Cottingham, Lewis Nockalls

Cottingham, Lewis Nockalls (1787–1847). English architect and antiquary. He was a pioneer of the Gothic Revival, and carried out numerous works of restoration to medieval churches, notably at Theberton, Suffolk (1836—where his sensitive colouring and detailing of the south aisle deserve respect), Ashbourne, Derbys. (1839–40), and St Mary's, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk (1840–3). He refitted Magdalen College Chapel, Oxford (1830–2), virtually rebuilt St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh (1834–7), and carried out careful restorations at Hereford Cathedral (from 1841). Among his buildings were Snelston Hall, Derbys., a Gothic house (1828—demolished), the former Savings Bank in Crown Street, Bury St Edmunds (1846—Tudor Gothic), and an extensive estate at Waterloo Bridge Road, London (from 1825). He established a fine collection of medieval architectural details (a descriptive memoir of which was published in 1850) that was later incorporated into the collections of the South Kensington Museum. He published several books, including Plans, etc. of Westminster Hall (1822), Plans, etc. of King Henry VII's Chapel (1822–9), The Ornamental Metal Worker's Director (1823—with later editions), Working Drawings of Gothic Ornaments (1824), and Grecian and Roman Architecture (1820). He deserves to be better known as one of the first scholarly architects working in the Gothic style, and his work at Magdalen College, Oxford, is very fine for its date.

Bibliography

Colvin (1995);
Myles (1996);
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004)