Cambridge Camden Society
Encyclopedia
The Cambridge Camden Society, later known as the Ecclesiological Society from 1845 when it moved to London
, was a learned architectural society founded in 1839 by undergraduates at Cambridge University
to promote "the study of Gothic Architecture, and of Ecclesiastical Antiques." Its activities would come to include publishing a monthly journal, The Ecclesiologist, advising church builders on their blueprints, and advocating a return to a medieval style of church architecture in England
. At its peak influence in the 1840s, the Society counted over 700 members in its ranks, including bishops of the Church of England
, deans at Cambridge University, and Members of Parliament
. The Society and its publications enjoyed wide influence over the design of English churches throughout the 19th century.
church. The group was responsible for launching some of the first earnest investigations of medieval church design and through its publications invented and shaped the "science" of ecclesiology. Throughout its lifetime, all of the Society's actions had one goal: to return the Church and churches of England to the religious splendour it saw in the Middle Ages
. The Cambridge Camden Society held tremendous influence in the architectural and ecclesiastical worlds because of the success of this argument: that the corruption and ugliness of the 19th century could be escaped by the earnest attempt to recapture the piety and beauty of the Middle Ages.
The society was re-established as the St Paul's Ecclesiological Society in 1879. The society reverted its old title of The Ecclesiological Society in 1937.
The society's "ecclesiology" was an idea about both architecture and worship, inspired by the associationism of the Gothic revival and reform movements within the Anglican Church. Beginning as far back as Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill
, Gothic architecture was used to associate a building with certain attractive aspects of the Middle Ages. For the early revivalists, this attractiveness was the picturesque quality of the architecture. However, the Middle Ages had always had a strong association with religious piety
. The Anglican Church of the early 19th century was a languishing body, filled with corruption among the clergy
and a lack of respect among the parishioners.
When, in 1833 John Henry Newman began the Oxford Movement, or Tractarianism, a renewal of theology, ecclesiology, sacraments, and liturgical practices within the Anglican Church, all of the pieces were in place for the inception of the Cambridge Camden Society. Its founders, John Mason Neale
, Alexander Hope, and Benjamin Webb, formed the society with the belief that by using Church reform in conjunction with piety of Gothic architecture, England could recapture the religious perfection of the Middle Ages. Their idealism is clear in one of the society's early letters: "We know that [medieval] Catholick ethics gave rise to Catholick architecture; may we not hope that, by a kind of reversed process, association with Catholick architecture will give rise to Catholick ethics?"¹ The Ecclesiologists earnestly believed that medieval men were "more spiritually-minded and less worldly-minded"¹ than were those of the modern world and that it was their duty to help return England to its former piety.
undergraduates who shared a common interest in Gothic church design. Its first activities were the collection of information about churches across the island. The amount of knowledge obtained from travellers' visits to and careful measurements of long-forgotten parish churches was immense and led to the publication of A Few Hints on the Practical Study of Ecclesiological Antiquities. This handbook contained "A Blank form for the Description of a Church", which was a checklist of medieval architectural elements one could use to examine a church. This checklist was not only a useful tool for the investigator, but served as a database of knowledge for the society, and was constantly updated with more detailed information sent from country churches. Thus the Camden Society amassed an enormous amount of information about medieval parish churches and came to be seen as an authority on religious architecture. Nor was this attribution misplaced. The society's vigour in examining and defining every detail of the medieval church was enormous, so much so that its magazine, the Ecclesiologist published both heated debates about the usage of small slits dubbed "lychnoscopes
" that were observed in some churches and an invention called an "Orientator" that allowed one to determine whether or not a church faced exactly East. The motive for these extraordinarily scrutinising investigations was the society's unshakeable belief that man could regain the piety of the Middle Ages by carefully reconstructing them.
and aumbries
. The font
must be in the nave and near a door. Seating should not be in closed pews, but open benches or chairs, and galleries were inadmissible.
s to seek advice on how to restore their dilapidated buildings. These solicitations were enthusiastically answered and the Cambridge Camden Society's mission changed from mere antiquarianism to architectural consultation. The society's advice soon found a forum in The Ecclesiologist, the Cambridge Camden Society's newsletter, the first issue of which was first published in October, 1841. The publication began as "a periodical report of the society, primarily addressed to, and intended for the use of, the members of that body".¹ Because of the authority the society wielded in architectural matters, however, it soon published architectural criticism. The newsletter reviewed over one thousand churches in its twenty year span and never hesitated to lambast both a building and its architect for anything inconsistent with its view of the "middle pointed" (i.e. Decorated).
