St Andrew’s pews find new homes

Karen Ward from the Bradfield Society tells the story of how she helped the pews and other church inventory to find new homes

Following the purchase of St Andrew’s Church in September 2021, a campaign began to find new homes for the ecclesiastical contents left behind in the building as part of the sale. Some of the items were sold by the Church, including the organ while a number of pews, chairs and the altar were taken by St Andrew’s School, Berkshire, now part of The Bradfield Group. The College is retaining some items, even planning on restoring them to incorporate into the renovation works.

A list of items net required by the College was carefully put together by the College Capital Projects team and a campaign to find new homes for the remaining inventory was run by The Bradfield Society. The aspiration was to achieve donation of circa £100 per item. Items included over 30 very long (and heavy…) oak pews, pre responds, a vintage piano and harmonium along with a large table and metal scree that divided the South Transept from the South Aisle.

John Drake, a local painter and decorator who was married in the Church was the first to learn about the sale and gave a donation for four pews, three for his daughters and one for himself.Judith Frisby, a member of the College Operations team, also took three pews to integrate into her new kitchen plan and her husband, a carpenter by trade, cut them down to fit them into their van for ease of transit.Hugh Best-Shaw (F 88-93), who runs building company SW Design and Build, bought two pews for his new home. When he came to collect them, he was so taken by the antique American Estey Harmonium that he made a second trip to pick that up too. Hugh played the organ in the Church and then wheeled it out and loaded it into his horsebox for its journey to its new home which was a memorable experience.Henry Cooke (D 88-93), Director at auction house Mallams in Oxford, made contact about the metal screens as he had read about them and had in the past sold items from the College’s Founder, Thomas Stevens’, house.Coincidentally, Alan Holloway, grandson of former Bradfield Blacksmith James Holloway, also got in touch when he heard about the screen available in the Church.

Alan came to visit the College, where he enjoyed a campus tour and was thrilled to see all the ornate wrought iron screens in the Church made by his ancestors. The screens around the font and at the altar will remain in situ after the St Andrew’s Project is finished and Alan was thrilled to be able to take away the one which was no longer required. Part of the screen will go into a museum of his family’s artwork and part will remain with the family.

Peter Robbins (B 61-66) travelled from Hertfordshire to collect a large table. He enjoyed having lunch in the College Dining Hall once again and was very pleased to buy the piece from the Church which he plans to adapt for his granddaughters to play on.

Local architect Philip Bickford-Smith took one of the pews for the Yattendon Well House Project. Many years ago, the Well House had a bench inside which had become rotten, and Philip is currently working on a project in conjunction with West Berkshire Council to refurbish the old building. He plans to fit one of St Andrew’s Church pews into the Well House, which is a great example of salvage for reuse and upcycling.

A few of the pews and all the responds were taken by the College Design and Technology Department so that they can be used by pupils in creating new items from the good quality wood. We look forward to seeing what they will be turned into in the future.

The final 12 pews went to antique dealer Lawrence Skilling at Antique Church Furnishings in Betchworth in Surrey at the end of March 2022.

They were taken to be reduced in size as required and sold as antique benches/pews. Some of them were dismantled completely before being taken away which showed their good quality when they were made originally from oak back in the 1800s.

Lawrence said that they turned out to be “the heaviest pews we have ever had in 40 years of trading!” The St Andrew’s Bradfield ‘Queen of England’ pews, as they have been named, are now on his website if anyone is interested in seeing them and being offered for sale at a lead-in price of £495 each!

Once the final pews had been taken the cavernous Church was empty for the first time in years and ready for the conversion work to begin.

Samples of the pew styles in the Church will be positioned around the Font when the renovation is complete in early 2024.

The church furniture sale raised £2,190 in donations which is being held aside for the project. We would like to thank everyone for their interest in the items which were sold and their generous donations to The St Andrew’s Project.

If you are interested in learning more about the St Andrew’s Project visit the dedicated St Andrew’s Project webpage.