Have you ever wondered why St. John’s Primary School so closely abuts the Saint James St car park?
This open space is at the corner of Albion and Berkeley Streets. It was until 1967 the site of St. John’s church, which was built, between 1827 and 1829, as part of a response to the town’s easterly growth. It was a ‘proprietary’ church as the money for the construction was raised privately by selling shares to individual shareholders or proprietors who had rights to pews in the completed church.
The Greek revival design was by John B Papworth, who was also responsible for remodelling Montpellier Spa and adding its dome. He also worked with Pearson Thompson on the layout of the Montpellier estate.
The simple design did not inspire local affection. George Rowe, in his guide of 1845, describes it as ‘a plain and substantial structure possessing few claims to exterior architectural beauty’. It was rather left behind by changes in ecclesiastical practice and architectural taste after 1840 and was remodelled in a Gothic style between 1867 and 1872.
St John’s church was declared redundant and demolished in 1967, though some of the church fittings were transferred to St Luke’s.
St John’s featured in a controversial film just before its demolition. The Speech Day scenes towards the end of Lindsay Anderson’s ‘if….’ were filmed in the church in 1967.
The Michelangelo reference? John Buonarotti Papworth adopted the artist’s family name in 1815.
