Joseph Butler (1804–84), born in Parndon,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, was an architect, surveyor and builder. His specialist area was that of church buildings. He worked widely in

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Career

Joseph Butler worked as surveyor in Chichester cathedral, where he supervised R C Carpenter's restoration from 1846. Butler was responsible for the opening up of the sub-deanery in the cathedral and for its eventual removal to a new church Saint Peter the Great,

Chichester Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...

. In 1849 Butler designed the Bishop Otter Memorial College, a college to train school teachers,

Nairn Nairn (; gd, Inbhir Narann) is a town and royal burgh in the Highland council area of Scotland. It is an ancient fishing port and market town around east of Inverness, at the point where the River Nairn enters the Moray Firth. It is the tradit ...

and Pevesner described the riginalbuildings as being of a 'sober neo-Tudor style' and were 'typically honest and unselfconscious'. When Chichester Cathedral Spire fell down after a storm in 1861, it was rebuilt by Sir Gilbert Scott. Before the disaster, Joseph Butler had carried out a survey of the cathedral. It was with the aid of his detailed drawings that a replica of the original spire was constructed. During the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

there was a

Gothic revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

in the design and restoration of churches. Nairn and Pevesner were scathing in their criticism of many church architects of that era describing them as 'meddlers', however they credit Butler, who built in the Gothic style, as saving many dozens of village churches.

Selection of work

''Source: Sussex Parishes. Lambeth Palace Library.''

Churches designed

*Chichester, - St. Paul (1836); *Chichester, - St Peter the Great (1848-52 - worked as surveyor for R C Carpenter); *Plaistow (1853–54); *

Stanmer Stanmer is a small village on the eastern outskirts of Brighton, in East Sussex, England. History The etymological root of the name is "Stony Mere", Old English for "stone pond", referring to the sarsen stones around Stanmer village pond. The ...

(1838 – attributed) *Stedham (1850)

Churches restored or extended

*Appledram (1845); *Bosham (1845); *Brighton and Hove, -

St Andrew's Church, Church Road, Hove St Andrew's Church is an Anglican church in Church Road, Hove, in the English city of Brighton and Hove. It is usually referred to as St Andrew (Old Church) to distinguish it from another St Andrew's Church in Waterloo Street, elsewhere in Hov ...

(1833-35 - contractor) *Compton (1849–51); *Fishbourne (1847); *Forest Row (1850); *Lower Beeding (1852 – unexecuted); *Mid Lavant (1844); *Pagham (1838); * Pyecombe (1842 – examined); *

Sidlesham Sidlesham is a small village and civil parish, on the Manhood Peninsula, five kilometres (3 miles) south of Chichester in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It has a small primary school. The area has had a prebendary since med ...

(1840 – unexecuted); * Southwick (1835 – extent of involvement uncertain); *Stoughton (1844); *Upper Beeding (1852)

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Joseph Architects from Essex 1884 deaths 1804 births Gothic Revival architects English ecclesiastical architects 19th-century English architects