St John's Church, Tuebrook video tour (new HD 2015)

Movie & stills tour of this magnificent Bodley church built between 1867 and 1870, its cost of £25,000 (£1.5m as of 2015) being totally met by the wife of Rev. J. C. Reade. The architect was George Frederick Bodley (1827-1907). The interior was redecorated in 1910 by Hare to Bodley's design. This was restored in 1968--71 by Stephen Dykes Bower. Pollard and Pevsner describe the interior as being "glorious" and "richly coloured" due to the "resplendent display of Bodley fittings and the vibrant decoration". The citation in Images of England states it is "one of the finest examples of Victorian polychromy".The walls and the roofs are all richly stencilled, and in addition there is a wall painting on the east wall of the nave by C. E. Kempe. The gilt reredos dates from 1871 and has panels painted by Kempe. The area under the tower has made into the Chapel of the Holy Rood and contains a reredos, an altar and a credence table which were adapted in 1978 from a rood screen of 1890 by Bodley which was taken from Dunstable Priory. The pulpit and the octagonal font were both designed by Bodley, as were the richly painted screens (again with panels by Kempe). The stained glass in the east window and the south window in the chancel is by Morris & Co.; some of the windows elsewhere are by Burne-Jones. In the church is a brass memorial dating from 1926 by Hare which consists of a life-size figure of Fr Ralph Brockman, Vicar for almost thirty years. The memorial to the First World War is a statue of Mary, also by Hare; that to the Second World War is a statue of John the Baptist by Sir Ninian Comper. The organ, built in 1867, is by the William Hill Company of London, and improved in 1895. Hill was one of the most celebrated of all British builders. In more recent times it has been restored by David Wells, but remains very largely the original instrument, being awarded an Historic Organ Certificate Gd 1. The ring consists of eight bells which were cast in 1869 by John Warner & Sons. Since 1896, S.John's parish has had only six Vicars, the longest incumbency being that of Fr Frank Sampson who completed forty-eight years in post up to his death in 1994. Between 1901 and 1966 the church had but two organists in succession, with a brief three year period from the son of one of these men. From 1882-1886 William Faulkes, well known organ composer and recitalist, served as S.John's church organist.