As often as not, the Society's verdict on an architect's work was determined as much by his personal life as his building design. Although A. W. N. Pugin was by any standard a pioneer of the Gothic revival and had aesthetic tastes very close to those of the Cambridge Camden Society, he was unequivocally condemned for his Roman Catholicism. Likewise, the publication says of one Thomas Rickman
, a Quaker, "many have really felt it a stumbling block that a person of Mr Rickman's religious persuasion should be regarded as a benefactor to Christian Art" and "he did very little...and his churches are monuments of extreme ecclesiological ignorance."¹ Although many architects drew the ire of The Ecclesiologist, the editors did not hesitate to lavish praise on those select few whom they deemed worthy. Henry C. Carpenter's Church of St Paul, Bristol
was widely praised for its correctness, as was S. W. Dawkes' Church of St Andrew, Wells Street, London
. The highest praise of all was given, in July 1842, to John Hayward
for St Andrew's church, Exwick
, Devon
; this was proudly pronounced "the best specimen of modern church we have yet seen"..
The Society's favourite, however, was undoubtedly William Butterfield
. The architect was a man of tremendous religious conviction who refused to build for Roman Catholics. Despite his frequent infringements of the rules set out by The Ecclesiologist, Butterfield retained a special status with the Society which culminated in its high praise of All Saints, Margaret Street
. Despite numerous violations of its principles, such as his use of brick, expressly forbidden by The Ecclesiologist, the Society went so far as to bankroll Butterfield's church. Although the Cambridge Camden Society claimed to be solely concerned with architecture, its criticism and praise of designers was often based as much on their personal convictions as it was on Gothic correctness.
The Ecclesiologist was also the vehicle by which the Camden Society launched its two most important campaigns, the abolition of pew
s and the reintroduction of chancel
s to churches. The society received much sympathy in its call to rid churches of purchased pews, perhaps in part due to its fiery rhetoric: "What is the history of pues, but the history of the intrusion of human pride, selfishness, and indolence, into the worship of God?"¹ At first, the society had a hard time convincing builders to incorporate chancel areas because, since Anglican clergy were no longer separated from the congregation by an altar, there was no real purpose for the expensive addition. The problem was solved, however, when Walter Hook
and John Jebb
, clergymen at Leeds and Hereford, respectively, proposed that chancels be used for lay choirs. Soon almost all old churches were dismantling their pews, and new churches were being built with chancels. Both issues were major successes and seen as significant steps in the Cambridge Camden Society's quest to "medievalise" the English Church.
The theological doctrines espoused by the Camden Society were never gentle and the society had many critics, both religious and architectural. Members of the Anglican Church detested the "popish" and "romanising" tendencies they saw in the Ecclesiologist's judgments while Catholics such as Pugin resented the idea that the Roman Church had lost its piety and vigour. Because the Society's doctrines were so closely related to the Oxford Movement, it also drew heavy criticism from the anti-Tractarianists. The Camden Society had a clever smokescreen to avoid addressing such attacks, however. Its bylaws forbad theological debate, insisting that the Society was solely architectural in its mission. Thus although its leaders put forth a definite theological position, they could never be charged with direct meddling in Church matters. This defence worked most of the time, but it did not lessen the hatred many had for the Society's disguised theological agenda. Likewise, many architects despised the Society for its intolerance of creative freedom. Self-righteous outbursts like the Ecclesiologist's assertion that "it is no sign of weakness to be content to copy acknowledged perfection: it is rather a sign of presumption to expect to rival it in any other way" did little to win over its architectural enemies. Despite this, the Camden Society and its Ecclesiologists never really lost a battle with its critics, aside from its forced removal from Cambridge to London in 1845 after an attack by anti-tractarianists. The society had so successfully won over the architectural community that when it disbanded in 1868, most felt that it had done everything it had set out to accomplish.
