In the afternoon I sat down on the stone steps and sketched the houses that were in front of me.
Sainte-Croix houses, 8″ x 6″ postcard on Arches Aquarelle 300gsm paper. March 2024
I was struck by how the afternoon sun cast shadows on that glass screen, centre left, and illuminated the little greenhouse-type roof on the house in the centre. These are solid Swiss houses, with heavy tiled roofs and properly operational shutters. Some of the metalwork, such as the guttering and the surroundings of the chimney stacks, is in actual copper. Even the downpipes are copper.
One tree was a fir tree and was opaque. The other tree was twigs, and was transparent.
Although it was spring, this is at 1200m, and it was cold. The deciduous trees are still bare. The hill is the background is Mont-de-Baulmes. Many of the trees up there are deciduous larch.
I painted this picture in watercolour-only. Usually I use pen. Here, I did a quick pencil sketch and then straight on with the colour. It was too cold to try to get any details or do any penmanship. The solid plainness of the houses seemed to demand flat colour washes. I deliberately left lines of white between the slabs of colour – the sun always catches edges.
Work in progress22 March 2024 16:30
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The Sekforde EC1R 0HA, Clerkenwell, sketched March 2024 12″ x 9″ [commission]
This watercolour was specially commissioned to celebrate a happy event.
The colours are:
Mars Yellow
Fired Gold Ochre
Ultramarine Blue
Burnt Umber
plus some Horadam Random Grey, some Daniel Smith Green Serpentine Genuine, and Pyrrol Red for the street sign and road marker.
Gold paint for the lettering.
Admire the bricks! I am very pleased with this effect. It was done by applying a rubber resist, “pebeo drawing gum” to the paper before I did any painting. The paint does not adhere to the rubber resist. When I had done all the colour, I rubbed off the rubber resist and hey presto! bricks.
Thank you to my client for their encouraging words and for inspiring me to make this picture of The Sekforde. Here are some details of the drawing.
Vauxhall Tea House – 2:30pm 7 March 2024, in sketchbook 14
The tea I drank was their “Russian Smoky Tea”.
I’ve visited the Tea House many times. Here is an outside view from June 2022
Tea House Theatre, external view, June 2022 in Sketchbook 12
They have all sorts of theatrical events on their tiny stage. I enjoy “Don’t Go Into The Dungeon” where talented actor Jonathan Goodwin plays all of the characters to amazing effect. He specialises in Victorian mysteries. The next one is “The Hound of the Baskervilles”. Dinner is served before the performance. With scones for dessert.
Here’s where it is, just a 5 minute walk from Vauxhall Station.
And in more detail:
Here’s my sketchbook page:
Sketchbook 14
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I was reading about “tin tabernacles” having sketched the “Tin Tabernacle” in Esher. I discovered, via a Historic England blog article, that there is a Tin Tabernacle in Kilburn in London. So I went to have a look. It is an “iron church” built of galvanised corrugated iron in 1863. It used to have a steeple, but that has disappeared.
Here it is now:
Cambridge Hall, Cambridge Avenue, Kilburn NW6 5BA, sketched 28 February 2024 3pm in sketchbook 14
The building was built as a church, and more recently was a centre for Sea Cadets. Its future is under discussion, according to an article on the London Historic Buildings Trust site (LHBT).
The site is owned by Notting Hill Genesis Housing Association (NHG). LHBT are currently working with NHG and the Sea Cadets, supported by Historic England and the Conservation Officer at Brent Council, to explore how the building can be stabilised and used in the future.
The latest date mentioned in this article is 2021, so I guess the exploration is still going on. It’s listed as a “current project” on their website. The building was looking a little precarious when I visited this year (February 2024). An alarm was sounding inside.
It is Grade II listed, and on the Heritage at Risk Register. The listing is on this link. It is currently an events venue, the website is: http://tintabernaclekilburn.org/
Here are some photos of the outside:
The building is about 150m north of Kilburn Park underground station on the Bakerloo Line.
