News
9 March 2012. First use of New High Altar in St Patrick's, Colebrook
The new high altar saw its first use over the weekend 3 and 4 March, including a Missa Cantata celebrated on Sunday 4 March to mark the Pugin Bi-centenary.
Copyright Mishka Gora
30 December 2011. New High Altar installed in St Patrick's, Colebrook
The new high altar has now been installed in readiness for the Pugin Bi-centenary celebrations in March 2012. The painted and gilded wooden reredos is, as far as we can ascertain, the first ever copy of the reredos published as Plate 71 in Pugin's 1844 Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament and Costume. The altar frontal and riddel curtains were woven to Pugin designs by Watts & Co., London. We know that the long-gone original 1857 high altar by Tasmanian architect Henry Hunter was of this form.
Image: Brian Andrews
28 September 2011. St Paul's Church, Oatlands, normally closed
We regret to inform you that once more there is no priest resident in Oatlands. As a result, because of the danger of theft and vandalism, St Paul's Church is normally closed. For details on local access to the building contact Irvin Kean on 03 6254 1157.
28 January 2011. Pugin church open daily
We are delighted to inform you that Pugin's little Church of St Paul, Oatlands, in the southern midlands of Tasmania is once more open daily now that a priest is again in residence in the adjacent presbytery.
Image: Brian Andrews
6 December 2010. Latest phase of Colebrook works completed
The re-plastering and re-painting in its original colours of the interior of St Patrick's, Colebrook, is complete. This work has been guided by a comprehensive paint analysis of the interior which was undertaken in 2006. The beautiful Tasmanian hardwood floors, dating from the construction of the building in 1856, have been gently remediated and waxed, highlighting the historic patina of the pit-sawn timbers with their adzed trimming. Burgundy carpet runners have been laid from the west door to the rood screen and from the north porch inner door to the central runner. The sacristy is the only area to have been re-carpeted, also in burgundy.
Image: Brian Andrews
22 August 2010. Colebrook conservation works re-started.
A start has been made on the next phase of the conservation works at St Patrick's, Colebrook. The carpet in the nave and aisles is being removed and the original wooden floor carefully remediated. This includes the painstaking removal of glue which had been used to stick the carpet down in the 1970s. After cleaning, the floor will be waxed and carpet runners installed between the west door and the rood screen, and between the north porch door and the central aisle. The chancel floor was similarly remediated several years ago.
Image: John Miller
8 August 2010. Environs reinstatement at Colebrook.
Further reinstatement of the historic environs of St Patrick's, Colebrook, has been accomplished with the planting of an additional nine trees within the churchyard. These trees are of the same type and in the same locations as those visible in early 1890s photographs of the church. They include poplars, pencil pines, a cork oak, an English elm and a cedar of Lebanon. All trees have been donated by our Friends of Pugin. The plantings will not reinstate the entire 1890s tree complement because of the need to preserve views of the church from Colebrook village. A pear and two apple trees were already planted in their original locations two years ago.
Image: John Miller
20 April 2010. Work Starts on Richmond Window Conservation.
The 1859 three-light traceried chancel window in St John's Church, Richmond, Tasmania, has been removed from its Pugin-designed stonework for conservation. Work will also include repair and re-setting of the stonework and strengthening of the chancel roof and east wall.
Image: Brian Andrews
22 March 2010. Colebrook Church Regularly Open.
Thanks to a team of Friends of Pugin based in Tasmania, the unique Church of St Patrick, Colebrook, in Tasmania's Southern Midlands will be open every Sunday between 2pm and 4pm, commencing 11 April 2010. One of our Friends of Pugin will be on hand to answer any questions. A map giving directions to Colebrook is available here. We strongly recommend that before visiting St Patrick's you download and print the guide to the church, available here.
Image: Brian Andrews
8 October 2009. Darling Point Glass.
It has now been confirmed that the glass discovered last month (see entry below) is in fact Pugin's window. Some panels have been cleaned revealing richly-coloured work in the English thirteenth-century idiom.
Image: courtesy Rick Allen
22 September 2009. Pugin Stained Glass Discovery.
In mid September 2009 work was being done on the church hall adjacent to St Mark’s, Darling Point, in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, under heritage architect Paul Davies. In a ceiling cavity above the toilets what appears to be the original Pugin three-light chancel east window was discovered. Because the space was boarded in there was no knowledge of the existence of the glass, which must have been removed from the church in the 1880s when a replacement window was installed.
