Christopher Kempster
{{Short description|English stonemason and architect}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Christopher Kempster
| image = Christopher Kempster-1715 St John the Baptist Burford Oxfordshire.png
| alt = Memorial
| caption = Memorial at the Church of St John the Baptist, Burford
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1627|03|27}}
| birth_place = Burford, Oxfordshire, England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1715|08|12|1627|03|27}}
| death_place = Burford, Oxfordshire, England
| burial_place = Burford, Oxfordshire, England
| other_names =
| occupation = Stonemason; architect
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works = St Paul's Cathedral
| father = Christopher Kempster
| mother = Joanne
| spouse = Joane (c.1646)
| children = William Kempster
}}
Christopher Kempster (1627–1715{{cite web| url=https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/K8JS-2CR/christopher-kempster-1627-1715 | title=Christopher Kempster | website=ancestors.familysearch.org | access-date=5 March 2025 }}) was an English master stonemason and architect who trained with Sir Christopher Wren, working on St Paul's Cathedral.{{cite journal| first=P.D. | last=Mundy | title=Christopher Kempster, Wren's Master-Mason | journal=Notes and Queries | volume=CCII | page=297 | publisher=Oxford University Press | date=July 1957 | doi=10.1093/nq/CCII.jul.297 | doi-broken-date=1 July 2025 }}
Biography
Kempster was from Burford in Oxfordshire, England. He sold Cotswold stone from his quarry at Upton, near Burford, to rebuild London after the Great Fire of London in 1666.[http://www.rickbull.com/misc/genealogy/ppl/S/E/SEOXDNFL5WOKPAOF7H.html My Family Tree: Jordan, Elizabeth], [http://www.rickbull.com/ Rick Bull], 14 November 2007. He was also Christopher Wren's master mason during the rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral in London. His County Hall, built 1678–1682 in Abingdon, is now the Abingdon County Hall Museum.David Nash Ford, [http://www.berkshirehistory.com/maps/towns/berktn10.html Abingdon: Ancient Abbey shaped a Town], [http://www.berkshirehistory.com/ Royal Berkshire History]. The Kempster family quarry supplied stone for Blenheim Palace, Oxford colleges, and Windsor Castle.
File:DSCN3060-abingdon-market-hall.JPG in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, built 1678–1682, now a museum]]
His buildings, many with Sir Christopher Wren, include:
- Abingdon County Hall[http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/upload/pdf/abingdon_county_hall.pdf Abingdon County Hall: Information for Teachers], English Heritage. Palladian Press, 2004.{{cite book| first=Melody | last=Mobus | chapter=The Kempsters' work in the provinces post-1666 | title=Wren's Burford Masons: Unsung Heroes of 17th and Early 18th Century English Architecture | publisher=Routledge | date=2023 | doi=10.4324/9781003360414 | isbn=978-1003360414 }}
- St James Garlickhythe, City of London (Kempster also made the font)
- St Mary Abchurch, City of London
- St Mary's Church, North Leigh{{Cite book |editor=Crossley, Alan |editor2=Elrington, C.R. |author1= P. Baggs |author2=W.J. Blair |author3=Eleanor Chance |author4=Christina Colvin |author5=Janet Cooper |author6=C.J. Day |author7=Nesta Selwyn |author8=S.C. Townley |title=Victoria County History: A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 12: Wootton Hundred (South) including Woodstock |year=1990 |publisher=Victoria County History of the Counties of England |isbn=0-19-722774-0 |pages=231–235}}
- St Stephen Walbrook, City of London
- Tom Tower, Christ Church, OxfordSeven letters of Wren to John Fell, Bishop of Oxford, and other documents. Published in Wren Society 5 (1928).
John Perrott, Lord of the Manor, engaged Kempster to refit St Mary's Church, North Leigh, and to build a burial chapel for the Perrott family to the north of the north aisle. Kempster linked the Perrott chapel and the north aisle by an arcade of Tuscan columns.{{Cite book |author=Sherwood, Jennifer |author2=Pevsner, Nikolaus |author-link2=Nikolaus Pevsner |title=The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire |year=1974 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=Harmondsworth |isbn=0-14-071045-0 |pages=719–720}}
St John the Baptist's Church in Burford has a memorial to Christopher Kempster.[http://thecotswoldgateway.co.uk/burford.htm Burford], [http://thecotswoldgateway.co.uk/ The Cotswold Gateway].
References
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