James was born on June 1st, 1829 to Thomas Collins and Mary Hines at Ilminster, Somerset. He was baptised on March 14th, 1830 at the Zion Chapel (Independent) Ilminster. His father was an Independent minister. By 1941 the family had moved to Plymouth and James was at boarding school at Newport Launceston. He married Eliza Charlton in 1859 but they never had any children.
He died at his home, ‘Roydon’, St. Stephens on February 15th, 1914, aged 85. His relatives, Dr. And Mrs. T. W. Shepherd (who was his niece),were with him at the time.
From newspaper articles here is a small amount of work that he was responsible for.
The Wesleyan Chapel at BUDE is built at the sea end of Shalder’s Hill, on land, at a long lease, from Sir Thomas Acland, MP., at a cost of £1,560, plus the addition of a vestry, &c. “The building will be a handsome one, in the Byzantine style, from designs by Mr James Hine, architect, Lockyer Street, Plymouth, and is to be constructed chiefly of Plymouth limestone and Bath stone dressing.”
The chapel, exclusive of a small chancel and side porch, will be about 57 ft long and 34 ft wide, to seat rather more than 250 persons.
The contractors are Messrs Vinnecombe & Bickley, Holsworthy, at a price of £1,500.
(report in C & D, Sat 3rd August, 1878).
P & N Sat 6th Apr, 1878 – advert: To Builders: New Wesleyan Chapel at Bude.
Tenders are invited for the Building of a New Chapel and Schoolroom at Bude Haven.
The Plans and Specifications can be seen any day between the hours of 3 and 5 pm at the Office of Mr JH Hooper, Bude, or at James Hine, Esq, the Architect, Lockyer Street, Plymouth. Separate Tenders are required for the Mason’s and Joiner’s work, but both may be given in by the same Builder to Mr HJ Hooper, Bude, on or before 20th April next.
The Chapel to be finished by the 1st May, 1879.
The Trustees do not bind themselves to accept the lowest or any Tender.
Dated: Bude, 2 April, 1878.
August 3rd 1878, C & D: The laying of the corner stone of the new Wesleyan Chapel at Shalder’s Hill, Bude, a long lease being given by Sir Thomas Acland, MP. The new United Methodists’ stands at the other end of the Hill, and the intervening space is about to be filled up with neat cottages. The new chapel is to cost £1,560, there may be one or two extras in the shape of a vestry &c. The whole of the base of the hill is being banked up, and every provision made for a high level floor, extra thick walls and plenty of concrete so that there need be no fear of the action of a little water, should a high tide send it over the top.
Description of the new chapel:
“The building will be a handsome one, in the Byzantine style, from designs by Mr James Hine, architect, Lockyer Street, Plymouth, and is to be constructed chiefly of Plymouth limestone and Bath stone dressing. The chapel, exclusive of a small chancel and side porch, will be about 57 ft long and 34 ft wide, to seat rather more than 250 persons.
At the south end, opening into the chapel by three bold arches, will be a spacious schoolroom, which will be available, when necessary for the congregation, affording accommodation to an additional 100. When not required for congregational purposes the school room will be closed off by heavy curtains. The seats will be open and of pitch pine. There will be no pulpit, but a lectern for the preacher near communion recess. The ceilings will be mostly flat, divided into square panels by moulded pitch pine ribs. The windows will be glazed with cathedral glass. The chapel and schoolroom will be heated by Gurney’s stoves. Messrs Vinnecombe and Bickley, of Holsworthy are the builders and the construction amount is £1,500.”
The Stone Laying Ceremony:
The Rev J Bennett produced a large glass bottle, hermetically sealed and having on the outside a label, on which was the following, which will fully show the contents:- “This bottle contains a copy of the Methodist Recorder, The Cornish & Devon Post, a programme of this day’s proceedings, a current circuit plan, a parchment roll of the names of the chapel trustees, ministers of the circuit, and the leaders of the Society’s classes and also some coins of the realm. August 1st. 1878”.
DELABOLE NEW CHURCH: (C&D Post – Aug 31st, 1878)
Contractors Messrs Westlake & Cann, Camelford, design by Mr James Hine, Plymouth.
Dedicated to St John the Evangelist.