", which he translated from 12th century Latin.
Although a society of undergraduate students could hardly be expected to change the very nature of church building and worship across the world, the Cambridge Camden Society came very near to doing so. Incubated in Architectural Associationism, Romantic notions of the Middle Ages, and the Oxford reform movement, the Society sought to return England to its medieval past, and in its quest helped to rediscover the beauty of Gothic architecture and to rejuvenate the Anglican Church.
The last issue of The Ecclesiologist in 1868 was able to claim, with some truth, that "we have the satisfaction of retiring from the field victors".
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, was a learned architectural society founded in 1839 by undergraduates at Cambridge University
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
to promote "the study of Gothic Architecture, and of Ecclesiastical Antiques." Its activities would come to include publishing a monthly journal, The Ecclesiologist, advising church builders on their blueprints, and advocating a return to a medieval style of church architecture in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. At its peak influence in the 1840s, the Society counted over 700 members in its ranks, including bishops of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, deans at Cambridge University, and Members of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
. The Society and its publications enjoyed wide influence over the design of English churches throughout the 19th century.
Overview
During its twenty-year span, the Cambridge Camden Society and its journal influenced virtually every aspect of the Anglican Church and almost single-handedly reinvented the architectural design of the parishParish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
church. The group was responsible for launching some of the first earnest investigations of medieval church design and through its publications invented and shaped the "science" of ecclesiology. Throughout its lifetime, all of the Society's actions had one goal: to return the Church and churches of England to the religious splendour it saw in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. The Cambridge Camden Society held tremendous influence in the architectural and ecclesiastical worlds because of the success of this argument: that the corruption and ugliness of the 19th century could be escaped by the earnest attempt to recapture the piety and beauty of the Middle Ages.
The society was re-established as the St Paul's Ecclesiological Society in 1879. The society reverted its old title of The Ecclesiological Society in 1937.
Sources and inspiration
Strawberry Hill House
Strawberry Hill is the Gothic Revival villa of Horace Walpole which he built in the second half of the 18th century in what is now an affluent area of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in Twickenham, London...
, Gothic architecture was used to associate a building with certain attractive aspects of the Middle Ages. For the early revivalists, this attractiveness was the picturesque quality of the architecture. However, the Middle Ages had always had a strong association with religious piety
Piety
In spiritual terminology, piety is a virtue that can mean religious devotion, spirituality, or a combination of both. A common element in most conceptions of piety is humility.- Etymology :...
. The Anglican Church of the early 19th century was a languishing body, filled with corruption among the clergy
Clergy
Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
and a lack of respect among the parishioners.
When, in 1833 John Henry Newman began the Oxford Movement, or Tractarianism, a renewal of theology, ecclesiology, sacraments, and liturgical practices within the Anglican Church, all of the pieces were in place for the inception of the Cambridge Camden Society. Its founders, John Mason Neale
John Mason Neale
John Mason Neale was an Anglican priest, scholar and hymn-writer.-Life:Neale was born in London, his parents being the Revd Cornelius Neale and Susanna Neale, daughter of John Mason Good...
, Alexander Hope, and Benjamin Webb, formed the society with the belief that by using Church reform in conjunction with piety of Gothic architecture, England could recapture the religious perfection of the Middle Ages. Their idealism is clear in one of the society's early letters: "We know that [medieval] Catholick ethics gave rise to Catholick architecture; may we not hope that, by a kind of reversed process, association with Catholick architecture will give rise to Catholick ethics?"¹ The Ecclesiologists earnestly believed that medieval men were "more spiritually-minded and less worldly-minded"¹ than were those of the modern world and that it was their duty to help return England to its former piety.