It’s a building with a varied history. I wonder what will happen to it?
Sketch and notes in sketchbook 14
UPDATE: 6th March 2026
An article on “Ian Visits” says that the Ministry of Defence is funding the removal of the two training guns inside the church:
Their removal is now expected to make it easier to pursue restoration works and attract the significant external funding needed to repair the building and secure a sustainable future. The London Historic Buildings Trust is leading the restoration work with the aim of opening the Tin Tabernacle as an active community asset for Kilburn.
After sketching the Tin Tabernacle in Esher West End, I walked into the town centre to sketch another St George’s: St George’s Old Church.
St George’s, Esher, Old Church. Sketched February 2024 in Sketchbook 14
Here is the notice by the door:
ST GEORGE ESHER This church is cared for by The Churches Conservation Trust. Although no longer needed for regular worship, it remains a consecrated building, a part of England’s history, maintained for the benefit of this and future generations.
Here is the notice hanging from a post by the gate:
Welcome to ST. GEORGE’S CHURCH
Esher’s oldest public building and one of the earliest Anglican churches. Most of the structure is 16th Century Tudor Two 18th Century features of te Church are a 3-decker pulpit and the Newcastle chamber pew designed by Sir John Vanburgh for Thomas Pelham., Duke of Newcastle and his brother Henry: both served as Prime Minister. Princess Charlotte – heir to George IV – and Prince Leopold – who became the first King of the Belgians – worshipped here when they lived at Claremont after their marriage in 1816. Queen Victoria, Leopold’s niece attended services when visiting her uncle and later came with Prince Albert. When Christ Church was completed in 1854 St George’s ceased to be the Parish Church. Restored by the community in 1965 it remains a consecrated building now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. Several services are held each year. It is also a venue for music and the arts.
I sketched it from the graveyard, as the sun set. So many angles and views! It has been altered and added to and mended, yet is graceful and somehow perfect.
Behind the church there were crocuses.
A wonderful place! Tranquillity just off the main road.
Here’s a map. I walked here from the St Georges West End, along the route marked with a red line on the map: a half hour’s walk, just over a mile.
Here is work in progress on the drawing.
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Beside the green on the West side of Esher stands this iron church, St George’s West End.
St George’s West End, Esher. Sketched on location February 2024, in Sketchbook 14
It has a single bell in its small bell tower, and a fence made in a particular way, which I tried hard to show. I wondered if it is intentionally in the shape of a line of crosses, appropriate for a Christian church.
This is one of dozens of “tin tabernacles” or iron churches across the UK. Wikipedia has a whole list. Some of them are strikingly similar to this one.
They were built in the late 19th century, in response to expanding demand, using the new technology of corrugated iron. Many of them, including this one, were pre-fabricated.
According to a 2004 article on this church by Angela Stockbridge the land was donated by Queen Victoria in 1878. “A need was felt to make provision for “the spiritual wants of the “Aged, Poor and Infirm of West End”” and to spare them from the steep and often muddy climb into Esher” she writes. It was intended to be a temporary church. 145 years later, here it is, still standing, and still hosting services.
The church is dedicated to St George. Above the porch is a stained glass window, evidently showing the Knight slaughtering the Dragon. I could just make him out standing on the stirrups of his white horse. The church was closed when I visited, but I hope to go inside on a future occasion. I am told that inside it is cladded with white-painted wood panelling.
I sketched the church from the village green opposite. It was damp and muddy. When I’d had enough, I retreated to the “Prince of Wales” for some lunch. Then I went on to sketch the church in Esher town centre: another St George’s.
Esher is to the West of London, with a main line railway station in to Waterloo.
“They do tend to heat up in summer and stay cold in winter, and the rain makes a noise on their roofs, but they have proved remarkably sturdy. As one commentator writes, “Tin Tabernacles are an important if brief and overlooked episode in the history of church architecture,” and have a claim to “be recognised as listed buildings, particularly as examples of prefabrication” (Dopson 204-05).” Dopson, Laurence. “Tin Tabernacles.” Words from “The Countryman”. Ed. Valerie Porter. Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 2007. 204-05.
