DONCASTER’S ARCHITECTS -

This new series of articles will give brief details of the works of various architects who have had connections with the town. It is hoped that these notes may stimulate a greater interest in the buildings which these architects designed, and which have, so far, escaped demolition.

Considerable research has gone into the production of these articles, but the information given cannot hope to be fully comprehensive; comments and additional information will be welcomed.   Some architects, born in Doncaster, have moved elsewhere to establish their practices; other architects, born outside the town, have established practices in Doncaster.

William Lambie Moffat was born on 31 October 1807, the son of John Moffat, clerk of works and Sarah Couch. At some stage, for unknown reasons, he adopted the spelling of Moffatt which is continued by his decendants, although his brother Henry retained the single 't' as Moffat throughout his life.

William Lambie was articled to William Burn who employed his father as his clerk of works at Carstairs House. The earliest record of work by William Lambie Moffatt dates from when he was seventeen years old and a pupil of Burn: he made the drawings for Carstairs House, designed by Burn, for J P Neale's 'Views of Seats'. He appears to have remained as an assistant: his subsequent career suggests he was engaged on the institutional side of the practice.

In 1833 Moffatt is listed at 8 Morrison Street, Edinburgh which is also the address of his father at this date.

Moffatt was equally skilled in Greek, Italianate, Gothic and neo-Jacobean, his work in the last of those being strongly influenced by William Burn's houses of the mid to late 1820s and early 1830s: in the past some writers conflated him with G G Scott's partner, the English William Bonython Moffatt, and in the earlier 'Buildings of England' volumes he is sometimes wrongly given as W B Moffatt.

This probably induced him to settle in Doncaster. In 1838 William Hurst of Doncaster invited him to become a partner, his previous partner John Woodhead having died, and for the next six years, Hurst and Moffatt had a flourishing practice, particularly for churches financed by The Incorporated Church Building Society.

Hurst and Moffatt

Hurst had previously secured a contract to design a Union Workhouse at Selby; Hurst and Moffatt then designed more of them including Thorne (1838) and Doncaster (1839). Many churches were designed too but there were none in this area. Elsewhere they included Ardsley (Barnsley), Woodsetts (Rotherham), and Goole.

In 1839 Moffatt was the architect of improvements to what was then the Independent Chapel, now the United Reform Church, on Hall Gate. Essentially he re-ordered the interior, improving galleries and pews. The chapel was altered more extensively later in the century.

A few years later, in 1842, Hurst and Moffatt designed the Clipstone Archway at Welbeck for the Duke of Portland, shown left. It is very unusual; it has niches with characters from the legend of Sherwood, including Robin Hood and Friar Tuck. The whole design was based on the mediaeval gatehouse at Worksop Priory. Today it is known as Archway House with accommodation above which once housed a school.

The next known Doncaster building designed by the practice was the Savings Bank, in 1843. This later became the Yorkshire Bank. It still stands, with later extensions, on the corner of Scot Lane and High Street. It is now a shop. It is thought that Hurst was the architect here.

In the same year, Moffatt designed a Wesleyan Chapel for the congregation at Everton near Bawtry. It still stands today on the Gainsborough Road but it closed as long ago as 1872.

It was replaced by another chapel nearer the village centre. The original chapel probably became a grain store for the Brickmakers’ Arms, the nearby inn which is now a house.

In 1844 Hurst died but Moffatt carried on the practice.

Churches and Vicarages

 In Doncaster he carried on with church work, designing St Peter’s at Askern (1848), shown above. St John’s in Fenwick was built in 1852 and was demolished in 1978.

He designed vicarages, too, including Kirk Bramwith, shown right, which has a plaque with the date 1846, and Fishlake, extensively remodelled in1847. Moffatt’s plans of the latter show gothic doorways and mullioned windows. He didn’t demolish the existing building; instead he built round it on three sides thus creating a 6 bedroomed house with dining room, drawing room and study. He reused bricks from derelict cottages on site and supplemented them with new bricks to complete the work. He finished it off with a new slate roof. The total cost for the work was nearly £500.

Hooton Pagnell was his last vicarage, built in 1860.

Schools 

He designed a new school room for the then Yorkshire Institute for the Deaf and Dumb in 1851 as the existing school room was not large enough and a replacement was required. The corner stone was laid in May 1851. After the ceremony there was a holiday for the children and in the evening they were treated to plum-cakes and cocoa. The building was demolished in 1901.

Moffatt designed the Christ Church Day Schools at Waterdale in 1851-2, shown right. Eventually they were sold and became a Sikh Temple. They have since been demolished and a new temple now stands on the site.

Dispensary

In 1856 he prepared plans for an Infirmary at the Dispensary, declining any fee.

Housing in Regent Square 

Although much of Moffatt’s work was for organisations, he was also involved with housing development. In 1855 he was part of a group of investors that purchased Hall Cross Close, a field opposite the Salutation. Moffatt designed two spacious streets of semi detached houses and displayed them in a shop window in High Street. Unfortunately the land contained a pond which was filled from an old water house which stood where the Regent Hotel is located today.

The Corporation objected to a plan to divert the water course onto the highway. The situation was complex but the solution, only finally agreed in 1858, was for most of the land in the centre to become a garden owned by the Council. The investors could have the old water house and build there. It was agreed that the Square would have semi-detached houses on three sides.

In fact, presumably in an attempt to get some of the money back, the southern part of the close had been sold in 1857 to a builder, Samuel Hawksworth.

He constructed the first two fine semi-detached houses with balustrades and urns, which are actually on South Parade. The new houses, built in 1858, faced what would soon be the central gardens. All of these would appear to be designed by Moffatt.

Hawksworth then built two stuccoed terraces of seven and four houses.

They are not as elaborate as the earlier buildings, presumably in an attempt to cut costs, but they are still fine houses.

Leaving Doncaster

After the death of William Hurst his widow left her house in Regent Terrace and moved across the road to South Parade to live. This contained, on the ground floor, the two rooms of Hurst and Moffatt’s architectural office which Mrs Hurst let Moffatt continue to use.

However when she died the property went up for auction in 1856. Increasingly, Moffatt was designing buildings in Scotland. Indeed as early as 1849 he had set up another office in Edinburgh, no doubt taking advantage of the new railway which arrived in Doncaster that year. During his time in Doncaster he had lived in Albion Place with his wife Wilhelmina and six children who were all born here. But in 1858 he left Doncaster altogether moving his household to Edinburgh.

After this time nearly all his work, with a few exceptions, was for Scottish clients. (He undertook only one more work here, the Vicarage at Hooton Pagnell, mentioned above, which was probably designed in Edinburgh). He was very successful, designing many hospitals and asylums. He was working nearly up to his death in 1882.

Moffatt was an interesting architect. Although he was to become a specialist in institutional buildings, his earlier work in Doncaster was more varied. According to a record of Scottish architects, “he was equally skilled in Greek, Italianate, Gothic and neo-Jacobean”.

I would like to thank Helen Wallder and Brian Barber for their help with this article. The information on Fishlake Vicarage came from the website of the Fishlake History Society. The full history of Regent Square is in the Trust’s Newsletter Archive. Notes by the late Eric Braim were also used in preparing this article.