The society's beginnings
The Camden Society began in May 1839 as a club for CambridgeUniversity of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
undergraduates who shared a common interest in Gothic church design. Its first activities were the collection of information about churches across the island. The amount of knowledge obtained from travellers' visits to and careful measurements of long-forgotten parish churches was immense and led to the publication of A Few Hints on the Practical Study of Ecclesiological Antiquities. This handbook contained "A Blank form for the Description of a Church", which was a checklist of medieval architectural elements one could use to examine a church. This checklist was not only a useful tool for the investigator, but served as a database of knowledge for the society, and was constantly updated with more detailed information sent from country churches. Thus the Camden Society amassed an enormous amount of information about medieval parish churches and came to be seen as an authority on religious architecture. Nor was this attribution misplaced. The society's vigour in examining and defining every detail of the medieval church was enormous, so much so that its magazine, the Ecclesiologist published both heated debates about the usage of small slits dubbed "lychnoscopes
Hagioscope
A hagioscope or squint, in architecture, is an opening through the wall of a church in an oblique direction, to enable the worshippers in the transepts or other parts of the church, from which the altar was not visible, to see the elevation of the host.Hagioscopes were also sometimes known as...
" that were observed in some churches and an invention called an "Orientator" that allowed one to determine whether or not a church faced exactly East. The motive for these extraordinarily scrutinising investigations was the society's unshakeable belief that man could regain the piety of the Middle Ages by carefully reconstructing them.
A Few Words to Church-builders
In 1841 the society published a pamphlet entitled A Few Words to Church-builders, summarising its ideas about what a modern church should be. It consisted of 32 pages with an appendix of 22 pages. In the first edition they recommended the early English style for small chapels and the decorated or perpendicular for larger ones, but by the third edition of 1844 (29 pages only) they were unreservedly recommending the Decorated style. The two essential parts of a church were a nave, and a well-defined chancel not less than a third of the length of the nave. Aisles were recommended, because a tripartite church symbolised the Holy Trinity, but a single aisle was acceptable, if that was all funds permitted. A tower could be in any position, except over the altar, but was not essential. Stone should be used, not brick, flint being perfectly acceptable. The chancel to be was strictly for the clergy, and no laity should enter. It should be raised at least two steps above the nave, and the altar should also be raised. Chancel and nave should be separated by a roodscreen, "that most beautiful and Catholick appendage to a church". This was a radical recommendation–the pamphlet points out that not one modern church had such a screen. The author also had a liking for sediliaSedilia
Sedilia , in ecclesiastical architecture, is the term used to describe stone seats, usually to be found on the south side of an altar, often in the chancel, for the use of the officiating priests...
and aumbries
Aumbry
In the Middle Ages an aumbry was a cabinet in the wall of a Christian church or in the sacristy which was used to store chalices and other vessels, as well as for the reserved sacrament, the consecrated elements from the Eucharist. This latter use was infrequent in pre-Reformation churches,...
. The font
Baptismal font
A baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults.-Aspersion and affusion fonts:...
must be in the nave and near a door. Seating should not be in closed pews, but open benches or chairs, and galleries were inadmissible.
The Ecclesiologist
The popularity of the Camden Society's handbook soon led some churchwardenChurchwarden
A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish church or congregation of the Anglican Communion, usually working as a part-time volunteer. Holders of these positions are ex officio members of the parish board, usually called a vestry, parish council, parochial church council, or in the case of a...
s to seek advice on how to restore their dilapidated buildings. These solicitations were enthusiastically answered and the Cambridge Camden Society's mission changed from mere antiquarianism to architectural consultation. The society's advice soon found a forum in The Ecclesiologist, the Cambridge Camden Society's newsletter, the first issue of which was first published in October, 1841. The publication began as "a periodical report of the society, primarily addressed to, and intended for the use of, the members of that body".¹ Because of the authority the society wielded in architectural matters, however, it soon published architectural criticism. The newsletter reviewed over one thousand churches in its twenty year span and never hesitated to lambast both a building and its architect for anything inconsistent with its view of the "middle pointed" (i.e. Decorated).
