Peter Anson - Oblate

Peter Anson - Oblate

August 22 1889 - 10 July 1975

Memorials

	Biographical Note
	The Peter Anson Project
	"Fashions in Church Furnishings" (1960)
	Anson Homepage - Moray On-Line Gallery
	Books by Peter Anson
	Tynet Chapel by Peter Anson

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Peter F. Anson was born in 1889. From 1910 to 1924 he was a member of the Benedictine brotherhood on Caldey Island, and one of the twenty monks who followed Abbot Aelred Carlyle over to Rome in 1913.

Reverting to lay-life at the age of thirty-five he soon began to make a name for himself as an author-artist. The first of his thirty-six published books appeared in 1927. He was the Co-founder of the Apostleship of the Sea in 1921, and later on became a founder member of the Royal Society of Marine Artists.

In 1969 he retired to his former island-home as an eventide-home, where he continued to keep busy with drawing, painting, and writing. He enjoyed the rare status of a Reformed Cistercian choir-oblate. Failing health compelled him to seek a mainland home and in 1974 he was accepted into the community of Nunraw Abbey, East Lothian. He died in St. Raphael's Hospital in Edinburgh, 10 July 1975 and is buried at Nunraw.

The Peter Anson Project by Peter Quartermaine

Peter Frederick Anson 1889-1975 "Peter's the maist winnerfu' mannie ah ever met - well-kent in scores o' ports - a man wi' the sea in's bleed, a skeely drawer o' boats an' haibers an' fisher fowk, a vreeter o' buiks, a capital sailor, an' 'a chiel.... He's a byordinar mannie!"

Peter Anson might well have rated this tribute from a Buckie fisherman, quoted on the cover of his classic book, Fishing Boats and Fisher Folk on the East Coast of Scotland (1930), as high as any; even that of Pope Paul VI making him a Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great in 1966, in recognition of his services to seafarers. He was a man of many talents, and in effect led several different - but interrelated lives.

Co-founder in 1921 of Apostleship of the Sea, and in 1936 of the Royal Society of Marine Artists, Anson became a recognised expert on British fishing craft and communities, and published some forty books on church history and church architecture, on ships and the sea - and on the important connections he saw between them.

The Project

Anson's detailed water-colours and pen drawings of ships reflected his interest in every aspect of their design and gear; the illustrations for his many books on fishing craft are as carefully researched as the statistics which traced the tragic decline of the fishing industry throughout the early years of this century. It was a decline which Anson felt keenly, for he spent most of the years between 1930 and 1970 on the North East Scottish coast, living in a series of small cottages near the harbours of Portsoy, Banff, Macduff and Ferryden.

Anson donated marine paintings and drawings to the Scottish Fisheries Museum at Anstruther (of which he was briefly the first Curator), to Buckie Maritime Museum and to the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. Many more he sold or gave to friends, and their whereabouts are now unknown. This research project, funded and officially supported by the National Maritime Museum, aims to locate as much Anson material as possible and to prepare a comprehensive book on Anson's lifelong involvement with ships and the sea. The National Maritime Museum is interested in mounting an exhibition of Anson's marine work, which would also travel to Scotland.

The aim is not only to locate paintings and drawings, but also people who knew - or whose relations knew - Peter Anson. Already I have visited the North East coast, and have talked with close friends of Anson; I am also in correspondence with the various abbeys throughout the British Isles where Anson spent many years of his life, and with the Director of The Apostleship of the Sea at 'Stella Maris', Tilbury. Many others, in Scotland and England, have helped me thus far in my work; I am most grateful.

[If you feel you can help The Peter Anson Project in any way please write to Peter Quartermaine, Queen's Building, The Queen's Drive, Exeter, EX4 4QH, Devon.]

