Pugin's Gem

Ignorance and greed are potent enemies of our national heritage. Where a building which was the work of one of the country's most outstanding architects is needlessly destroyed one can only deplore the philistinism to which it has been sacrificed.
Pugin, the most noted architect of his day, called the Jesus Chapel at Ackworth Grange which he had designed for Mrs. Elizabeth Tempest his "Gem of the North." A perfect example of Victorian revivalism in the decorated style, it recreated a typical chapel of the Edward III period in its painted and gilded exuberance.
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Left, Ackworth Grange. Right, reredos of Pugin's aItar from the Jesus Chapel, now in Campsall Church.

Survived persecution

Completed in 1842 the chapel was maintained for public use until 1920 when another Roman Catholic chapel was built in Ackworth, after which its use was more domestic. It was demolished in 1966 and many of its features were destroyed.

The Tempests were among Yorkshire families who (like the Watertons of Walton Hall) adhered to the Catholic Church throughout many periods of religious persecution. At the time of the Pilgrimage of Grace (1536), Nicholas Tempest of Ackworth was executed for his belief. By the 19th century however, in an era of greater tolerance, the family was of some standing and able to maintain a domestic chaplain and a school for associates of the household.

The earlier history of the present Ackworth Grange, to which Mrs Tempest had moved shortly before the chapel was commissioned, is not easy to disentangle but extant documents suggest what follows. A house on the site, then known as Briars Flatts, was in 1774 owned by Benjamin Turton who had probably bought it in 1771. In 1801 Turton sold it to Peter Wilson, who exchanged it in 1807 with William Wilson: in the latter year a Peter Wilson was described as a farmer and a William Wilson as a mason. The first occurrence of the name Ackworth Grange - a common term for a mansion in the 19th century - so far discovered is in 1821 when Captain Richard Wilson resided there. In 1836 it was owned by Elisabeth Wilson. Rebuilding or extension had taken place at least once during this period, the handsome Georgian front and its associated rooms being of a later date than the rest of the house.


Above, a drawing of the Jesus Chapel by Harry Battye.

Bold Critic

E1isabeth Tempest, who had been widowed in 1824 and had thus lost her position as mistress of the Tempest household at Broughton Hall, may well have moved to the Grange, which was conveyed to the Tempests in 1836, in order to retain her own establishment. A daughter of Henry Blundell of Broughton and an heiress in her own right, she had been married in 1789 and had eight sons - the seventh of which, Joseph Francis Tempest, came into possession of the estate at Ackworth Grange after her death in 1845.

Mrs. Tempest established her chapel at the Grange to serve her own household and the small community of local Catholics and it is perhaps worth remembering that the building of the railway line nearby would have brought Irishmen into the neighbourhood.

In selecting Pugin as her architect she chose a man who was both a devout Catholic (after his conversion in 1834) and an outspoken critic of Protestant architecture.

Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812 - 1852) set out to restore the early style of church architecture as an expression of Christianity as it was before the Reformation. Some of his papers attacking Protestantism and its architecture were too provocative for publication in this country and were brought out in Ireland where his policies could more easily be pursued.

Ackworth's Jesus Chapel, or Grange Chapel as it was more familiarly known. received its certificate for religious worship at the Pontefract Sessions in April 1844. It consisted of a nave and chancel, a chantry chapel which contained a family vault and a sacristy. On the apex of the eastern end of the nave a belfry was erected for the sanctus bell. A floriate cross embellished the western gable.

Blaze of colour

The roof of the nave was of the waggon type, divided into compartments by ribs ant painted panels. The ribs were diapered in various colour, and with gold decorations creating an azure sky powdered with gold stars and tiny suns. The chapel roof was even more lavishly decorated and at each Intersection a gold boss, carved with emblem of the Passion, glorified Christ.

All the windows were of the best stained glass having figured quarries, rich borders and painted quatrefoils. The east window of the chantry was filled with the image of the Virgin and Christ triumphing over evil as signified by the serpent trampled underfoot. This scene was supported by the four Evangelists and a host of angels. The main chancel window depicted the Crucifixion, the Adoration of the Wise Men and the Resurrection. Side windows were filled with the armorial bearings of the Tempests.

To the side of the chancel a richly ornamented niche held a high tomb which served as an Easter sepulchre. Opposite this was a sedelia, richly carved with crockets, pinnacles and canopies.

Pugin designed everything - sculpture, tiles, stained glass and wallpaintings as well as the building itself. The result was perhaps not to everyone's taste! The extravagant embellishments, the gilded decoration and the riot of colour within an enclosed space tended to be overpowering to those brought up to appreciate the austerity of an Anglican church. The principal altar had niches containing carvings of Saints ornamented with elaborate decoration and colour. Although the chantry altar was itself plain, it had a velvet frontal relieved in gold embroidery. Both altars had silk dossels (or curtains), candlesticks, a suspended pyx and a crucifixion cross. The floors were laid with encaustic tiles reproducing traditional mediaeval designs typical of the Decorated period. A second Catholic Church, dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes, was established by Rev. John Broderick at Eagle House, High Ackworth on June 6 1920. A Catholic Parish hall was opened about 1927 and the present church, at Ackworth Cross Roads, was founded in 1939. The Jesus Chapel was, then, redundant; but one can only regret Its loss as an architectural treasure. Some of its precious glass was smashed. Some of the Chapel's treasures met a more appropriate reception however. The carved and painted stone altar went to Campsall Church. The sculptures of Christ in Majesty and of the Annunciation went to St. Leonard's and St. Judes, Doncaster, while Durham Cathedral has some of the glass in its chapter house and Galilee porch.