Here is the church of St Edmund, Kessingland, seen from the south.
Church of St Edmund, Kessingland. Sketched 11 February 2024, 12:30 in Sketchbook 14
I was a guest of the bell ringers, who kindly invited me to their loft. There are six bells. I witnessed their splendid peals, which made the tower shake slightly under my feet. This was a surprise to me, as the walls of the tower are about three foot thick. But apparently it’s perfectly normal. Then I went outside and sketched the church from the south.
It was a beautiful place to stand and sketch: a peaceful country churchyard. The gravestone in front of me, in the foreground in the picture, carried stone carved flowers, and cushions of moss.
view from the bell ringers’ loft
This tower is very old. According to the Historic England listing, the tower is from the 15th century and Grade I listed. There is neat flint work, in a chequerboard pattern higher up and in vertical lines lower down, with a horizontal border at ground level. The nave is thatched! It has recently received new thatch, in a glowing russet colour which you can just see to the right of the tower.
The church is about half a mile from the sea. There is a stained glass window, dated 2007, by Nicola Kantorowicz, dedicated to the “Glory of God and the memory of Kessingland driftermen, ‘where ever they may rest'”. It was given by G. Jack Strowger in memory of his wife Katherine. There is a ship’s wheel on the wall, and another on a low pulpit. An anchor hangs from the wall, “in loving memory of Jack and Mary Smith”.
The nave of the Church of St Edmund, Kessingland, looking east.
It’s well worth a visit if you are in the area.
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St Clement Danes stands on a traffic island in the Strand.
St Clement Danes, Strand, WC2R 1DH, sketched 7 February 2024 13:30 in sketchbook 14
I sketched this church over a lunchtime. At 1pm its bells played its tune, “Oranges and Lemons“, a little haphazardly, but quite distinct.
Why St Clement Danes? What’s Danish about it? According to the church leaflet, in the 9th century, “Danish settlers who had married English wives were allowed to settle in the area taking over a small church dedicated to St Clement. The Church came to be known as ‘St-Clement-of-the-Danes'”. A rather more brutal story is told by the Viking Ship museum of Roskilde in Denmark:
“By the 9th century London was yet again a powerful and wealthy town attracting the attention of the Danish Vikings. They attacked London in AD 842, and again in AD 851, and The Great Army spent the winter in the town in AD 871-72.” “Cnut became King of England and in AD 1018 he was able to send his army back to Denmark. He burdened the English population with the tax thingild to pay for the maintenance of a small army. He also placed his Danish garrisons around London, including by the church St. Clemens Danes. Generally, Cnut was a popular king, and during his reign peace prevailed in England. Cnut died in AD 1035 and one of his sons, Harold Harefoot, took over the English throne. On his death Harefoot he was buried in Westminster Church, but his brother Harthacnut ordered the body to be dug up and thrown into the Thames. Perhaps Harold Harefoot was re-buried in St. Clemens Danes outside the town wall. The peace in England was over.”
The “Science Nordic” site offers lively descriptions of the Danish people that arrived in England in the 9th and 10th centuries. Today we might describe them as “economic migrants”
“In eastern England the Vikings discovered a milder climate and a rich agricultural landscape, similar to the one they knew back home. Faced with a lack of good farming land in Denmark, many families decided to try their luck on the other side of the North Sea.” – Dr Jane Kershaw, Archaeologist and Viking researcher
St Clements no longer has any particular Danish connection. It is linked to the Royal Air Force. The statue outside, in the bottom centre of my sketch, is
“Air Chief Marshall Lord Downing, Baron of Bentley Priory, Fighter Command 1936-40”
according to the inscription on his plinth. The Danish church in London is St Katherines, to the East of Regents Park.