The Author from 'Fashions in Church Furnishings' (1960)

Peter Frederick Anson was born at Portsmouth, August 22, 1889. He was the elder son of Admiral Charles E. Anson, C.B., M.V.O., and Evelyn, daughter of Horatio Ross. He was educated at Wixenford, Wokingham; then privately with tutors, and had two years at the Architectural Association Schools, London. In 1910 he joined the Anglican Benedictine community on Caldey Island, and was reconciled with the Roman Church, along with Abbot Aelred Carlyle and most of his monks on March 5, 1913. He remained with the community as an oblate-brother until 1924. Always keenly interested in ships and seafaring, he was one of the founders of the Society of the Apostleship of the Sea in 1921, its first organising secretary for three years, and latterly a member of its International Council.

On reverting to secular life in 1914 Mr. Anson took up writing and drawing as his profession. His first book - A Pilgrim's Guide to Franciscan Italy - was published in 1927. He soon began to specialise in water colours of maritime subjects, and became a founder member of the Society of Marine Artists. He has exhibited at the Royal Academy, New English Art Club, Royal Scottish Academy, Mostra Internazionale Francescana (Assisi), and elsewhere. From 1928 to 1946 he contributed a weekly series of drawings (mostly churches) entitled 'The Pilgrim Artist' to the Universe. A full list of his thirty-two books published in the past thirty-eight years is printed in this volume. From 1936 to 1958 his home was on the coast of Banffshire. He now resides in the moribund fishing village of Ferryden on the coast of Angus, and is still writing books. Recent ones include The Building of Churches and The Art of the Church (with Iris Conlay), two volumes in The New Library of Catholic Knowledge.

Anson on the Internet

LINK: click on the  small picture to access

The Moray Council Museums Service On-line Exhibition

Peter Anson was an artist and author who devoted his life to his interest in the sea, fishing, and the Church. The Anson Gallery, housed within the Buckie Public Library, pays tribute to his work, especially his paintings, very many of which record life and events around the fishing ports of North East Scotland such as Buckie and Lossiemouth. His work is a unique historical record as well as an artistic one, which had an attractive and distinctive style based on his original architectural training.

His biographical details emphasise the variety of interests he held in a long and productive life; or you may prefer to learn about the Anson Gallery where you will see a glimpse of the Gallery in Buckie Library, and we hope be encouraged to visit it or purchase some of the items on sale there. If you opt to delve deeper into the Works of Peter Anson, you will gain an insight into the life of this complex man by a closer look at some of the many items from his archives and personal library, which cannot be displayed in the gallery itself.

Whichever path you choose, we hope you enjoy your visit.

Peter Frederick Anson (1889 - 1975)

Early years

Peter Anson was born in Portsmouth , the son of Admiral Charles Anson. Both sides of his family had close ties with the sea and he began sketching scenes of fishing life by the age of six. Albums of his earliest paintings are mostly landscapes with a freedom of style, showing little obvious regard for the complete accuracy which he sought almost obsessively in his paintings in later life - or, as he put it "...to produce a realistic record which could be understood by ordinary folk."

His formal education concluded at the Architectural School of London. At the age of 21, he joined the Anglican Benedictine Community at Caldey Island, off the coast of Wales near Tenby, and was received into the Roman Catholic Church in 1913. His personal faith and love for the sea were the two main influences in his life and the source of much of his inspiration, Faith and the Sea.

Peter Anson based himself at Caldey Island for fourteen years, travelling widely during this time. His joint interests of faith and the sea led him, in 1921, to co-found The Apostleship of the Sea, an organisation dedicated to administering to the material and spiritual needs of Catholic seafarers. At the same time he was initiated into the fishing life of the Moray coast, where he made lifelong friendships among the communities of Lossiemouth, Hopeman, Buckie and Nairn. He made a great many paintings and drawings of the life and people of the area, and was to return again and again to the area over the next fifteen years. Having left the monastic community at Caldey in 1924, he travelled widely overseas, taking up writing and painting as his profession.During this time he founded the Society of Marine Artists, and produced much of his artistic work. His style now strongly reflected his technical training, and he often worked closely from photographs to ensure absolute accuracy.

In 1938 he settled on the Moray coast, first at Portsoy, then at Macduff, where he was to stay for over fourteen years painting and writing. He influenced the famous author Neil Gunn, who was persuaded by Anson to complete his work on the early Moray herring industry in his publication The Silver Darlings 1941).

