Philip Brannon

Philip Brannon (born 27 February 1817: Newport, Isle of Wight – died 11 June 1890: London) was an artist, engraver, writer, printer, architect and civil engineer.

He was active in the Ragged School movement and in the cause of Chartism[1] on the island, retaining his left-leaning sympathies in later life (he campaigned for the Liberal interest while living in Southampton).

As well as illustrating his own publications, he collaborated on a geological textbook,[3] a book of maritime charts,[4] a description of the Great Exhibition [5] and a work on the design of shop fronts.

This work, later entitled The stranger's guide and pleasure visitor's companion to Southampton and the surrounding country, went through more than twenty editions by the early 1870s.

The church, in the Gothic style, was completed in 1860; it was destroyed by bombing in World War 2 [8] During the 1850s Brannon developed several abortive schemes for public buildings in Southampton.

The following year he was appointed Surveyor and Inspector of Nuisances by the Local Board of Health of the town of Shanklin, Isle of Wight.

[11] Brannon went on to design a concrete road bridge and toll house over the River Axe at Axmouth in Devon, which was funded by the Seaton and Beer Railway Company.

It is made of mass concrete without reinforcement, although in 1956 steel relieving beams were added to counteract the weakness of the central span under traffic loads.

In 1882 Brannon moved to Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex, where he was the architect and civil engineer for the Naze Park Estate development, as well as manager of the Port Walton Brick and Tile Company.