Royal Garrison Church of All Saints, Aldershot. Listed Building. Philip Charles Hardwick (1822-1892). 1863. English bond brick with stone dressings and slate roofing. Farnborough Road, Aldershot, Hampshire. Photographs 2012 by Jacqueline Banerjee. [You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
This is a Gothic Revival church, in the Decorated style, with north and south porches at its west end, buttresses and Geometrical Gothic tracery windows (see "Royal Garrison Church"). The tower has two stages, with buttresses to the lower stage, a louvered belfry in the second stage, then a pyramidal roof with pointy, crocketed lucarnes (small dormers) at the sides, bands of green and blue slates, and crosses as finials. Inside, as one might expect, there are excellent stained glass windows, either attributed to or known to be by Clayton & Bell, James Powell and others (see Eberhard for attributions, and Baxter for images).
In the second half of the nineteenth century, thanks to Prince Albert's determination that the army should have a permanent military base, Aldershot had grown from a rural village to a huge military encampment, "extending over 7 square miles of former heath" (Cox 61). All Saints, built for the Anglican community, was "the original garrison church for the permanent Aldershot barracks, and notable for the involvement of a national architect.... a comparatively early instance of a garrison church, and the largest for this date, reflecting the size and consequence of the new Aldershot camp" ("Royal Garrison Church"). Other churches were built for other denominations, but Hardwick's church is still special. Aldershot is now "the army's spiritual rather than its physical home. The garrison church of All Saints is known as the Army's cathedral" (Stanhope 104).
Related Material
- Aldershot Military Town, Hampshire
- The Prince Consort and His Legacy (a review of Jules Stewart's Albert: A Life)
Bibliography
Baxter, Martin."Royal Garrison — All Saints — All Windows." Hampshire Church Windows. Web. 13 May 2012.
Cox, John Charles. Hampshire. London: Methuen, 1904. Internet Archive. Web. 13 May 2012.
Eberhard, Robert. "Stained Glass Windows at All Saints." Church Stained Glass Windows. Web. 13 May 2012.
"Royal Garrison Church of All Saints, Aldershot." British Listed Buildings. Web. 13 May 2012.
Stanhope, Henry. The Soldiers: An Anatomy of the British Army. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1979. Print.
Last modified 13 May 2012