However after this period in his life he seemed to suffer from a restlessness of spirit, never again settling anywhere for long.

A Restless Spirit

The 'Stella Maris', Anson's own boat, sailing in a harbour, probably Macduff. Anson is seated in the centre of the boat.After the loss of his own boat in 1952, Anson moved briefly to the South of England. He returned to Macduff within a matter of months but in 1958 he "slipped away unannounced" to Ramsgate Abbey. In 1960 he moved back to Portsoy once more, but soon after he moved to Montrose, then to nearby Ferryden. In 1967 he became the first Curator of the Scottish Fisheries Museum at Anstruther, but after only a year there he withdrew and moved back to Ferryden. It was then that he began work on his final project, to complete his "panorama" of the Scottish fishing industry.

Left, Peter Anson in what one might regard as a typical pose and situation - comfortably seated at the waterside in a harbour, watching all the activity around him. Right, Anson at work in his study. From the calendar on the wall behind him, we can date this photograph accurately to the year 1964.

Unfortunately, the lamp hides the name of the month.

Peter Anson published many books during his life, many on maritime subjects, and in 1966 was honoured by Pope Paul VI, who made him a Knight of the Order of St. Gregory as a tribute to his prolific literary and scholarly achievements.

The last five years of his life were dedicated to his painting, first at his former home at Caldey Island, and finally at the Sancta Maria Abbey in East Lothian, where he died in 1975 aged 85.

Books by Peter Anson

Books by Peter F. Anson

THE PILGRIM'S GUIDE TO FRANCISCAN ITALY (1927)

FISHING BOATS AND FISHER FOLK ON THE EAST COAST OF SCOTLAND (1930)

FISHER AND FISHING WAYS (1931)

MARINERS OF BRITTANY (1934)

THE QUEST OF SOLITUDE (1932)

SIX PILGRIM's SKETCH BOOKS (1934)

A PILGRIM ARTIST IN PALESTINE (1934)

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN MODERN SCOTLAND (1937)

THE CARAVAN PILGRIM (1938)

THE SCOTTISH FISHERIES-ARE THEY DOOMED? (1939)

THE BENEDICTINES OF CALDEY (1940)

HOW TO DRAW SHIPS (1941) - revised edition 1955

BRITISH SEA FISHERMEN (1944)

HARBOUR HEAD-MARITIME MEMORIES (1945)

A ROVING RECLUSE-MORE MEMORIES (1946)

THE APOSTLESHIP OF THE SEA IN ENGLAND AND WALES (1946)

THE SEA APOSTOLATE IN IRELAND (1946)

CHURCHES- THEIR PLAN AND FURNISHING (1948)

THE CHURCH AND THE SAILOR (1949)

THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS AND CONGREGATIONS OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND (1950)

SCOTS FISHER FOLK (1953)

CHRIST AND THE SAILOR (1954)

THE CALL OF THE CLOISTER (1955) - 4th revised edition 1963

THESE MADE PEACE (with Cecily Hallack, 1957)

THE HERMIT OF CAT ISLAND (1958)

ABBOT EXTRAORDINARY (1958)

A MONASTERY IN MORAY (1959)

FASHIONS IN CHURCH FURNISHINGS 1840-1940 (1960)

THE BROTHERS OF BRAEMORE (1960)

BISHOPS AT LARGE (1964)

THE BUILDING OF CHURCHES (1965)

FISHER FOLKLORE (1965)

LIFE ON LOW SHORE (1969)

UNDERGROUND CATHOLICISM IN SCOTLAND 1622-1878 (1970)

FISHING BOATS AND FISHER FOLK ON THE EAST COAST OF SCOTLAND (1971)

Tynet Chapel by Peter Anson

"The Banffshire Bethlehem" - St. Ninian's, Tynet

Scotland's Oldest Post-Reformation Catholic Church

by Peter F. Anson

SITUATED within a short distance from the main road between Elgin and Banff, about a quarter of a mile north-west of the bridge that spans the Burn of Tynet, the modern division between the counties of Moray and Banff, is the oldest post-Reformation Catholic church in Scotland still used for regular worship. Nobody glancing at this long low building with its harled walls, slate roof and square-headed windows would guess that it is a church, far less a Catholic church. There is nothing "ecclesiastical" in its outward appearance.

