User:Charles Allsopp/Beauchamp Community

The Beauchamp Community, Newland, Malvern, Worcestershire

Overview

The Beauchamp Community, comprises all of the Victorian and later buildings on the south side of Newland Common on the right of the Avenue between the A449 and Madresfield Lane, Newland, in the County of Worcestershire, England.The Community was founded for retired agricultural workers through the bequests of John, third Earl Beauchamp of Madresfield, who died in 1853 and his first wife Charlotte, who died in 1846. Before their marriage, Countess Beauchamp was Lady Charlotte Scott, the wealthy daughter of John Henry Scott, 1st Earl of Clonmell; and it was she who formed the plan and left the £60,000 to build the Community. That was equivalent to approximately £10,000,000 in today’s (2010) money. Because of protracted and frustrating negotiations, the building work couldn’t start straight away. Finally, however, in 1859 a scheme was accepted by the Court of Chancery to establish almshouses for ‘twenty-four decayed agricultural labourers’ and the first phase of the development comprising the quadrangle and the St. Leonard's church, was completed in 1864.

Architecture and General description

The architect was Philip Charles Hardwick who, at the time, was already engaged to work on the restoration and extension of Madresfield Court by the fifth Earl Beauchamp.

The imposing brick tower above the entrance to the Community described by Pevsner as ‘rather too high’ and often thought of as a clock or bell tower was actually built as a water tower and was originally a lot lower. It has been heightened twice to increase the water pressure. The original water system is no longer in use.

The almshouse flats are best seen from the south where they form a very attractive quadrangle with the church making up the north-east corner and the former choir school the north-west.

In the early days, Foundation Boy Choristers were educated on the premises by the Schoolmaster/Organist. Later the boys were educated at the Grammar School in Worcester.

Sadly the Choir School was disbanded in the nineteen-forties. For over seventy years it maintained a very good reputation singing at Worcester, Hereford, Gloucester and Coventry cathedrals and was supported by Edward Elgar amongst others in its mission. The school buildings were converted into further pensioners' flats after its closure.

The lofty water tower dated 1882, was, apparently, built to Hardwick’s original design exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1861. At the top of the tower is a stone blind trefoiled parapet with a recessed half-timbered top with a steep-sided French pavilion roof. The tower stands in the centre of the north range and The Chaplain’s house immediately to the right of the tower was formerly the matron’s house and infirmary.

The large sunken lawns are divided into four squares by wide gravel pathways where, in 2002, a large stone fountain was erected at the centre.

The detailed front of the flats is exquisite. Trefoiled windows of three lights, half-timbered gables with pretty oak bargeboards, wide arched entrances to each block of four flats, the stairs to each upper two lit by quirky pyramid-roofed dormer windows with tiny recessed windows each side. The chimneys are outstanding, individually designed with many twisted patterns. All the chimneys are now capped and a district heating scheme provides central heating and hot water for all residents.

The east range is a cloister built in 1876 which links the south door of the church to the large warden’s lodge in the south-east corner.

When the trustees of the Beauchamp charity purchased the advowson of Newland – which, in effect, meant the right to nominate a person to hold a church office in the parish – they were required to repair or rebuild the parish church at the expense of the charity. They accordingly demolished the old building in 1864. Then in 1865, a portion of the square-panelled timber framing of the old church was re-erected between the chancel and the warden's lodge. Now opening from the cloister, it was used initially as a mortuary chapel. Some years ago the chapel was refurbished and is now used for private prayer and the daily eucharist. The timbers were filled in with modern brickwork resting on a brick base. There are simple two- and three-light trefoiled windows with stained glass by Clayton & Bell. This re-erected portion of the old building measures internally 20 ft. 10 in. by 14 ft. 10 in., and consists of two bays and a portion of a third. Although very small, it still represents around half of the original structure.

Moving down the cloister also projecting east is the Newland Theological Library built in 1910 by C. F. Whitcombe. There are glass-fronted book cases housing some 2,500 books dating from the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries. Above the book cases are high-set mullioned windows down each side with a deep plaster compartment ceiling.

