Stone carving
J.L. Carr listed stone carving as one of his hobbies. He liked to buy Weldon stone lintels for 10/- each from houses being demolished and then carve them into figures on a bench at the end of his garden. Carr had painted a picture of the quarries at Weldon in the early 1960s. He then placed his carvings among the trees and shrubs in the garden of his house in Kettering. One carving, of the Virgin and child, was seen in the mid-1960s by the local vicar of the Church of St Peter and St Paul in Kettering who placed it in the central niche above the north porch to replace a carving that had been destroyed during the English Reformation in the 16th century. About 20 years later another vicar asked Carr to carve two more figures (at no cost, as Carr was keen to point out) to place in the the other two niches.
(Last edited 5/6/2023)
A stone carving in situ in Carr's back garden in Kettering
This photograph was sent as a post card in 1987 to a friend, the publisher Donald Maxwell.
Carvings for St Peter and St Paul's Church, Kettering
This is a photograph of the two carvings before they were placed in position in 1984. St Peter is probably the figure on the right, as he is often depicted holding keys, and St Paul is on the left, who usually holds a sword. Carr sent the photograph to Donald Maxwell, presumably with the page from his local newspaper, shown below.
Cutting from the Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph
of Tuesday, October 9th, 1984.
The caption, left, was edited by Carr and sent to his friend, Donald Maxwell. On the same cutting he wrote:
Note - I have moved on from the Byzantine Era (flat faced) to the Medieval (long nosed). The Rector drummed up all his troops - Girl Guides, W.Is, M.Us, banners flying, clouds of incense. The Lord Lieutenant galloped over his O.T. lesson at breakneck speed, punctuation flying like shrapnel; the M.P. read the N.T. with Eloquence, flashing glances frequently. [He's not going to say 'Here Endeth' - it's going to end 'Please vote for me' my neighbour whispered]. A Mighty Throng Shouting The Nat. Anthem and of course Jerusalem. And up there two lumps of Weldon stone.
Newspaper cutting (click to enlarge)
North porch, St Peter and St Paul's Church, Kettering, Northampton.
This is a photograph of the carvings taken in September 2019.
North porch of Kettering Parish Church (click to enlarge, then click again)