Tynet lies in the heart of the Enzie district of Banffshire. This stretch of country, with the Moray Firth on the north and rolling hills to the south, remained loyal to the Catholic religion after the Reformation. The Enzie roughly comprises the parishes of Bellie and Raffiven. The reason why Presbyterianism failed to gain a hold among the people was due to the fact that until 1728 the noble House of Gordon was the leading Catholic family in the north of Scotland. A chaplain was nearly always in residence at Gordon Castle throughout the seventeenth century.

  After the death of Alexander, the second Duke, in 1728, the Duchess, a Protestant, brought up the children in her own religion; taking them to the kirk on the first Sunday after their father's funeral. For the next hundred years, that is until Catholic Emancipation was obtained in 1829, the people of the Enzie had to look after their own spiritual welfare. Not only did they cling to the old religion tenaciously, but they gave eleven Bishops to the Church in Scotland during the two centuries, and probably more than fifty priests.

To-day there are five Catholic churches in this comparatively small area; St. Gregory's, Preshome (1788); St. Mary's, Fochabers (1825); St. Peter's, Buckie 1857); St. James', Letterfourie 1904), and St. Ninian's, Tynet - the oldest of them all.

About a mile south-east of the venerable church of Tynet is a cemetery, standing in the midst of fields, with no buildings near it. As early as 1602 there was a ruined chapel within this graveyard, and in 1687 another church was built on the site of the old one. In 1728 this church was desecrated by an armed band of Protestants. After this incident the Catholics dared not hold services there again for fear of being arrested, and so it fell into ruin. Bishop Nicholson, the first Vicar Apostolic of Scotland, who died in 1718, was buried in St. Ninian's cemetery. In modern times a cross has been erected to his memory. On it are inscribed the name of the bishop, and twenty-six priests, whose mortal remains lie within the space where the chapel once stood.

Try to picture the state of Catholics in this quiet peaceful fertile countryside two hundred years ago. The defeat of the Jacobite forces at Culloden in 1745 resulted in even worse persecution of Catholics than before. All were treated as rebels and outlaws, regardless of class, age or sex. Orders were given that Catholic chapels were to be pulled down and their priests imprisoned. The laity were deprived of their property. The clergy and their congregations were driven out of their homes. The Hanoverian soldiers, commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, set fire to any house belonging to Catholics which they discovered. The College of Scalan, in the Braes of Glenlivet, was plundered and burnt. A barn near the Bridge of Tynet, which had been used as a place of worship after they had abandoned the little church in St. Ninian's cemetery, shared the same fate.

In 1734 the Rev. John Godsman was appointed to look after the scattered Catholics in the Enzie.

Not long after the Battle of Culloden he was made a prisoner, but was eventually set free. Disguised as a farmer, he hid himself in the country; saying Mass in barns, usually during the night. It would have been far too great a risk for Catholics to gather together by day. The soldiers were tireless in their efforts to lay hands on them.

Bishop Alexander Smith, the Vicar Apostolic of the Lowlands District from 1735 to 1767, must have thought highly of Father Godsman. He put forward his name to the Holy See as his Coadjutor. But the choice fell on James Grant, who was consecrated by Bishop Smith in 1755. So Father Godsman remained in the Enzie.

About this date he wrote to the Vicar Apostolic, saying: " If you remember in the way between Auchenhalrig and Tulloch I showed you a small little house, where a poor woman had lived for some time, to which Tynet proposed making an addition as a cot for his sheep, but in effect for our use, for if we may expect any humanity or sympathy they will be ashamed to put us from a sheep-cot, especially when there is incomparably better of that kind in the country. What Tynet proposed to do he has done, and the house is very near complete. His sheep have been in it for some time past, and will continue to go there some time more. We will not have such accommodation as we had in the barn, but we will be considerably better than we have been now these twelve months past."

