IN PRAISE OF…

PEEK INTO A CHURCH PEW AND YOU MIGHT FIND SOME OF BRITAIN'S MOST IDIOSYNCRATIC FOLK ART: THE CHURCH KNEELER

Ramblers and cyclists; fishers and farriers; planes, trains and buses. Oh, and dragons… that may sound like the stuff of school books but in fact it's just a sample of the subject matter you'll find on church kneelers. As Elizabeth Bingham shows in her book, Kneelers: The Unsung Folk Art Of England And Wales, apparently humble kneelers are under-appreciated examples of everyday creativity. Kneelers are the decorated hassocks for kneeling on when praying in church. While there are 17th century examples at Oxford's Wadham College, the form more commonly known today – using canvaswork (also known as needlepoint), basically stitching on canvas, rather than fabric – dates back only to the 1930s commissions for Winchester Cathedral. These were a collaboration between Louisa Pesel – an influential needlework educator (see ‘The Keepers…

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The Simple Things (Digital) - 1 Issue, October 2023

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