If you drive west from Eastbourne along the A27 you descend a hill approaching the roundabout turn off to Alfriston. In the distance on the left poking up through a clump of trees is the spire of Berwick Church. The plain exterior belies the art treasures within.
If you visit the church and exit the churchyard to the rear the trees open out on to a patchwork of fields bordered by the South Downs. This combination inspired me to produce a series of abstract landscape paintings utilising the London Underground map, which I called Tubescapes. Because of copyright issues I can’t show you the works here, but the image below is a detail showing the representation of Berwick Church rising above the trees, symbolised by the merging of the two Northern Lines.
Until the Reformation the clergy, particularly the Catholic Church, had a close relationship with artists down the centuries, commissioning scenes from the Bible.
In 1941, the Bishop of Chichester, George Bell, commissioned Bloomsbury artists Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell and her son Quentin to decorate the interior of The Church of St. Michael & All Angels, Berwick. Bishop Bell hoped it would begin a renaissance of the Church commissioning artists.
The Bloomsbury Set, named after the district of London where they initially lived, were a group of English writers and artists who promoted modern art through the 1920s to the 1940s. To avoid the London blitz they decamped to the farmhouse and estate of Charleston and the murals were painted on plasterboard panels in a barn near Berwick. The panels allowed their removal for restoration. In one way this proved insightful, for a German bomb damaged the Church roof and a later act of mindless vandalism desecrated Vanessa Bell’s picture of angels.
However, plasterboard is prone to moisture absorption and over time the damp atmosphere of the church caused some paint degradation. Restoration was necessary and to preserve the works a dryer atmosphere was essential, achieved by installing under floor heating.
The murals, one of which depicts service men and nurses, are expressing hope in the dark days of the war. The artists used local folk as models and produce and scenes depicting rural life of the period.
Ten thousand visitors annually view these magnificent paintings and the church is open to visitors every day of the year. For more information go to: www.berwickchurch.org.uk