Thus it came to pass that the "little house" and the adjoining "sheep-cot," added by the owner, became the nucleus of the present Church of St. Ninian. The bleating of sheep was replaced by the tinkle of the Sanctus bell-if Catholics in those dangerous times dared to ring even a small hand-bell within a building? It required heroic faith and powers of endurance to be a practising Catholic two hundred years ago.

" Christmas and Eastertide came and went, and were possibly observed by neighbours a; national Feasts-in any case there was no Venite adoremus, no Gloria in Excelsis with rejoicing multitudes, but there was the silent thanksgiving in the solitude of the heart. Many had never seen anything other than a poverty-stricken altar, and had never heard Mass said above a whisper, when two tapers just made visible the darkness of the earliest morning hour." (Kinloch, Scottish Ecclesiastical History, p. 2 17).

After a life of remarkable sanctity, Father Godsman died on 1st April 1769. Bishop Geddes, his devoted friend, assisted at his death-bed. The Bishop wrote his Life and declared that everybody regarded this missionary priest as a saint. Father Godsman was succeeded at Tynet by Dr. Alexander Geddes. This priest had such a high reputation for learning that the University of Aberdeen conferred on him the Degree of Doctor of Laws. This was a most unique honour for a Catholic priest at that date.

In 1779 the Rev. George Matheson was placed in charge of the mission. He made many improvements to the chapel. The windows were enlarged and glass inserted. Before this there were merely narrow openings in the walls, filled with straw or hay. This helped to deceive strangers as to the nature of the building. For it was in 1779 that all the Synods in Scotland became frantic in their efforts to prevent the Catholic Relief Act being passed by Parliament, and it was not until 1793 that the long-delayed Catholic Relief Bill for Scotland obtained the royal assent. The same year as Father Matheson came to Tynet, the streets of Edinburgh had resounded with the shout of " knock down, kill, burn the Papists." Mobs had attacked the houses of well-known Catholics in Glasgow. Bishop Hay narrowly escaped being murdered when escaping from his home in Edinburgh.

To have placed a cross on the roof of St. Ninian's would have been far too dangerous. The stone ball on the west gable, added by Father Matheson, can still be seen. He re-roofed the chapel with slates brought from the old church in St. Ninian's cemetery. Hitherto it had been thatched. About seven years after the Catholic Relief Bill became law, Father Matheson ventured to make some improvements in the interior. There was less danger now that the church would be desecrated. So he erected a choir-loft behind the altar, and furnished it with an organ "with seven stops." As Bishop Geddes tells us that he was "an amateur Musical Instrument Maker of no mean ability," it is probable that he constructed this organ himself.

He took the precaution of consulting his Protestant neighbours before starting music in the chapel, being anxious not to offend them. As they raised no objections a few simple hymns were sung. But Father Matheson had not reckoned with Bishop Hay, who took a different line. He denounced music of any sort as "an innovation in the Service of God and the public discipline of the Church," adding that he felt it to be " a mere whim of the Scottish Catholics to wish for music in their chapels; a thing which ought to be the last to be thought of." So it is doubtful if Father Matheson dared to play his organ or to have any more hymn singing at Tynet until after the death of Bishop Hay in 1811.

Most likely to confirm the belief that the long low building was not a chapel, the priest resided at Auchenhalrig, about half a mile distant. Here in his own oratory he said Mass on weekdays and reserved the Blessed Sacrament. It was during the years that Father Matheson was at Tynet that the gilt dove, which had belonged to the old church in St. Ninian's cemetery, was hung up above the altar. Many vestments and altar vessels from this church, which had been hidden away during the worst times of persecution, were handed over to Father Matheson. Some years after his death thieves broke into the chapel, and everything was stolen.