Both the cloister and the library were paid for by Rev. George Cosby White, the wealthy second Vicar/Warden who was formerly the Vicar of St. Barnaba, Pimlico, and the founder and chairman of Hymns Ancient and Modern. It was at this latter vicarage that the committee met first of all in 1857. He resigned as Chairman of the committee in 1904 due to old age.

The cloister then leads to the boardroom of the Beauchamp Community which has reticulated three-light windows on three walls and a five-bay false hammer-beam roof with supporting bosses each bearing a Beauchamp family crest. The stone fireplace now houses a cast-iron log burner but still has the Beauchamp tiles with the bear motif each side. The mantle shelf has richly-carved foliage and above enclosed is a large oil painting of the founder Reginald Pyndar, 3rd earl Beauchamp.

The rest of the warden’s lodge, completed in 1863, has gables, canted bay windows with top trefoil friezes, timber oriels and tall patterned chimneys. The building is now divided up accommodating the office, guest flat, and three large pensioner’s flats.

The old church of St. Leonard at Newland was an interesting timber and plaster building, rectangular in plan, measuring internally about 55 ft. by 14 ft., with north porch and a square bell turret at the west end surmounted by a short broach spire. The building belonged probably (Pevsner) to the fourteenth century.

The manor of Newland was given to Great Malvern Priory by Gilbert, Abbot of Westminster who died in 1117. The chapel was built by and serviced by the monks of Malvern priory until the dissolution. After that, Newland remained part of the Parish of Great Malvern until 1864.

The structure was of a simple type as regards the timber framing and consisted of five bays, two of which composed the chancel, whose length was about 16 ft. 6 in. The chancel had a boarded and panelled ceiling, but the rest of the building was open to the roof, which externally ran the length of the building with unbroken ridge. An undated drawing of the interior shows it to have been filled with high straight-backed pews and to have had a three-decker pulpit on the south side. These were probably introduced in the eighteenth or early years of the nineteenth century, when a curved plaster ceiling seems also to have been erected over the nave.

The site of the altar of the old church is now marked by a stone cross erected in 1866 by the Forsyth brothers of Worcester, and the graveyard is still used.

At the centre of the open side of the quadrangle – opposite the tower – are wrought-iron gates, purchased in 1871 for Madresfield Court. They are the eighteenth-century choir gates from Cologne Cathedral. They are not at their best at this time and really should be restored.

Hardwick’s ranges then continue west of the quadrangle with two more blocks of four flats. In 1889, The Lygon Almshouses were built for pensioners from Madresfield Court. They are the same style and design but larger. Still moving west there are the St. Barnabas Clergy Houses – semi-detached houses of 1900 and 1908 again paid for by George Cosby-White. Plainer with flat bay windows, these houses have now been divided into eight flats for married couples.

During the early 1960s, bathrooms were added to all the flats which spoiled the view of the north front. Fortunately the south aspect was virtually unaffected by the changes.

Behind the east range of the quadrangle lies Pyndar Court. Built in 1986 – 7. The development by the Mason Richards Partnership is a simpler version of the Victorian buildings, providing a further twenty-eight owner-occupier retirement homes.

In 2005, all television aerials were removed from the buildings and satellite television and radio points installed in all flats.

In 2009 the John Nicholson organ in the church was completely overhauled by Trevor Tipple and Co.; a complete new lighting scheme has been installed by Smiths of Gloucester; and damaged murals repaired.

About the Newland Parish

In 1981, the three parishes of Guarlford, Madresfield and Newland were linked and put under the care of one priest in charge. Then, in 1999, the three parishes were united to form a single parish with one parochial church council and two parish churches – St. Mary's, Guarlford, and St. Mary's, Madresfield. At the same time, this new parish was linked with the parish of Powick with Callow End to form the Benefice of Powick, Guarlford and Madresfield with Newland all under the care of one incumbent. The former parish church of St. Leonard's, Newland, was made redundant and is now in the care of the Trustees of the Beauchamp Community and serves as its chapel. The Chaplain is the Revd Canon Peter Nokes who is assisted by other retired resident priests.