A Work Of Sensational Genius.
A Work Of Dazzling Imagination.
Rood Screen, Saint Peter the Apostle Church,
Shaldon, Devon, England.
Text and Illustrations: DEVON CHURCH LAND
A work of sensational genius, of dazzling imagination, by a painter in stone, a master architect (E. H. Sedding), who took all his deep understanding of Romanesque, Gothic, Arts and Crafts, and the burgeoning machine age, to carve a remarkable vision, dreamed into reality in this
little South Devon seaside resort.
The Listed Building Guide calls the Interior of this Church “Spectacular”, which is the understatement of the Century.
Here, looking up the Nave, let us start with the Stone. The Blue/Green/Grey of the Cornish Polyphant Stone, the colour of The River Teign, outside, and the Sea, just a stumble away, the Sandstone Red of the Soil and Cliffs, hereabouts, and the Limestone White of the breaking waves at the Church Door.
Then, there is the Stonework and Carving; so much tension between curves and straight lines, the blocky Arches and their brattished details, the almost horseshoe Roofs, the vertically-lined Pillars, always that tension, that comparison between old softnesses and the right angles of the modern age.
