Sir George Gilbert Scott in Cumbria
Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878) was born in Gawcott, Buckinghamshire. He started in architecture by designing gaols and workhouses, but later studied French Gothic Cathedrals and Churches, being much influenced by the ideas of Augustus Welby Pugin.
He represented the quintessence of High Victorian Gothic architecture, and was responsible for an immense amount of such work.
He was concerned with the creation, restoration and alteration of some 730 buildings.
His first work was The Royal Wanstead School, Essex, formerly an Orphan Asylum. One year later, he built St Giles Church, Camberwell (1841-3).
His restorations began with renovations of Ely Cathedral in 1847 and included Westminster Abbey (where he was made surveyor in 1849, and worked on the north front and the chapter house). He restored many other cathedrals and churches.
Some of his best work is St Giles’ Church in Camberwell, The Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens, the Midland Railway Terminus Hotel at St Pancras and the Foreign Office in Whitehall, all in London.
Scott died in London in 1878, and is buried in Westminster Abbey.
| Ambleside – St Mary | 1850-54 |
| Crosthwaite – St Kentigern | 1844 |
At St John’s in the Vale Church at Castlerigg, near Keswick, is the altar designed by Scott for Crosthwaite Church in 1844.
His grandson was Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (1880-1960) who, at the age of 22, designed Liverpool Cathedral, the largest Cathedral in Britain. He also designed the red telephone box, and Battersea Power Station.
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