History of Christ Church Fairwarp- Recovering vision for the future

In July 2023, the FADLHS held a talk on Christ Church, our village church,

presented by Fr John Caperon.

So time passed, and Bernard Eckstein’s raw-looking ‘white tower’ mellowed, and the now familiar shape of Christ Church became part of the landscape. The Forest, though, underwent considerable change. Once visible from the turning off the B2026 to the village centre, Christ Church disappeared behind the rapid growth of tree cover, once older Forest husbandry patterns changed, and the heathland gradually turned to woodland. 

And three years after the reconstruction of Christ Church, in 1939, came the War.  The Forest played an important part in the propaganda war, and there’s a fascinating study to be done on the role of the giant ‘Aspidestra’ transmitter at King’s Standing which poured out German-language ‘black propaganda’.  But for Christ Church, the date to remember is Tuesday 4^th June 1940, when two bombs fell, jettisoned by a returning German bomber, across the road from the church.

Local people have recalled the event, and the craters are still (just about) detectable fifty or so yards from the church.  The memorial West windows were damaged, together with some windows in the south wall and the Lady chapel, and roof tiles were removed.  A February 1947 quotation from the glass firm Barton, Kinder & Alderson of Brighton for the repair of some fifty breakages stood at £143.  Wartime conditions meant that there were other priorities than mending country churches!  It wasn’t until 2023 that proper repairs to restore the original quality of the windows were undertaken: thankfully, they are now once more in mint condition.

St George’s Episcopal Memorial Church, Bismarck, N Dakota,USA

An odd outcome of the war damage to Christ Church is the North Dakota connection.  Around five years ago I had an email from a parishioner at St George’s Episcopal Memorial Church in Bismarck, the capital city of the state of North Dakota, USA.  Apparently, the church has a unique collection of forty-five stained-glass windows, created by Barton, Kinder & Alderson of Brighton, which contain fragments of glass from war-damaged churches in South-East England – including Fairwarp!  No prizes for guessing how these fragments crossed the Atlantic.

Moving on beyond the 1940s, when – to be frank – Christ Church had little visual focus, the East End being ornamented simply with a dark blue hanging behind the altar (a ‘dossal’), we come to an important era at Christ Church in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. This was a time of real local engagement in the church, marked particularly by the choir. The legendary choir-mistress Mrs Biddy Backhouse was well-known for her active recruitment style, for not taking ‘no’ for an answer! And the choir was a flourishing, active, musical community.

This era also saw, in 1968, the commissioning of the fabric artist Vanessa Robertson of Dartington to create a new dossal, echoing the original vision of the Alexander Newsbitt memorial windows designed by Pre-Raphaelite Henry Holiday. His central window had depicted the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ; and Robertson’s woven ikat dossal does the same, almost exactly, even to the hands of the rising Christ.

It’s not too much to say that Robertson’s dossal now defines the ethos of Christ Church. It draws the eye, focuses the attention, and conveys the central truth of the Resurrection: that Christ – and all that he was, all that he taught – is risen, and that death could not, cannot, overcome him and his message of the love of God for all humankind. Christ Church proclaims this truth at the heart of Christian faith to all who enter and look Eastwards.

As the new year 2024 gets into its stride, Christ Church and all that it stands for continues.

The fabric of the building is in better condition than it has been since the reconstruction of 1936; the small but faithful community of worshippers who gather weekly for the Eucharist is in good heart; and the monthly All-age 11.00 am service is drawing in the next generations to worship. Christ Church is here to stay!