There is not much to relate of the subsequent history of Tynet. The story of this quiet peaceful little building has been as uneventful as that of the farms and crofts which lie around it. You would not find material for startling headlines in their annals. In 1859 the Rev. William Loggie erected the present presbytery and moved from Auchenhalrig. He also made extensive alterations in the chapel. He walled up the original door at the west end and inserted the existing entrance on the south side. The choir loft was moved to the west end and a wall built immediately behind the altar. The next priest, the Rev. Donald Kennedy, who served the mission from 1885 to 1913, made other improvements. The weight of the heavy slates on the rafters threatened to cause the walls to collapse. The roof had to be strengthened on more than one occasion. As the congregation had declined in numbers a wooden partition was put up, cutting off the west end of the building. A font was placed in this quasi-narthex. By 1931, when the Rev. William Watson succeeded the Rev. James Marr, the general opinion was that further repairs to this venerable chapel were useless. As a work-man expressed it to Father Watson: "Aye, Father, she's gey ripe!"

The roof was sagging to a depth Of 7 inches. There was a big crack in the ceiling. Many of the rafters were split through below the ties. To prevent the total collapse of the ceiling, a 36-feet long wooden beam was placed under the rafters affected-. Meanwhile, Father Watson, with the approval of the late Bishop Bennett, started to collect money to build a new church. It was estimated by the architect consulted that at least £2500 would be required to erect even a small church worthy of "the Papistical country" of the Enzie.

Had not the Second World War broke out shortly after this appeal was launched, it is possible that enough money would have been raised to build a new church. Under present conditions, what with the ever-increasing cost of building and the difficulty of obtaining licences for anything but the most urgent housing, any hope of starting on a new church must be abandoned. The only thing to do is to ensure the preservation of the old chapel.

St. Ninian's may have no intrinsic value as a specimen of any particular age or style of architecture, yet this simple little building possesses a quality which is almost unique. Architecture at its best expresses the period and culture of its period. St. Ninian's, Tynet, does this with just as much force as, say, St. Machar's Cathedral, Aberdeen, or the ruins of Elgin Cathedral. These two great churches, even in their present condition, remind us of the hey-day of Scottish Catholicism. St. Ninian's recalls the sufferings and persecutions of the Penal Times, when our ancestors had to worship in the Catacombs. This venerable sanctuary is intimately associated with the dark days before Catholic Emancipation; that Act of Parliament which gave our forefathers in the Faith the right to call their souls their own.

About ten years ago an English visitor to Tynet was so moved by this little church, that he ventured to insert a letter in one of the Catholic papers, saying: " I have just had the great privilege of visiting the oldest post-Reformation Catholic church in Scotland still in use, where I experienced a curious thrill at the thought that Catholic worship had gone on here unceasingly for over two centuries. To my dismay 1 discovered that this venerable relic of the past is being allowed to fall into decay, and that in a few years' time it may be no more than a heap of stones.

"Surely something can yet be done to avoid this catastrophe? I should think that Scottish Catholics throughout the world would be glad to have the opportunity of contributing something towards the preservation of this unique sanctuary. As I contemplated this ancient building, now so forlorn, and likely to collapse at any moment, I asked myself why there is no 'Old Mortality' to come to its rescue, as did the hero of Sir Walter Scott's novel of that name, who, as it will be recalled, went about the country cleaning the grave-stones of the Covenanter martyrs. To the impartial student of Scottish history this humble chapel at Tynet has much in common with the graves of the Covenanters, both reminding us of the age of religious persecution which, thank God, has now passed, at least in Scotland."

It is too much to expect that the mostly poor 'and dwindling number of Catholics in the parish of Tynet should have to shoulder the financial burden involved in the now really necessary restoration of the church. It is a matter which .should concern Catholics in every part of Scotland, even those of Scottish ancestry in remote parts of the world. At the last religious census there were approximately 600,00 Catholics in Scotland. If each of them contributed one penny towards the rebuilding and refurnishing of the "Banffshire Bethlehem," at least £2500 would be raised-a sum which would defray the cost of all essential work and safeguard the oldest post-Reformation Catholic church in Scotland for a long time to come.

Any contributions towards the re-furnishing of this historic church will be gratefully received by

The Rev. Parish Priest, St. Ninian's, Tynet, Clochan, Banffshire.