As often as not, the Society's verdict on an architect's work was determined as much by his personal life as his building design. Although A. W. N. Pugin was by any standard a pioneer of the Gothic revival and had aesthetic tastes very close to those of the Cambridge Camden Society, he was unequivocally condemned for his Roman Catholicism. Likewise, the publication says of one Thomas Rickman
Thomas Rickman
Thomas Rickman , was an English architect who was a major figure in the Gothic Revival.He was born at Maidenhead, Berkshire, into a large Quaker family, and avoided the medical career envisaged for him by his father, a grocer and druggist; he went into business for himself and married his first...
, a Quaker, "many have really felt it a stumbling block that a person of Mr Rickman's religious persuasion should be regarded as a benefactor to Christian Art" and "he did very little...and his churches are monuments of extreme ecclesiological ignorance."¹ Although many architects drew the ire of The Ecclesiologist, the editors did not hesitate to lavish praise on those select few whom they deemed worthy. Henry C. Carpenter's Church of St Paul, Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
was widely praised for its correctness, as was S. W. Dawkes' Church of St Andrew, Wells Street, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. The highest praise of all was given, in July 1842, to John Hayward
John Hayward (architect)
John Hayward was a Gothic Revival architect based in Exeter, Devon, who gained the reputation as “the senior architect in the west of England”.-Biography:...
for St Andrew's church, Exwick
Exwick
Exwick is a suburb of Exeter, England, in the north-west of the City. Its name is derived from the River Exe, which forms its eastern boundary. It is also an Ecclesiastical parish and an electoral ward.-Population:...
, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
; this was proudly pronounced "the best specimen of modern church we have yet seen"..
The Society's favourite, however, was undoubtedly William Butterfield
William Butterfield
William Butterfield was a Gothic Revival architect and associated with the Oxford Movement . He is noted for his use of polychromy-Biography:...
. The architect was a man of tremendous religious conviction who refused to build for Roman Catholics. Despite his frequent infringements of the rules set out by The Ecclesiologist, Butterfield retained a special status with the Society which culminated in its high praise of All Saints, Margaret Street
All Saints, Margaret Street
All Saints, Margaret Street is an Anglican church in London built in the High Victorian Gothic style by the architect William Butterfield and completed in 1859....
. Despite numerous violations of its principles, such as his use of brick, expressly forbidden by The Ecclesiologist, the Society went so far as to bankroll Butterfield's church. Although the Cambridge Camden Society claimed to be solely concerned with architecture, its criticism and praise of designers was often based as much on their personal convictions as it was on Gothic correctness.
The Ecclesiologist was also the vehicle by which the Camden Society launched its two most important campaigns, the abolition of pew
Pew
A pew is a long bench seat or enclosed box used for seating members of a congregation or choir in a church, or sometimes in a courtroom.-Overview:Churches were not commonly furnished with permanent pews before the Protestant Reformation...
s and the reintroduction of chancel
Chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...
s to churches. The society received much sympathy in its call to rid churches of purchased pews, perhaps in part due to its fiery rhetoric: "What is the history of pues, but the history of the intrusion of human pride, selfishness, and indolence, into the worship of God?"¹ At first, the society had a hard time convincing builders to incorporate chancel areas because, since Anglican clergy were no longer separated from the congregation by an altar, there was no real purpose for the expensive addition. The problem was solved, however, when Walter Hook
Walter Farquhar Hook
Walter Farquhar Hook , was an eminent Victorian churchman.-Background:He was the Vicar of Leeds responsible for the construction of the current Leeds Parish Church and for many ecclesiastical and social improvements to the city in the mid-nineteenth century...
and John Jebb
John Jebb (canon)
John Jebb D.D. was an Anglo-Irish Anglican clergyman and writer on church music....
, clergymen at Leeds and Hereford, respectively, proposed that chancels be used for lay choirs. Soon almost all old churches were dismantling their pews, and new churches were being built with chancels. Both issues were major successes and seen as significant steps in the Cambridge Camden Society's quest to "medievalise" the English Church.
