A successful church design needed to accommodate four liturgical spaces: a pulpit/reading desk from which the minister and his clerk could lead Morning and Evening Prayers, placed so all the congregation could hear and see; an altar that could be seen by all in these two services, railed and dignified, raised on steps, with space for the minister to celebrate the Communion service on appointed Sundays; space in front of the altar so that those taking Communion at the infrequently celebrated service could ‘draw near with faith’; and space between the pews and benches for the congregation to pray on their knees, facing east. These were initially articulated by the Commissioners of the Queen Anne churches and remained current through the Georgian period. They were repeated, with varying degrees of emphasis, in the Suggestions from the ICBS in 1819: ‘The seats should all be placed so as to face the Preacher, as far as possible. … Benches [and] pews [should be placed] so that no part of the congregation may turn their backs upon the altar. The pulpit also should be placed so as to interrupt the view of it as little as possible.’ Notable here is the use of ‘should’, rather than ‘must’, implying a degree of pragmatism that underpins so much of the late-Georgian thinking on the complex issues of liturgical arrangements and their principles. As will be discussed in the next chapter, it was Morning and Evening Prayers that were the usual weekly diet of services in all churches and the key planning decisions were dictated by the requirements of these two, not Communion. And it was at these services that hearing was paramount.

Calls for a modern, pragmatic approach to planning were clearly articulated by the architect Thomas Sopwith, writing in 1836: ‘Neither room for Roman Catholic processions, nor a large space for private adoration to images &c, is now required’. He proceeded to censure those ‘imitating precedents, and nursing ancient prejudices, instead of boldly adopting new and appropriate principles of design. … That everyone should hear the preacher’ was, he thought, ‘the most obvious consideration’ in the designing of a church. However, he acknowledged that this rationalism was invariably compromised by notions of tradition. ‘From imitation of ancient forms, we generally find churches built in an oblong shape and divided into aisles.