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There have been few changes to the exterior of St. Peter’s Church during the past 100 years but inside it has been a different story. Many of the changes that have taken place have been instigated by the vicar of the day, this was certainly destined to happen when, in 1936, Allan Wyon came to Newlyn St. Peter’s. He was to remain until his retirement in 1955, dying in 1962 aged 79 years.
Allan Gairdner Wyon was born in 1882, the youngest member of a distinguished family of engravers and medallists. His father was Chief Engraver of Seals to Queen Victoria (1843 – 1907) a post that had been held by members of the family since 1727 when Peter George Wyon came to England from Cologne as a silver chaser to the Court of George II. Allan Wyon studied sculpture, with considerable distinction, at the Royal Academy and was eventually to become a Fellow of the Royal Society of British Sculptors. During the 1920s he established his reputation as a sculptor and with Eric Gill and Jacob Epstein was one of the earliest sculptors in England to practice direct carving in stone as distinct from working from a clay or plaster model using a pointing machine. He was also an accomplished medallist, and worked in a wide range of media. In the early thirties he offered himself for the ordained ministry of the Church of England and was ordained deacon in 1933, at the age of 51. He served a curacy in Saltash from 1933-1936 before becoming vicar of Newlyn, where he continued his work as a sculptor and medallist. Following his retirement the Truro Diocesan News leaflet summed up his achievements as follows:
Few dioceses can have so rich a legacy of beautiful things from the hands of a single artist as that left to us by Allan Wyon. There are I understand more than 40 objects of art of his design in the churches and public places of Cornwall……… He has left his mark not only on his own Church of St. Peter Newlyn, but on the Cathedral and County Hall. The Newlyn Madonna is a noble piece and the brass of Bishop Frere [who ordained Wyon] is considered by many to mark the summit of his achievement………He has been untiring in his services to the Faculties Advisory Committee….as well as being a conscientious and spiritual parish priest.
Possibly his role as a member of the Faculty Advisory Committee was to stand Allan Wyon in good stead in the months following March 1937 when he first submitted a petition to make alterations at his church of St. Peter, Newlyn. The initial petition requested permission to:
- Remove the organ from its present position at the East end of the South aisle and place it in a gallery (to be made) at the West end of the nave.
- To remove the existing rood screen
- To make from this last an altar for the South aisle and new communion rails for the high altar
- To place a marble group of the Mother and Holy Child in the cavity in the North wall of the chancel
- To hang a crucifix from the chancel arch.
Not everyone at St. Peter’s was happy about the proposed alterations. At a PCC meeting held on the 16th March 1937 the resolution to carry out the work was agreed by 11 votes to 4, the Chairman not voting. The cost of the work was estimated to be £500, there was £50 in hand and the rest would be defrayed by voluntary contributions.
Allan Wyon showed a reluctance to forward plans, drawings, etc. to support his petition, almost certainly because he knew that the work he intended to carry out was more substantial than indicated by the petition. Approved by the Advisory Committee the petition then went to the Chancellor. On request Wyon provided a drawing showing the gallery for the organ and a photograph of the marble group but was unable to provide the requested drawing of the crucifix, commenting in a rather sarcastic letter ‘that he would imagine that from his [the Chancellor’s] point of view one crucifix is very like another.” Other requests were ignored. In a lengthy correspondence it was at no time stated that the stained glass windows at the East and West ends of the church would be completely blocked by the work to be carried out. This was described in a later petition as ‘modifying and altering stained glass windows’.
It would seem that while the petition was still being considered work was going ahead for, in December 1937 barely nine months from the date of the first petition, a new application was submitted to the Faculty for work already carried out. It was stated that:
In carrying out the various improvements already approved ‘various modifications presented themselves and so without any deliberate plan or intention a more comprehensive renovation has been achieved than was visualized in every detail at the beginning. There was no time to get these things regularized while the work was in process.’
By December 1937 £450 had been subscribed and the cost of the alterations had risen to £1,000 but they had been completed. The work was carried out to designs by Allan Wyon and Martin Travers, this last designed the communion kneelers, font cover, lectern and the Lady Chapel reredos. Although Allan Wyon made the crucifix the design for the East end of the church was by Martin Travers. I never knew the Revd Wyon but he has been described to me as a gentle, charming man who often appeared lost in thought. It would seem that he could also be very determined, almost ruthless perhaps, when he was set on a particular course of action.
Margaret Perry
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