Edward Ashworth
{{short description|English painter}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2017}}
Edward Ashworth (1814 – 1896) was an English artist and architect from Devon, England, considered to be the West Country's leading ecclesiastical architect.{{cite web|author=David Cornforth |url=http://www.exetermemories.co.uk/em/exetergraves.php |title=Cemeteries and Graves |publisher=Exeter Memories |date= |accessdate=2015-07-12}} He was elected a member of the Exeter Diocesan Architectural Society in 1847.Bury
Origins
File:ColletonBartonDevon ByEdwardAshworth 1892.jpg, Chulmleigh, Devon]]
He was born in 1814 at Colleton Barton, in the parish of Chulmleigh in Devon.
Career
He left Colleton in 1822 and later moved to London where he became a pupil of the architect Charles Fowler (1792-1867), born in Cullompton, Devon. During 1842-46 Ashworth travelled in New Zealand, Australia, Timor, Macau and Hong Kong during which time he kept diaries and sketchbooks.[https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-740059146/findingaid?digitised=y Guide to the papers of Edward Ashworth (as filmed by the AJCP)] Following his return to England in 1846 he set up an architectural practice in Exeter, Devon. In later life he lived at Dix's Field in Exeter. He rebuilt or restored many churches in Devon, including:See also: Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004
=Rebuilding works=
- Cullompton, Devon (1849)
- Dulverton, Somerset (1852–55)
- Bideford, Devon (1859)
- Lympstone, Devon (1862)
- St Mary's, Bideford, Devon (1862–65)
- Withycombe Raleigh, Exmouth, Devon (1863–64)
- St Mary Major, Exeter, Devon (1865), now demolished
- St Margaret's Church, Topsham (1874)
- Milton Combe (1878)
- St Nicholas Church, Exeter (opposite St Nicholas Priory) (design of)
=Restoration works=
- St Michael and All Angels Church, Bude, Cornwall
- St Peter's Church, Tiverton, Devon
- Silverton
- Lapford
- Widecombe
- Axminster
- Doddiscombsleigh
- North Molton
- Wynards Almshouses, Exeter (1863)
=Literary works=
- Chinese Architecture (1851), with his illustrations
=Paintings and drawings=
File:A Bird’s Eye View of Wynards Hospital, Exeter.jpg on Magdalen Street. Wynard's was founded as almshouses for the poor and infirm of Exeter in 1435. They continued to house the poor until 1973 when they became council offices, today they have been converted to private housing. From the Royal Albert Memorial Museum's collection (215/1970)]]
File:Passage House Inn, Topsham, Edward Ashworth.jpg ]]
Many of his drawings and paintings are held in the collection of the Westcountry Studies Library, Exeter,{{cite web |url=http://www.devon.gov.uk/edwardashworth#sthash.3a7waYAT.dpuf |title=Edward Ashworth |publisher=Devon.gov.uk |date=2011-06-24 |accessdate=2015-07-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140901214601/http://www.devon.gov.uk/edwardashworth#sthash.3a7waYAT.dpuf |archive-date=1 September 2014 |url-status=dead }} at the Devon and Exeter Institution and Devon Record Office.
Death and burial
He died on 8 March 1896 and left a substantial estate valued at £26,814, mainly invested in Railway stocks. He was buried in the newly created Higher Cemetery, Exeter, for which he had designed two lodges and one chapel. His ornate stone cross, made of pink stone, survives and was restored circa 2010.
Notes
{{Reflist}}
References
{{commons category|Edward Ashworth}}
- Bury, Richard M.B., History of Colleton Barton, 1993
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashworth, Edward}}
Category:19th-century English painters
Category:English male painters
Category:19th-century English architects
Category:English ecclesiastical architects