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Aerial view of the church and Guild house
From left to right: St. Anne's Cottage, The Guild House and the Church. These form a cluster of attractive buildings giving a spiritual focus and a sense of history to the community in Knowle. The Guild House was built in 1412 and was the headquarters of the Guild of Saint Anne. This medieval guild founded by Walter Cook, was an important social, charitable and religious organisation. It ceased to operate during the Reformation when many monasteries and chantry guilds were dissolved. It is next recorded as being in private hands in 1602, in which state it remained until 1912 when Mr. Jackson of Springfield Hall in Knowle bought both St. Anne's Cottage and the Guild House and gave them anonymously to the church. His generosity was only discovered after his death. Restored by Mr. Jackson and carefully maintained since then, the Guild House is a much loved meeting point for the church and community.
In architecture, the church is a mixture of Decorated and Perpendicular styles, sporting simple buttresses and some mythical representations on gargoyles (drainage spouts from the roof), castellation (purely decorative) and finials. The whole effect with a well-proportioned tower is both traditional and pleasing to the eye.
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Plan view of the church
Although there is apparent consistency in the overall shape and look of the church, this is probably more due to the overall patina of age when compared with other buildings that we frequent in our daily lives, than to any coherent design. In practice it is the result of many additions and changes over the centuries. All of the following sections are additions to the initial church design and they are mostly of different ages:
Tower
North and south aisles
Clerestory
(the high windows and raised roof in the nave)
Chancel (significantly remodelled for height after the Reformation)
Organ `loft'
Vestries
Soldiers' Chapel
Significant internal features that have changed or moved are the rood screen; (no crucifix (rood) or figures of the Holy Family remain above the screen today), pulpit, font, addition of stained glass windows and some pew removals to allow for the St. John's chapel and more space at the east end of the nave to accommodate worship and drama. Various doors have been closed in the north and south aisles and from the tower to the top of the rood screen when it was originally located at the west end of the church.
There are many lovely aspects of the church but an enduring favourite is the multicoloured sandstone of the south side when used as a backdrop for wedding photos.
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St. John's Chapel
This chapel at the east end of the south aisle, as we see it today, was only created at the time of Canon Foster in the 1960's. It is a more intimate place for smaller communion services early on Sunday morning or midweek. Prominent features here and in the chancel are the banners for two important ladies' organisations, The Women's Fellowship and the Mothers' Union. Another banner displays a recent design (1970's) by Peter Rowley; this incorporates a symbol of the cross, a letter K for Knowle and the Knowle rebus (two rather elongated bells!). The Victorian stained glass window in the chapel was given by the Bower family who used to live in the now demolished Knowle Lodge. To the right of this is a beautiful window given by the Martineau family, depicting the three saints to which the church is dedicated. Further west is the most recent stained glass window depicting two apocryphal scenes and a central scene of Jesus restoring sight to Bartimaeus.
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The Soldiers' Chapel
Commemorating soldiers who died in the two world wars, this highly decorated if rather dark chapel, has been generously maintained by the Knowle branch of the Royal British Legion. It is in daily use as a place for private prayer and prayer for healing and is very much a spiritual powerhouse of the church. Standards of the local Legion branch hang from the walls. The attractive modern decorative stonework and surmounting crucifix is probably one of the least noticed aspects of the church being significantly obscured from much of the church by one of the main pillars.
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The Nave and Chancel
Dominating the view on entering the church is the most beautiful carved wooden screen of the late 15th century, a subject of continuous controversy. It is seen to obscure the east window and separate the choir from the congregation. Despite these technicalities the majority of people are delighted to enjoy its beauty and wouldn't have it any other way. A sound system and the use of staging to bring the clergy closer to the congregation in front of the screen have overcome some of the issues and enabled the screen to remain a splendid backdrop to worship and especially any dramatic activity.
Apart from the east window that is not especially notable, there are some lovely windows on the south side of the chancel. Wooden pews provide a mellow complement to the screen and enable very efficient and safe packing in of the large numbers of worshippers each Sunday.
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Misericords in the Choir Stalls
The back rows of the choir stalls in the chancel have seats that tilt. Underneath the seats are supports (misericords) used years ago when standing during long services! Lovely carvings of foliage and animals decorate the undersides of the seats.
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