Milbanke Pew, St Peter's Church, Croft-on-Tees
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Milbanke Pew, St Peter's Church, Croft-on-Tees by Bill Harrison as part of the Geograph project.
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Milbanke Pew, St Peter's Church, Croft-on-Tees
Image: © Bill Harrison Taken: 16 Jul 2015
This astonishing raised pew on Tuscan columns, complete with red curtains, erected some time before 1680 for the Milbanke family, dominates the church and towers above the pulpit (out of sight to the right). Neither Cox (Bench-Ends in English Churches): "...extraordinary and essentially vulgar...preposterous balustraded staircase...struck us as the most ghastly, and almost profane pew in the kingdom..." nor Pevsner "...this presumptuous piece..." were impressed. When I visited the church, the pew was evidently being used as a junk store. The string of tea-cup decorations were for a "mad hatter's tea party."
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Image Location
Latitude
54.483182
Longitude
-1.555916