Central to an appreciation of late-Georgian churches is an understanding of the principles of the auditory worship practised in this period. It is a mode of worship almost entirely banished by the Victorians and now largely forgotten, but it had profound influence over many design decisions.

The words spoken and the rubrics of all services were clearly set out in the Book of Common Prayer. It was first produced shortly after the Reformation and although subsequently subject to modifications, large parts of it are still in use in the twenty-first century. Thus there was nothing innovative or radical about the words used in late- Georgian services, but what developed through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was the particular way in which congregations were led through these services. This had evolved from a combination of positive factors, for instance a renewed emphasis on the teaching function of the clergy underpinned by practical considerations such as the need for all to hear, but also negative ones, principally the avoidance of ritual and anything that could be seen as a reminder of Catholic worship (see Figs 0.8 and 9.7).

The liturgical consensus

The liturgical consensus was overwhelmingly for a middle course avoiding both High Church ceremonial and Low Church austerity, one that steered well clear of both Catholicism and Calvinism. Thus an architectural vocabulary was needed that emphasised the importance of the pulpit and the role of the church building as an auditorium, without neglecting the symbolic importance of the altar. Would the late Georgians have used the word altar? Contemporary evidence is fairly evenly divided between ‘altar’ and ‘communion table’, reflecting the broad range of opinions that co-existed comfortably in the period on this and so many other aspects of worship.

For architects seeking to conceive a design that satisfied liturgical demands, the following considerations were paramount. Morning and Evening Prayer were by far the principal services and for these the focus was on the pulpit and reading desk but, ideally, with congregational sight of the altar. What evolved was the three-decker pulpit, a substantial piece of furniture from which the whole of these two services could be delivered. Ideally, it was centrally placed for maximum auditory advantage, but preferably so as not to preclude sight of the altar.