Rachel Reckitt, Artist and Sculptor

Rachel Reckitt was born in St Albans in 1908.  Her father, (Frank) Norman Reckitt was an architect and her mother Beatrice (nee Hewett) had studied fine art at the Slade School of Art.  She had two siblings: Vera and Basil.  In 1923 the Reckitt family moved from Hertfordshire to Golsoncott near Roadwater.  Norman Reckitt designed an Arts & Crafts style village hall for Roadwater in 1928.

Rachel studied at the Taunton School of Art in 1926 and then in 1933 she moved to London to study at the Grosvenor School of Modern Art where she was taught by the Scottish artist Iain Macnab.  She exhibited with the Society of Wood Engravers from 1933 but then turned to painting and sculpture.

In 1937 Rachel made the first of 5 sculptured signs for Somerset pubs out of metal sheeting.  Over the next 2 years she made signs for the Valiant Soldier at Roadwater, the White Horse Inn at Cleeve, the Butchers Arms in Carhampton, the Blackbird on the A38 near West Buckland and the Halfway House at Willand.  

Rachel Reckitt returned to live in London in late 1939. She studied at the Hammersmith School of Building Crafts from 1940 to 1945 and also studied lithography at the Central School of Art and Design. In the late 1940s she was commissioned to produce the illustrations for several books.

In the late 1960s Rachel began to learn the craft of blacksmithing and welding with Harry and Jim Horrobin at Roadwater Forge.  In 1974 she and Jim Horrobin were commissioned to make a tower screen for St Andrew's Church, Old Cleeve.  Four fibre-glass panels were painted with the patron saints of the churches in the same benefice.  Three large angels are arranged above the screen.

Examples of Rachel's work can be found in all the other parish churches around Golsoncott:

• Jacob wrestling with the Angel (1972), wooden carved angel (1961) and candelabra at St Bartholomew's Church Rodhuish
• Praying Figure carved from elm, St John's Church, Carhampton
• Reredos, capitals and pulpit decorated with passion flowers and foliage; portrait of St Giles; candelabra at Leighland Chapel
• Statue of St Nicholas in Withycombe

Rachel Reckitt regularly travelled around Europe with friends and family before and after the Second World War, in search of inspiration for her work.  

Rachel died in 1995.  After her death the proceeds of her estate were used to establish a charitable trust called the Golsoncott Foundation.  Rachel was the aunt of the author Penelope Lively.

Praying Figure, Church of St John the Baptist, Carhampton

Tower screen, St Andrew's Church, Old Cleeve

St Nicholas, Withycombe

Butchers Arms, Carhampton

Butchers Arms Pub Sign, Carhampton

Pulpit, Leighland Chapel

Close up of the decoration on the pulpit

Chancel capital, Leighland Chapel

Candelabra, altar and reredos, Leighland Chapel

Candelabra decorated with flying swans or geese, Leighland Chapel

Reredos, Leighland Chapel

Portrait of St Giles, Leighland Chapel

Valiant Soldier pub sign, Roadwater

Jacob wrestling with the Angel, St Bartholomew's Church, Rodhuish

Candelabra by Rachel Reckitt and Jim Horrobin,

St Bartholomew's Church, Rodhuish

Carved angel, St Bartholomew's Church, Rodhuish

St Bartholomew's Church, Rodhuish

The Blackbird pub sign

The Farm or House in Catalonia

This was painted by Rachel Reckitt in the 1930s.  The painting now belongs to Salford Museum & Art Gallery.

Roadwater Village Hall

There is a stone plaque next to the entrance door, which says that it was laid by Mrs Norman Reckitt on May 24th 1928