PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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Built of stone in the Gothic style, the Church consisted of chancel, nave, aisles, south and west porches, and a lofty western tower with spire, containing ten bells. The first bells were cast in 1709. They were recast in 1782 and two more added in 1856. Finally in 1898 the peel reached its complement of ten bells. Messrs Gillett and Johnston (Croydon) Ltd, who Mrs Jenny Coombes has pointed out are still in business, rehung the peel in 1936, when the tenor bell weighed 23 cwt 6lbs. The tower contained a clock with two dials that faced to the north and the south. The interior was described by Llewellyn Jewitt in 1873 as: 'The side aisles are each divided from the nave by a series of three arches, rising from clustered columns, and there are galleries on the north and south aisles and at the west end; the tall pulpit, with spiral staircase, stands in the centre. The altar screen, or reredos, is an arcade of nine arches, supported on marble pillars with foliated capitals.'
Plymouth grew as a strongly Protestant town and having fought hard for the right to govern itself, it did not take to being dictated to, even by the monarch. Consequently, when King Charles I installed a "royalist" cleric at St Andrew's Church, then Plymouth's only place of worship, the Corporation was not best pleased. Thinking that there might be further royal interventions ahead, on April 25th 1634 the Mayor of Plymouth and its thirty Councillors petitioned King Charles for a new parish to be created on the pretence that St Andrew's Church was no longer large enough for its religious needs. The parish was to be named Charles so the King could hardly refuse, although he took seven years to make up his mind. It took some seven years and the intervention of Mr Robert Trelawny to persuade the King to agree and on April 21st 1641 the Act of Parliament authorising the building was duly passed. Building started immediately and it had reached roof level by the time the Civil War intervened in 1642. Work re-started after the Civil War and it was consecrated by the Bishop of Exeter, Seth Ward, on September 2nd 1665. The church was finally completed in 1658 although a wooden spire covered with lead was not added until 1707/08. It was not replaced with a stone one until 1766/67. It should be noted that the Church was dedicated simply to Charles, not Charles the Martyr, as popularly thought, or St Charles. It is true, however, that after the fervour of the Restoration an attempt was made to get this dedication changed to Charles the Martyr but although the Bishop of Exeter was apparently in favour, the move did not succeed. Between 1815 and 1895 the Church had galleries. It also had a memorial window to Admiral Blake, who in August 1657 was returning from the defeat of the Spanish Armada when he died entering Plymouth Sound aboard his flagship, the "Saint George". Admiral Blake's heart is buried at St Andrew's Church. A Mission Room was opened in Camden Street, within the parish, on the evening of Tuesday March 12th 1878. The building was designed by Mr H J Snell and had a neat Gothic frontage. In addition to the mission room, which was capable of seating 100 people, there was a dwelling for the scripture reader of the parish, a Mr Wood; a kitchen to be used for parochial purposes when required; three large rooms for class-rooms and some committee rooms. The cost of the premises, some £600/£700, was paid for by Mr Jonathan Marshall, one of the churchwardens of Charles Church. He was helped in his endeavours by others, however, noteworthy among them being a Mr Oliver, who made and presented a reading desk, and a Mr Hammet, who painted the woodwork. The vicar at the time was the Reverend F G Head. A programme of meetings was announced. There would be a meeting in the Mission Room on Sunday evenings; a mother's meeting on Tuesdays; and there would be Bible classes for all. During the winter the kitchen would be used to provide hot food for the invalid poor, who would be given a cut off a leg of lamb or round of beef. Mr Marshall expressed the hope during the meeting that the parish could now find a permanent home for their vicar: it seems there was no vicarage at that time. Charles Church was destroyed during the night of March 20th/21st 1941 and consequently nothing remains of the interior that Mr J H Ball remodelled in 1828/29. The Council's Reconstruction Committee resolved on June 15th 1953 that the Council should acquire and demolish the Church. Despite continued cries for it to be demolished, it has been retained and on Saturday November 1st 1958 the Reverend J Allen James, vicar of Charles with St Luke, dedicated it as a fitting memorial to Plymouth's 1,200 civilian dead in the Second World War. The Lord Mayor of Plymouth, Alderman G J Wingett, unveiled a plaque on the north wall. There is a monument to Doctor Robert Hawker, who was vicar here for 43 years until his death in 1827. A plaque within the remains states: ~ Charles Church. Built 1641. Consecrated 1665. Completed 1708. Named in honour of King Charles I. Ruined by enemy action, 21 March 1941. Partially restored 1952, by the City in co-operation with the Ministry of Works. The idea of restoration having been sponsored by the Old Plymouth Society, as a memorial to those citizens of Plymouth who were killed in air-raids on the City in the 1939-1945 War. ~ The remains of those buried in the churchyard that surrounded Charles Church have been re-interred at Efford Cemetery. There is a transcription of the memorial stones that were removed in the Plymouth and West Devon Records Office, Clare Place, Coxside, Plymouth (SEE Links page of website). CLICK HERE to view the Charles Roll of Honour of those who gave their lives in the Great War (1914-18). CLICK HERE for information about the Pitts' Memorial Hall, which was attached spiritually but not physically to Charles' Church.
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