Henry Woodyer was born in Guildford in1816, the son of a successful, highly respected surgeon, who owned Allen House in the Upper High Street. His mother came from the wealthy Halsey family who owned Henley Park, just outside Guildford.
Woodyer was educated first at Eton, then at Merton College, Oxford. As a result, he could claim to be one of the best educated architects since Sir Christopher Wren.
Whilst at Oxford, he became involved in the Anglican High Church Movement and throughout his career he saw his work as an architect as a means of serving the church.
Woodyer’s architectural training is a mystery, although it is likely that he received help and guidance from William Butterfield, with whom he had an office in the same building in London. In addition to this, Woodyer kept an office, in the same building as his father’s medical practice in Guildford High Street.
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His early architectural work was largely based around the Guildford area and includes St Mark’s Church, Wyke and St Martha’s Church, Chilworth.
As a result of family and school connections, his practice rapidly grew nationally and he became one of the leading Gothic Revival architects, eventually designing over 300 buildings. His most important building being the Church of the Holy Innocents, Hignham, Glouchester, built for his school friend Gambier Parry. This building is considered to rival Pugin, St Giles Cheadle as one of the finest examples of Gothic Revival church design.
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St Nicholas Font Cover; Photo Veronica Barrett |
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However, because he considered himself to be a gentleman, he never allowed his work to be published, entered public architectural completions or joined professional organisations. As a result he did not achieve the success of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott or Edmund Street. This isolation from the main stream of Victorian architecture was compounded by his decision in 1857, to move his architectural office to Grafham, where in 1854, he had bought a country estate and built a manor house. Here he lived the life of a country gentleman and indulged his passion for sailing, by acquiring a yacht called the ‘Queen Mab’, on which he toured the Mediterranean. However, he remained a committed high churchman, often carrying out commissions for no payment.
He was one of the most prolific Victorian architects in Surrey, examples of work being St Peter’s Hascombe, St Andrew’s Grafham, Cranleigh School, Shalford School and St Martin’s Dorking.
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St Nicholas Font Cover; Photo Veronica Barrett |
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It is unfortunate that Henry Woodyer did not carry out any major architectural work in the town of his birth, but a fine example of his High Victorian Gothic design can be seen in the ornate font cover in St Nicholas Church, which he carried out towards the end of his life in 1892.
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St Nicholas Font Cover, Detail; Photo Veronica Barrett |
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St Nicholas Font Base: Photo Veronica Barrett |
St Nicholas Font Cover, St Simeon; Photo Veronica Barrett |