In 1881, in partnership with Messrs Hine & Odgers, architects of Plymouth, Mr Peter drew up plans for a new Guildhall for Launceston Town Council, to enable them to hold their meetings in a more dignified atmosphere and without being interrupted by church staff as in their then present meeting house at the end of St Mary Magdalene church.
C & D Post 16 – 8 – 1890:
LINKINHORNE CHURCH, CORNWALL. An Interesting Discovery.
The restoration of this church, which has been undertaken by the vicar, the Rev WH Poland, and a committee of parishioners, is making satisfactory progress under the direction of Messrs Hine & Odgers, the architects, and it is hoped the work will be completed in October. A few months ago the interior of the building presented a most desolate and unpromising appearance, with walls, roofs, pillars, and arches covered with white-wash, and scarcely a fragment of carved work of colour to relieve the dreary waste.
Since then all the white lime has been removed and the masonry cleaned, repaired, and pointed. Here, as in so many churches of Cornwall and Devon, it is found that the earlier work is in freestone, and the latter in granite. The south aisle, erected about 1380, is built in the easily-worked local stone of Pengelly; the north aisle and tower, erected by Henry Trecarrel early in the 16th century, are of granite, chiefly in large blocks.
A weird interest attaches to Trecarrel’s church work, in which alone he found consolation on the break up of his family at home; but even more attractive is the 14th century work in the south aisle, not only because in regard to time (as in other respects) “distance lends enchantment,” but because the earlier work includes a fuller history. In peeling off the layers of white lime from the south wall, portions of texts, in old black letters, surrounded by by scrolls, were noticed, and below these again indications of coloured figures; and on a careful and complete removal of these outer surfaces a life-size figure of Our Lord was disclosed, with groups of smaller figures at each end and beneath His feet, representing the seven acts of mercy:- to give food to the hungry, and drink to the thirsty, clothing to the naked, harbour to the homeless, to visit the sick, to minister to prisoners, to “berry the ded”. The groups with the words on labels above are imperfect, and have not yet been fully identified. The act of clothing and that of visiting prisoners seem to be included in one picture. The legends appear to be all in English. The dispenser of mercy in every act (excepting the last, in which a priest with a tonsure appears), is a woman in the dress of an abbess, with a peculiar bag at her waist, sometimes called a “gipsy bag.”
The figure of Our Lord, under a canopy or tent, against a diapered background, is fully outlined. He is represented with a nimbus (enclosing a cross) surrounding his head, and with wounded side, hands, and feet. His bleeding hands are uplifted as if in blessing (”Ye have done it unto Me,”) and the symbolical treatment of the subject throughout is of much interest.
The fresco [for such, no doubt, it is, although executed on only a thin coat of plaster, and in a manner very different to Italian frescoes], is probably only one of a series which occupied the spaces between the door and window openings of the south aisle, indeed further west is a portion of another painting, the subject of which has not yet been made out, and which was covered by the past Reformation lettering alluded to. The words “King James” probably fix the exact period of this later treatment. There can be little doubt that the frescoes are of the same date as the aisle itself (Circa 1380), and that they are on the original plastered surface of the masonry. The usual plastering of that time was a mere skim. In this case it is nowhere more than a quarter of an inch thick, including an undercoat of sand and lime to make up any uneveness of surface in the wall. Over this is a thin coat of almost pure carbonate of lime, on which the artist must have worked. The colours he used were chiefly earths – red ochre, sienna, green, and copper.
It is not a little striking that besides the fabric itself, the only remains of mediaeval art left in this church are a head of the Saviour in the glazing of a window which is in the line of the Rood, and close by this remarkable and beautiful fresco, with its lesson which Shakespeare re-echoes in the “Merchant of Venice” – “In the course of justice none of us should see salvation. We do pray for mercy; and that same prayer doth teach us all to render the deeds of mercy”.
Although the fresco of the seven acts has been hidden for nearly three centuries it has been scarcely a forgotten dream in the minds of the parishioners. A sot of tradition of it seems to have been handed down from one generation to another, as indicated by some unusual epitaphs in the church and churchyard. On a slab in the south porch the virtues of Mrs Elizabeth Phillips, who died in 1769, are thus recorded: –
“While here on earth
A pious life she led,
She cloth’d the naked,
And the hungry fed.
Each Christian precept
Early did profess,
Was friend to widows,
And the fatherless.”
