Church Heritage Record 643336

Rectangular nave and semi-circular apsidal chancel all under one roof ridge; small transeptal north vestry and near-detached south west tower and short spire.

The church was designed by Ewan Christian and built in 1877. Christian (1814-1895) trained with Matthew Habershon and then with Brown of Norwich and Railton. After travelling abroad he set up practice in 1842, thereafter designing a large number of sound churches; he was architect to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners from 1850, one of the architects of the Church Building Society, consulting architect to the Charity Commissioners from 1887 and President of the R.I.B.A. from 1884 to 1886. His churches were said to be "distinguished more for quietness and repose than architectural effect". He was also responsible for the restoration of about three hundred and fifty churches. Teulon designed a church for Sunk Island, but it was not built.

The church was built at the command of Queen Victoria, but since no tower was provided one was added rather later at the request of the local inhabitants. The building is a fine example of the skill with which proficient Victorian architects could provide a building of character with limited funds. There are no frills or unnecessary decorative details, and the whole effect of the church is gained by simple geometry. This is true not only of the planning, by which the nearly detached tower and the stout unbuttressed apse command attention, but also in the placing of the windows simple wide lancets regularly spaced in the apse and an unusual grouping of lancets within a single composition in the west wall.

The best view of the church is from the south east, where the tower groups well with the plain body of the church. The lancets in the apse, linked by a projecting moulding which also links the nave windows, are reminiscent of the churches of James Brooks, as are the two single lancets and the group of three in the south wall of the nave. An uncommon feature is the use of stone to form horizontal bands set at unequal intervals in the walls; blue-black bricks would be more usual. Externally the nave is marked from the chancel by a single stepped buttress and the roof of the apse has two horizontal bands of lead flashing set into the slates. All the windows have stone sills. The tower is square with a simple two-centred arch in the south wall and a small half-round turret projecting from the east side which echoes the form of the chancel. This, with its small slit windows and half conical slate roof, is one of the strongest features of the building. The middle stage of the tower has a tall narrow slit in the south wall; and the uppermost stage, which is slightly set back, has two lancets and a roundel in each wall under a moulded hood which returns along and round the corner to the adjoining faces. The roof is a plain pyramid covered with slates. The tower is separated from the nave by a small porch with windows to east and west.

The west wall of the nave shows even more clearly the use of stone banding, and also the stark geometricality of the window designs in the building. The west window is composed of five lancets, four of the same height with two roundels above flanking a much taller middle light and the whole composition set within a relieving arch. The north wall, which is closely bounded by a hedge, has simply single lancets in the nave and then a small projection at the side of the chancel housing a vestry.

Inside the church, the walls are also of exposed brick with stone banding, while the roof has closely set rafters with plaster panels between forming a five-sided vault. Over the chancel, the plaster panels are replaced by timber strips arranged in a herringbone pattern between the ribs of a semi-circular apse. An chancel is separated from the nave by a semi-circular arch of two parallel timbers with pierced quatrefoils on the panels between, the whole arch resting on brick responds with stone capitals. The arch on the north side of the chancel is cut off from the body of the church by a glazed timber screen. The effect of the lancets in the apse is perhaps even stronger inside the building than it was outside. The floor is paved with brown and buff tiles in the alleys and sanctuary and with timber boards under the pews. The font stands close to the door and the west bay is screened by curtains.