The window was covered in over 120 years of dust and some sections appear to be missing. Other parts are broken. However, the original cartoons exist in the Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, so anything is possible. It has been transported to the studio of Mass Vale stained glass conservator Rick Allan. Apparently a miraculous survival, being one of just three Pugin-designed windows in Australia.
Pugin's design for the glass (Courtesy Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery)
28 June2009. Pugin Trail Material Now Available.
The first material for our planned Pugin Trail is now available online. St Patrick's, Colebrook, is the first Trail church to be documented here. The documentation includes a downloadable guide(pdf/1.06Mb) to the building and its environs.
24 June 2009. Colebrook Conservation Works.
The latest phase in the conservation of St Patrick's Church, Colebrook, by the Pugin Foundation is now complete. Works comprised: extensive structural strengthening; conservation of all the crown glass windows; complete re-wiring and installation of new lighting; and replacement of the roofing, flashings, gutters and down-pipes.
Image: Michael Sternbeck
11 March 2009. Transcript of 1999 Newman Society Lecture.
The transcript of an October 1999 lecture given by Brian Andrews to the Newman Society, Hobart, entitled 'Mr Pugin the Bigot' is now online and can be downloaded here.
Christmas 2008.
We wish all our viewers the compliments of the Season and hope you will continue to enjoy this website in the New Year.
Our Lady of Colebrook
1 November 2008. Review of Pugin biography.
Rosemary Hill's 2007 biography of Pugin has been reviewed in the most recent issue of the British journal Ecclesiology Today by architectural historian Anthony Symondson SJ. This balanced review is now available for download as a 4.33MB pdf file and can be accessed here.
2 August 2008. Essay on St Benedict's, Broadway, is now online.
The series on this church, which we ran recently in the Friends of Pugin Newsletter, has been consolidated into an essay with additional text and illustrations, and can be downloaded here. You can download other essays on Pugin's works in England, Ireland and Australia here.
Courtesy: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
1 August 2008. Colebrook conservation works resume.
Strengthening of the floor of St Patrick's, Colebrook, has just been completed in preparation for the use of scaffolding and vertical lift machines inside the church. They will be required for structural strengthening works within the building as well as for rewiring the church and installing new lighting. Our image shows stonemason Edrei Stanton hammering wedges into place between the floor joists and new beams installed between the nave pier foundations. These beams will halve the unsupported span of the joists, effectively increasing their stiffness by a factor of eight.
Image: Brian Andrews
10 June 2008. New book on Hardmans.
We have just received a copy of the recently published book by respected Pugin historian Michael Fisher on the Birmingham firm of John Hardman and Company. Hardmans manufactured Pugin's metalwork and, from 1845, his stained glass. This highly readable and superbly illustrated quality publication comprehensively covers the history of the company from its roots to the present day, its content a tribute to Fisher's meticulous scholarship. The 240-page book, printed on quality art paper and case-bound with an attractive dust jacket, is a major addition to the body of Pugin-related publications and we can unreservedly recommend it.
Details of the book are: Michael Fisher, Hardman of Birmingham, Goldsmith and Glasspainter, Landmark Publishing, Ashbourne, 2008.
25 March 2008. Essay on St Patrick's, Colebrook, is now online.
The series on this church, which we ran recently in the Friends of Pugin Newsletter, has been consolidated into an essay with additional text and illustrations, and can be downloaded here. You can download other essays on Pugin's works in England, Ireland and Australia here.
Image: Brian Andrews
14 March 2008. Decorated rood screen, St Patrick's Day, 2008.
The decoration of rood screens on festive occasions was a feature of Tasmanian Catholic churches in the latter part of the nineteenth century. This beautiful custom was revived for the first time in well over a century at St Patrick's, Colebrook, for the patronal feast day of St Patrick. The screen, restored in 2006, was decorated with green ribbons and bunches of Tasmanian blue gum, the latter symbolising the adopted homeland - Australia - of so many Irish people.
Image: Jude Andrews
2 February 2008. New town signage for Colebrook, Tasmania.
In what must be a world first a Pugin church features on town signage. The Southern Midlands Council in Tasmania has just installed new town signage on the approaches to Colebrook featuring Pugin's Church of St Patrick and including the words 'Pugin church'. The Foundation's Executive Officer Brian Andrews assisted the Council in this project.
Image: John Miller
31 January 2008. Heritage listing.
On 28 January 2008 Pugin's Church of St Francis Xavier, Berrima, New South Wales, was placed on the New South Wales Heritage Register. This is the culmination of a process initiated in March 2006 by the Foundation's Executive Officer, Brian Andrews.
Image: Ian Stapleton