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What does Florence railway station (Italy), the Adelphi Theatre, London, and St Peter’s, Pilning, have in common? Nothing you might think, until a chance discovery on the internet revealed the name of one of the architects that designed St Peter’s, and the other less important places as well.

Thomas Henry Wyatt lived from 1807 to 1880, and he designed St Peter’s in 1853. He had some practice before that, as several of his churches bear similarities to our village church, especially Tixall Church in Staffordshire, where even the pews are the same. You can find his plan of Pilning Church on www.churchplansonline.com then look for Almondsbury.

With this lead I delved deeper, and Thomas Henry Wyatt was part of the Wyatt architectural and artistic dynasty of the 18^th and 19^th centuries. A nephew of the slightly more famous Matthew Digby Wyatt, who designed the great curved roof of Temple Meads station, alongside Brunel’s train shed which is now the Empire and Commonwealth exhibition. He helped I.K.Brunel design the fancy screens found on Paddington Station.

So what of the man himself? It is reported that he had many professional appointments, including “Consulting Architect to the Commissioners of Lunacy”! Another committee worth noting was the “Incorporated Church Building Society” who were instrumental in getting St Peter’s built.

To sum him up, he was a Victorian professional man, and to paraphrase a quote “he had impeccable manners, was conciliatory and polite and was always modest – but he was so dull, nothing like Digby!” Even his obituary mentions that he was “not a brilliant wit” Oh dear!

I wonder how many of his other churches suffer from dodgy roof drainage systems!

Researched by Jonathan Edwardes

Brunel 200

Opened in 1863, Bristol and South Wales Union Railway, a line running from Bristol to the banks of the Severn, across which the traffic is carried by a steamer to a short branch from the South Wales on the other side. This railway had been for a long time contemplated and Isambard Brunel devoted much time to a careful investigation of the Severn in order to determine the most suitable point for crossing. He decided that the best place would be at what is known as the ‘New Passage’. The arrangement had to be made in accordance with the requirements of the Admiralty. Trains run to the end of the timber piers extending to deep water and there are staircases and lifts leading to pontoons, alongside which a steamer can come at all times of the tide. The tide at this part of the Severn rises 46 feet. The railways mentioned were not completed during Brunel’s life (1806 – 1859).

Submitted by Jonathan King. View:- www.brunel200.com for more information