Faith Craft Work

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Many churches have examples of Faith Craft work. Regrettably the Society very little in the way of records of what work was produced and would welcome being told of any surviving works we are not aware of. While we can give opinions on whether an item may be made by Faith Craft or not we do not provide valuations. If you wish for a valuation we suggest you approach one of the two main London auction houses.

We have a Word list (Faith Craft items Oct 24 Faith Craft database Oct 24) and a sortable Excel database () of known Faith Craft items. Sources include Society of the Faith publications, a list produced by NADFAS, various websites and personal information from a variety of informants. The pieces may no longer be in existence or may have moved location. Please notify any additions or corrections using the Contact Us page.

The website of St George, Headstone, Harrow has fine illustrations of the Lady Chapel Screen and reredos by John Crawford and the altar, memorial plaque and screen in the north aisle by Francis Stephens. In addition there is an excellent and well illustrated article about Martin Travers and John Crawford.

Christ Church, Wellington has a series of windows designed by William Lawson in the 1920’s. Some were installed, some remain as designs. You can see the windows and the designs here.

Some items gained press coverage at the time, for example article in the Church Observer for December 1953, about the new window in Lambeth Palace Parish Church. The Church is now the Garden Museum; the window is still there (the illustration on the Museum’s website shows the previous window which was destroyed in WW2).

St Peter’s, Cradley, Worcestershire has a sanctuary lamp and Aumbry door saved from St Peter, Upper Gornal, Staffordshire. By kind permission we reproduce the story here.

Over the years the Society produced a range of brochures describing and illustrated Faith Craft products. They are reproduced here as PDF files as the illustrations may be of use. Unsurprisingly the illustrations were sometimes recycled – in particular in ‘Faith Craft Church Artists, Craftsmen and Furnishers’.

Most brochures are not dated. ‘Things Needful….’ is probably published by 1938.

Our copy of the ‘Stained Glass’ brochure belonged to John Crawford, who updated the prices in his handwriting after the war. ‘All Manner of Workmanship’ was published in 1954.

A 1957 price list for ‘Faithcraft Statues and Crucifixes’ is also available 1957 Statues price list.

The copy of the ‘Vestments, Frontals and Hangings’ has an interesting typewritten duplicated additional note. Dated 1967 it has the prices in US Dollars and makes reference to the Latin shape of Chasuble as “… still popular especially in hot climates …”. This suggests a late, and unsuccessful, push for the export market.

Things Needful & Expedient for the Ceremonies of the Church – 32 pages. Illustrations of a range of Faith Craft-Works products.

Stained Glass Apparently pre War

Altar Ornaments and Processional Crosses – 4 pages.

Altar Ornaments – 8 pages

Sanctuary and Aumbry Lamps – 4 pages.

Faithcraft Statues and Crucifixes – 24 pages. Twenty pages of statues, four of crucifixes.

Hand-wrought Chalices and Ciboria – 8 pages.

Faithcraft Statues & Carving– 4 pages. Two pages illustrating statues and settings, one page on fibreglass and one on restoration and decoration.

Banners – Foldout, 6 full and two half pages. 22 banners illustrated

Faith Craft Church Artists, Craftsmen and Furnishers – 8 pages. Vestments, altar ornaments, carvings and furnishings

All Manner of Workmanship – 48 pages and card cover. Produced c.1959 illustrating a range of Faith Craft works in forty-eight locations. The copy reproduced here is missing pages 25/26 and 43/44.