St Francis
Figure of St Francis – Photograph (PWDRO 116/12) R.F. Wheatly architect; 1927
In PWDRO this photograph is misattributed to the church of St Francis in Plymouth. One of the three duplicate photographs is labelled ‘In Purbeck Portland Stone’. A beautifully drawn plan exists by Wheatly for a figure of St Francis in a niche over the porch, dated April 1927 (CRO AD889/15), although it was not faithfully reproduced in the final statue pictured in PWDRO 116/12. A visit to Indian Queens in June 2016 found an empty niche over the porch and the whereabouts of the statue is unknown.
The figure is almost identical to one commissioned in 1939 by the Revd Harry L. Franklin for his private use that is now in the author’s possession. St Francis holds a cross and a bible and has a rabit and a bird at his feet, while another bird sits on his shoulder.
Source
CRO AD889/15
PWDRO 116/12 Photograph. Indian Queens. Figure of St Francis.