Piety and theology
Members of the society also published books such as the Hierugia Anglicana, which sought to prove that medieval Catholic ritual had lived on in the Anglican Church past the Reformation and was therefore a proper way to offer worship. Another important work was The Symbolism of Churches and Church Ornaments, also known by the name of the medieval author who inspired it, Durandus. In this book, Neale and Webb sought to prove that absolutely every architectural element of the medieval church building was religiously symbolic and represented Christian piety and thought well above that of the 19th century. The work also proclaimed that church architects must "take a religious view of their profession" and that "we do protest against the merely business-like spirit of the modern profession, and demand from them a more elevated and directly religious habit of mind". Although nominally scholarly, these persuasive works were quite obviously intended to further the society's own philosophical and theological viewpoints.The theological doctrines espoused by the Camden Society were never gentle and the society had many critics, both religious and architectural. Members of the Anglican Church detested the "popish" and "romanising" tendencies they saw in the Ecclesiologist's judgments while Catholics such as Pugin resented the idea that the Roman Church had lost its piety and vigour. Because the Society's doctrines were so closely related to the Oxford Movement, it also drew heavy criticism from the anti-Tractarianists. The Camden Society had a clever smokescreen to avoid addressing such attacks, however. Its bylaws forbad theological debate, insisting that the Society was solely architectural in its mission. Thus although its leaders put forth a definite theological position, they could never be charged with direct meddling in Church matters. This defence worked most of the time, but it did not lessen the hatred many had for the Society's disguised theological agenda. Likewise, many architects despised the Society for its intolerance of creative freedom. Self-righteous outbursts like the Ecclesiologist's assertion that "it is no sign of weakness to be content to copy acknowledged perfection: it is rather a sign of presumption to expect to rival it in any other way" did little to win over its architectural enemies. Despite this, the Camden Society and its Ecclesiologists never really lost a battle with its critics, aside from its forced removal from Cambridge to London in 1845 after an attack by anti-tractarianists. The society had so successfully won over the architectural community that when it disbanded in 1868, most felt that it had done everything it had set out to accomplish.
Results
In the end, the Camden Society's accomplishments were so pervasive that they have often been taken for granted. Historian James F. White states that "even buildings built in contemporary styles, with few exceptions, use the liturgical arrangement developed over a century ago by the Cambridge Camden Society. Here, many have felt, is the 'correct' way of building churches, and thousands of parishes all over have adapted their worship to fit this variety of building." Pews bought by money have vanished entirely thanks to the Society's campaign and chancels have been a normal feature in Neo-Medieval churches since the 1860s. Although the Society did not win the Anglican Church over so wholly with its arguments promoting medieval ritual, it did help to draw attention to injustices committed in the Church and initiated much-needed reform. Even the music of the Church was affected by the Camden Society. Under the auspices of the society, John Neale published the Hymnal Noted, a collection of more than one hundred hymns, among which was Neale's "O come, O come, EmmanuelO come, O come, Emmanuel
O come, O come, Emmanuel is a translation of the Latin text by John Mason Neale and Henry Sloane Coffin in the mid-19th century. It is a metrical version of a collation of various Advent Antiphons , which now serves as a popular Advent hymn...
", which he translated from 12th century Latin.
Although a society of undergraduate students could hardly be expected to change the very nature of church building and worship across the world, the Cambridge Camden Society came very near to doing so. Incubated in Architectural Associationism, Romantic notions of the Middle Ages, and the Oxford reform movement, the Society sought to return England to its medieval past, and in its quest helped to rediscover the beauty of Gothic architecture and to rejuvenate the Anglican Church.
The last issue of The Ecclesiologist in 1868 was able to claim, with some truth, that "we have the satisfaction of retiring from the field victors".
Publications of the Society
- The Ecclesiologist (1841–1869)
- A Few Words to Churchwardens on Churches and Church Ornamentation (1842)
- A Few Words to Church-builders
- Twenty-three Reasons for Getting Rid of Church PuesPewA pew is a long bench seat or enclosed box used for seating members of a congregation or choir in a church, or sometimes in a courtroom.-Overview:Churches were not commonly furnished with permanent pews before the Protestant Reformation...
Sources
- White, James F., The Cambridge Movement. CambridgeCambridgeThe city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
: Cambridge University PressCambridge University PressCambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
, 1962. - Fontaney, Pierre (ed.), Le Renouveau Gothique en Angleterre. BordeauxBordeauxBordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
: Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux, 1989.