Jump to content

Church of St Philip and St James, Tow Law

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Church of St Philip and St James is a church in Tow Law, County Durham, England. The church was designed by architect Charles Hodgson Fowler (1840-1910) and completed in 1869. Built of sandstone, the decorated church features a south-west tower. It became a Grade II listed building on 5 June 1987.[1]

The church is administered as one of The Four Parishes - including St Mary & St Stephen Wolsingham, St Bartholomew Thornley Village and St.Cuthbert Satley.[2]

Notable people

[edit]

The vicar of Tow Law from 1862 to 1888 was the Revd Michael Henry Simpson. Simpson's youngest daughter, Alice Pickering (1860–1939), was a tennis player who played twice in the Wimbledon Championship Final.[3]

Another of Michael Henry Simpson's daughters, Florence Eva Simpson (1865–1923), known as Elva Lorence, became a published writer and composer, as well as a painter.[4]

A third sister, Katherine Ashton Simpson (1858–1951), known as Kate A. Pearce Simpson, was a writer of books and musicals and poetry.[5] She was also an artist, whose work was hung in the Royal Scottish Academy, at the Berwick Exhibition in Newcastle-on-Tyne.[6] Her painting of her sister, Florence Eva Simpson, is part of the collection of Touchstones Rochdale gallery, run by Rochdale Arts & Heritage Service.[7]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Church of St Philip and St James". Historic England. Historic England. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
  2. ^ "the Four Parishes". Wolsingham Church. Wolsingham Church. Retrieved 15 September 2024.
  3. ^ Ryan, Mark. "Alice Simpson Pickering - An Early Lawn Tennis Player". Tennis Forum. Tennis Forum. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  4. ^ "Florence Eva Simpson (Elva Lorence)". ArtUK. ArtUK. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  5. ^ "Katherine Ashton Simpson". Art UK. ArtUK. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  6. ^ "A CHRISTMAS GIFT BOOK: MRS. PEARCE-ELLIS'S BOOK OF VERSE". The Gloucester Citizen. 29 November 1932. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  7. ^ "Florence Eva Simpson (Elva Lorence)". ArtUK. ArtUK. Retrieved 11 September 2024.