It is almost needless to say that the remarkable “find” at Linkinhorne will be most carefully protected from injury. Quite a history if written on the south wall of the church. It tells of the teaching by pictures by the church in the Middle Ages; of the teaching by the literal words of Scripture by the Church of the Reformation; the numberless coats of whitewash over both speak of subsequent ages of neglect and indifference; and may not the restored fabric typify the awakened Church in Cornwall of the nineteenth century?
Opening of the new Wesleyan Chapel at South Petherwin: Designed by Mr Norman & Hine architects, of Plymouth and built by Messrs Blatchford & Son, builders, Tavistock, the chapel was opened on the 28th May, 1872.
The building is of a simple Gothic character, spanned by a timber framed roof and covered with slates. The walls are built of rough stone quarried in the neighbourhood and finished internally with cement. The doors and windows are pointed with granite. The principal entrance is by double doors opening into a porch from which is the entrance into the body of the chapel. At the further and on the left side of the communion is the pulpit, on either side of which is a transept. The pews are divided by an aisle into two groups; the aisle is paved with beautiful encaustic tiles. The pews are of polished pine, with sloping backs, bookboards, and hat rails, and of uniform width and appearance, no distinction having been made between the appropriated sittings and those for the poor. All other fittings and the roof timber exposed to view are stained and varnished. It is well lighted and ventilated, and heated by means of a hot air apparatus. Sittings are provided for 350 persons.
Adjoining the chapel are a commodious school and two class-rooms, the former being built to accommodate nearly 100 children. Extensive stabling has also been built for the accommodation of those who live some distance from the chapel. The dedicatory service was read by Rev Gervase Smith of London; Miss Rawling laid the foundation stone.
The whole cost £1,450. (C & D Post, 1st June, 1872.)
THE WESLEY INSTITUTION, CASTLE STREET, LAUNCESTON .P & N, Jan 10, 1891.
Description of the building: the building throughout is in Tudor style and corresponds in character with the municipal buildings. It stands on the site of Mr O’Brian’s shop* in Castle Street. It presents a very pretty external appearance, whilst internally it is of a bright and cheerful character. It has a frontage of Twenty feet, the principle feature in the front being a five-light window in Polyphant stone and filled with stained glass. The gable top is surmounted by a parapit [sic] coping of Polyphant stone and a carved finial.
The basement consists of a large reading room, twenty-five feet long by fifteen feet 6 inches wide, and offices, and is lighted by five windows, two of which are in the front of the building.
The second storey comprises one large room, which can be reached by means of a staircase from the lower room, for the use of the Dingley Bible Classes, and will provide seating accommodation for 125. This room is lighted by two Wentam lights, there also being a dado of pitch pine around it. Local stone has been used in the construction of the edifice, the front being of cut stone with Polyphant dressing and granite corners. Entrance is effected through a Polyphant stone doorway from the street.
There are also side windows. The first windows are of Polyphant stones, and all the windows have cathedral glass.
The contractor is Mr W Broad, who has executed the work in a most prideworthy manner, whilst Messrs J Oke Bros., Launceston, have done the painting and glazing most efficiently. The whole reflects great credit on the architects, Messrs Hine & Odgers, of Plymouth.
THE NICOLLS’ MEMORIAL: A very handsome memorial gift has been contributed by the family of the late Mr Edmund Pearse Nicolls, of Elfordleigh, who took a keen interest in everything pertaining to the welfare of the young men. The memorial consists of a very beautiful carved oak lectern and table. The design of the former is Early English, the bases, pillar and head being of beautifully carved oak, carrying a bookboard surmounted by an engraved Luten cross.
The table is of solid English oak and is intended for the use of the president. The design is Early English, which corresponds with the lectern and general character of the building. On one side of the kneehole are five drawers for the reception of paper &c., and on the other side a cupboard; the whole being fitted with massive brass handle and furniture.
These articles constitute a most acceptable gift, as they will be particularly useful in the conducting of the meetings of the class.
It was supplied by Messrs. Whipple, Cathedral Furnishers, Exeter.
The following was the description on the lectern:- “This lectern and table are a tribute to the memory of Edmund Pearse Nicolls, from his widow and children. 1890.”
*Mr O’Brian was a tinplate worker of Castle Street.
(The steeple had to be removed circa. 1980’s due to poor stone which gave way under the weight)
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