Pinwill sisters

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The Pinwill sisters were three English woodcarvers from Devon: Mary (1871–1962), Ethel (1872–1951), and Violet (1874–1957). They worked as professional carvers from about 1890, helping to change a field that was mostly dominated by men.

Their family background helped them begin carving. Their mother, Elizabeth Greatorex, encouraged the daughters to learn useful skills. When the Rev. Edmund Pinwill, their father, was vicar at Ermington, the architect E. H. Sedding stayed with the family and taught the girls woodcarving in a workshop above the stables. The sisters used their grandfather’s carving books and learned by practicing in this small workshop.

In 1890 the sisters started their own company, Rashleigh, Pinwill and Co., based in Plymouth and Ermington. They produced many church carvings—pulpits, reredoses, altars, font covers, and other pieces—and worked for famous designers like Sedding. Their first big projects included a pulpit at Ermington Church (1889) and a reredos for Chilthorne Domer church in Somerset (also 1889). The company’s work helped bring attention to ecclesiastical wood carving as a serious craft.

Mary opened a Plymouth workshop in 1890 and began teaching carving. The trio’s collaboration with Sedding continued to bring in commissions for churches, including Crantock in Cornwall (St Carantoc’s, 1899–1902), where the joinery and carving were praised for their harmony of design and craft. The business kept the name Rashleigh, Pinwill and Co., even though the workshop was run by three sisters.

In 1900 Mary married and left paid work, while Ethel and Violet kept the business going. Violet moved to Plymouth in 1901 and started teaching at the Plymouth Technical School to help attract skilled apprentices. By 1911, Ethel had set up her own carving business in Kingston upon Thames, London, while Violet remained in Plymouth. At that time, many women in England worked as woodcarvers, showing a growing place for women in the craft.

When World War I began in 1914, Violet became the sole proprietor and employed about 29 carvers and joiners. War orders declined, but the workshop still did memorials and other projects. Between the wars, the workshop faced financial difficulties, and the death of Sedding in 1921 was a big setback. Violet continued to design and teach, keeping large commissions going into the 1940s and 1950s. She even finished a life-size St Peter statue for a Lancashire church a few days before her death in 1957 at age 82.

Legacy: After Violet’s death, many plans and models were sold or lost, but hundreds of photographs were saved and given to archives and libraries. Plymouth was heavily bombed in World War II, destroying some surviving works, but the Pinwill workshop still left a lasting mark. Today, at least 76 churches in Devon and 92 in Cornwall contain Pinwill carvings, with another 20 commissions in 13 other counties. In total, the workshop produced about 650 individual items, helping to shape church art in the South West and beyond.

Quotes: Art historians praise the Pinwill sisters for their careful repairs, imaginative changes, and new interpretations of church wood carving.