pottery people | architects
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Charles Lynam (1829-1921) architect,
Stoke-on-Trent
'The Villas' Stoke.
Stoke-on-Trent Free Library and Baths.
Stoke Market Complex.
North Staffordshire Infirmary, Hartshill.
Cemetery chapels, Hartshill
Christ Church, Fenton.
The Firs, The Brampton
Charles Lynam was
born on 9 February 1829 at
Colwich, Staffs., the son of George and
Hannah Lynam. Not long after this event his
father set up an architect's and surveyor's
practice in Glebe Street, Stoke upon
Trent. He
lived at “The Quarry” on corner of Hartshill Road and Quarry Road.
Charles Lynam was
educated at Christ's Hospital School,
London, worked for two years with his father
then was articled to a London architect. He
joined his father's business in 1850, and in
that year, through the influence of Herbert
Minton, was appointed architect for the
Stokeville Building Society, and designed 24
'superior' houses – 'The Villas' – for the
Society. This district had the distinction of
being the first designated conservation area
in Stoke on Trent and a number of
the houses are 'listed'.
He had a virtual monopoly of
the architectural commissions awarded by local public bodies, including the
Stoke-upon-Trent Board of Guardians, the North Staffordshire Infirmary, and
Stoke-upon-Trent Borough Council. There was some controversy surrounding the
awarding of certain commissions to Lynam. 
Numbers 3 & 4 The Villas
1853 - taken into partnership in by his
father, (who died later in that
year).
Charles Lynam's official
appointments included:
Serving as surveyor to
the Stoke upon Trent improvement commissioners
(1860) and to the highways board.
Surveyor to the borough
of Stoke upon Trent on its incorporation in 1874. He resigned
from his appointments on his election to the borough council.
Elected an alderman in
1877 but retired from local government affairs from pressure of
work.
Lynam built up a large private
practice and designed numerous public buildings, including
the Stoke upon Trent Free Library and Baths (1877-8), the Stoke upon Trent
new market
complex (1883), the Hartshill cemetery chapels (1883) and with another
architect, Nicholl, the North Staffordshire
Infirmary when it moved from Etruria to Hartshill.
Hartshill cemetery chapels
Take a 'tour' of Hartshill cemetery
He was
responsible for
the design of a number of new churches (Including the cemetery chapels at
Hartshill) and many restorations of old churches within
and outside the county. Pevsner considers
Christ Church, Fenton, to be "the magnum opus of Charles Lynam, however,
only in size"
1882
- elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
1897 -
re-elected to Stoke upon Trent borough council (and served until
)
1903 - elected
mayor, (although he was no longer a member of the corporation).
He also served as a Stoke magistrate for many years.
1857 Charles
Lynam married Lucy, daughter
of Dr Robert Carner, the local historian. She
bore
him 14 children, the family living, for all Lynam's adult life, in the Penkhull
area.
Lynam's main interest, outside his work and local government, was archaeology.
1865 - joined the
North Staffordshire Field Club in the year of its inauguration and set up its
archaeology section.
1874 - He was president
of the Club.
1894 - was awarded
the Garner medal.
1894 - again was
president.
He became vice-president of the
Archaeological Institute and was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries
in 1895.
Among his archaeological achievements were the elucidation
of the ground plans
of Croxden Abbey, near Uttoxeter, and Hulton Abbey, Stoke. His work on the
later was used 50
years later to prevent the erection of a housing estate over the hidden
foundations of the abbey. He undertook excavation work on the bath-house at the
Roman site of Wall, near Lichfield.
The old parish
church of Stoke upon Trent had been demolished in 1830 and some of its stone
used to form the bed of a watercourse serving
Boothen Mill. Lynam discovered these in 1881 and used them to reconstruct
two arches and
other features of the old church, set up on the site of the old church.
He acted as surveyor for
Lichfield diocese for many years, and became a leading authority
on local churches.
He published numerous articles in
the Transactions of the North Staffordshire Field Club and in national
archaeological journals. He wrote the articles on ancient earthworks
for volume1 of the Victoria County History of Stafford (1908) and helped
with the chapter
on Romano-British Staffordshire. His work on Croxden Abbey is contained
in his book The Abbey of St. Mary, Croxden, Staffordshire (1911) and he
published a
monograph The Inscriptions on the Ancient Church Bells of the County in
1889.
He died at Cliff Bank House,
Stoke on Trent, on 21 February 1921.
SOURCES: M. W. Greenslade, The Staffordshire
Historians; T. W. Lancaster, Hulton Abbey; N. Pevsner, The Buildings
of England: Staffordshire; Transactions of the North Staffs. Field Club, vol.
Iv; Turner; Staffs.
Sentinel 24 November 1903; Staffs. Advertiser 26 February 1921; VCH viii. People
of the Potteries; A. Dobraszczyc notes on the Hartshill cemetery.
