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LHI Church project pitted against Liverpool cathedral for architecture award
Nocton church pipped to post by Liverpool cathedral in architecture competition
Nocton Village Trail project: what we achieved
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Nocton church pipped to post by Liverpool cathedral in architecture competition
Location: Lincolnshire
November 2005
A GOTHIC church in a quiet Lincolnshire village narrowly missed out on an architecture award to one of the nation’s most well-known religious buildings.
All Saints’ Church in Nocton was pipped to the post by Liverpool’s Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King for the 2005 Award for Religious Architecture at a ceremony at London’s Design Council last night.
The award given by RIBA (the Royal Institute of British Architects) and ACE (The Art and Christianity Enquiry), recognises work of architecture or landscape design from any faith that makes an outstanding contribution to our villages, towns and cities.
A disabled access at St John the Baptist church in Leytonstone, East London, Leicester’s new Masjid Umar mosque and the new Salvation Army building, a modern glass-fronted structure flooded with colour and light, were also in the running for the award.
After tough negotiations, judges finally decided that Liverpool’s Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King deserved the award and £3,000 prize money for the redesign of its entrance, which now comprises a piazza and café.
The judges were The Guardian’s architecture correspondent Jonathan Glancey, past president of RIBA, writer and broadcaster Professor Maxwell Hutchinson, London Diocese Historic Churches Project Officer the Revd. Maggie Duran, the Dean of Chelmsford Cathedral The Very Revd. Peter Judd and UCE lecturer in architecture and urban design Dr Noha Hasser.
However, they were so impressed with the 75-metre mosaic path built by Nocton villagers at their All Saints’ Church, that is was highly commended at the awards presentation.
Artist Cliff Baxendale, who set up the project, said: “Even though we didn’t win the prize, this has been an amazing opportunity for us, just because of the reaction we’ve had from everyone at the ceremony.
“One of the judges, Maggie Duran seemed particularly taken with our project. She said that for her it was the outright winner. And Noha Hasser said that it was a really close-run competition.
“We were also approached by funding bodies at the ceremony who want us to apply for their grants. So we might get the money for our next project after all.”
Nocton Arts Trail Association, which was set up by Cliff in 1999 to take forward arts projects in the village, wants to commission ironworks to fill in the balustrade at the church door.
More than 60 Nocton villagers volunteered their time over a period of a year to design and build the church’s access.
David Glew, the church’s consultant architect, nominated the project for the RIBA/ACE award.
He said: “There has been tremendous community involvement in constructing this church path, which frankly is the nicest I’ve ever seen and being a church architect, I have seen a fair few.”
The 75-metre path is laid in a special form of red tarmacadam, edged with two pebble mosaic friezes and inlaid with 25 pebble mosaic central panels in four different designs.
The patterns in the friezes and panels reflect the stencil work that decorates the inside walls of the Victorian church, which was built in 1860 in the gothic revival style.
A York stone paved ramp was also built from the path to the main church doors, replacing the steps to allow for disabled access.
Part-funded by a £25,000 grant from the Countryside Agency’s Local Heritage Initiative and a £5,000 Community Award from the Nationwide Building Society, the refurbishment was completed in August 2004 and the path is now part of the village’s ever-growing arts trail.
The trail includes more than eight works of art, including wood carvings, a lenticular, a sun dial, agricultural sculptures and tributes to the village’s Roman past.
Jean Rider, LHI East Midlands Regional Adviser, said: ”This has been brilliant for the Nocton arts project. All the villagers worked really hard and the project fostered a great sense of community.
“Given the quality of what they achieved they really deserve being up there with the likes of Liverpool cathedral and the Salvation Army headquarters.”
The awards ceremony was attended by more than 150 architects, broadcasters and dignitaries, including actress Fiona Shaw, who presented one of the awards.
An literature award and artwork award were also presented at the ceremony.
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