Here is the song the bells played, with links to my drawings of the churches:
Oranges and lemons, Say the bells of St. Clement’s. (St Clement Danes) You owe me five farthings, Say the bells of St. Martin’s. (St Martin in the Fields) When will you pay me? Say the bells at Old Bailey. (St Sepulchre-without-Newgate) When I grow rich, Say the bells at Shoreditch. (St Leonard Shoreditch) When will that be? Say the bells of Stepney.(St Dunstan’s Stepney) I do not know, Says the great bell at Bow. (St Mary Le Bow) Here comes a candle to light you to bed, And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!
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I was expecting the hidden alleyway to be deserted on a Tuesday lunchtime, and so it was for the first hour. But then it became suddenly busy. A small ambulance backed carefully down the alleyway in front of me and parked. Its doors opened and two paramedics went round to the back of the car. They lifted out their equipment and walked calmly off down the alley. After that excitement, a certain calm returned to the alley, insofar as calm is possible a few hundred metres from Kings Cross.
I carried on sketching, now working on the beer barrels to the left of the picture. But the calm did not last long. Two cars arrived and people dressed in orange hi-vis vests scrambled out. They unlocked a gate off the picture to the left, and went in, leaving their car on the pavement. Then a van arrived, it parked directly in front of me, and a further person in a hi-vis outfit got out. He looked across the bonnet of his van and saw me sketching. “Oh, sorry,” he said, “Am I in your way?” I said that yes, he kind of was. I stood ready, however, to concede the space to him, as he looked important and determined in his bright orange overalls and hard hat. But to my surprise he grinned at me, “Ten minutes! I’ll be just ten minutes!”. He rushed off through the gate where the other people had gone. I abandoned the beer barrels and worked on the roofs.
The roofs were quite a challenge, and they productively occupied the 8 minutes until the driver came rushing back out, looking triumphant, accompanied by a selection of the people who’d arrived earlier. “I told this woman I’d be ten minutes,” he explained to his entourage. He raised a hand to me in greeting, got into his car and rumbled off, leaving the other people standing on the cobbles. I asked them what they were working on. “The bridge,” they said. Oh yes, I was standing on a bridge. The train lines were below.
Annotated Google map of the location.
It’s in a labyrinth of roads and railway lines just to the east of Kings Cross mainline station.Here are some maps to show the location. Walk east from Kings Cross, about 10 minutes.
On the maps, the blue line represents the River Fleet, which is alongside the Kings Cross Road, underground. It flows from left to right across the map (West to East) and then heads South down to join the Thames beneath Blackfriars Bridge.
The river Fleet, before it became an underground sewer in 1825, flowed along the western side of Pancras Road and then eastward along the south side of the common, crossing the old highway (now Gray’s Inn Road) north of St. Chad’s Place.
‘Battle Bridge Estate’, in Survey of London: Volume 24, the Parish of St Pancras Part 4: King’s Cross Neighbourhood, ed. Walter H Godfrey and W McB. Marcham (London, 1952), pp. 102-113. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol24/pt4/pp102-113 [accessed 7 February 2024].
St Chad’s Place slopes down towards the River Fleet. This area was once the location of St Chad’s Well, a spring said to have health-giving properties. It operated from about 1815 to 1860. I found a picture in the London Picture Archives, reproduced below with their permission.
A river, a bridge, a well, a passage and a music venue. It’s amazing what you find.
Looking east from where I was sketching. Street art in St Chad’s PlaceIn St Chad’s Place, looking North towards the Kings Cross Road.North entrance of St Chad’s Place. The cyclist is coming out of St Chad’s Place and into the Kings Cross Road.Street name in the Kings Cross Road
Here is work in progress on the sketch:
The colours are:
For the sky and pavement – a special new colour, Schminke Horadam “Random grey” – “formulated each year from surplus pigments”. This is the 2022 edition.
Rose madder permanent – also on the pavement
Mars Yellow
Ultramarine Blue
Green Serpentine Genuine
Buff Titanium
Fired Gold Ochre in the brickwork
Burnt Umber
Arches Aquarelle paper in a sketchbook made by Wyvern Bindery (Sketchbook 14).
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