proper length, and at a distance there is something attractive about its general appearance. [Ecclesiologist October 1848 page 137 – new churches]

Reference           Ecclesiologist October 1848 page 137 – new churches