Church Heritage Record 610107

3-bay aisled nave, west baptistery, transepts, crossing, chancel flanked by lobbies, apsidal sanctuary flanked by apsidal vestry and sacristy, these linked by an ambulatory behind the sanctuary.

Nave estimated to be 28m (90ft) x 12m (40ft).

In 1827 a proprietary chapel was built on the site of the present church.  This was a porticoed classical building designed by Amon Henry Wilds, which in 1876, while the chapel was being repaired, suddenly collapsed.  The present church was completed in 1878 to the design of William Emerson (1843-1925).  Emerson was trained by the architects Habershon and Pite and then went to work for William Burges.  In 1866 he was sent out to India to work on the scheme for Bombay Art School.  Thereafter, apart from this, his only church in England (his design for Liverpool cathedral was not successful), a few houses in London and a mausoleum in Yorkshire, all his work was done in India where, among other things, he built Allahabad Cathedral, the Arthur Crawford Market, the Takhtsingi Hospital and a Maharaja’s palace.  He later received a knighthood for his work in India.

There may be archaeological implications to any development due to the presence of the earlier church and possibly earlier settlement on the site. The SMR should be consulted.

The church is designed in the Early English style blended with French Gothic, and the building has echoes of the work of William Burges, unsurprising considering the close relationship between the two architects, including the sharing of the same craftsmen.  It is complex externally, with quite a crowded, stumpy appearance which would have been offset by the planned tower. Nevertheless, the wealth of detail and power of the design still impress.

In the absence of this vertical feature the least satisfying aspect is unfortunately its main façade to the street, the west. What would have been the tower has been capped off and become externally a continuation of the north aisle, the elaborate west entrance with a tall gablet with diaper terracotta tiles in the head and finial cross backed by the blind west gable of this.  This elongated aisle unbalances the composition on this side, the west end of the nave relegated behind it, far from Emerson’s intention.

The entrance itself is framed by a pointed hollow-moulded arch springing from six orders of colonettes with annulets and Corinthian capitals, the bases raised on a plinth. Within the head is a sexfoil window, under this is an arcade of interlocking arches, below which is set a square moulded stone frame, rather incongruous. The façade either side is broken into four stages by string courses, the upper stage of which has a blind arcade of short columns with blind cusped lancets between. This rather grand entrance (to see what the tower might have been like one needs to travel to India) now leads into the north porch, now a modern kitchen, the south porch is the main means of access.  The south porch has a smaller footprint and is generally less grand, with a pointed entrance and a spirelet at the junction with the baptistery.

Between these is the broad arc of the baptistery, with pairs of lancets under gablets whose finials connect to the flat moulded parapet above.  These are flanked by buttresses of two weatherings which turn into double pilasters from the springing to the parapet. It is all very playful, and here again Burges’s influence on the relatively young Emerson is plain.  Rising above the porches and baptistery is the west end of the nave, pierced by  a stepped 7-light lancet window, partly cut across by the steeply gabled baptistery roof; the porches also have these miniature gabled roofs.Michael Maine, a former organist of the church.

The low cross gabled aisles are of 3 external bays sandwiched between the porches and the transepts, with 2-light windows in the gables. The transepts have 3-light windows in the outer walls with multifoils in the heads, the apsidal chancel has single lancets with cinquefoils in the heads. The chancel is flanked by an apsidal sacristy with a rose window over the door, and apsidal vestry, with lancets to each face.

While the external views are not so promising, the interior is undeniably magnificent and dramatic, and it is no surprise that this is a popular concert venue. The walls are bare banded brick, now stained in places by water ingress. Entering via the porch at the south-west corner the visitor walks first into the baptistery at the west end of the church, which is a fine space in its own right with encaustic tiled floor and large elaborate font, forming a counterpoint to the chancel at the other end.  From here steps lead down into the high, broad nave.  By making the floor level of the nave much lower than the ground outside, the architect has been able to increase the height of the great multi-shafted piers, with foliate capitals.  These soar up to support the pointed arcades and a timber barrel vault over the nave (nearly 60 feet high), and brick vaults over the chancel crossing and transepts.   Broad high pointed crossing and chancel arches worked with a hollow chamfer. The acoustics are said to be excellent.

Several steps lead up again into the lavishly decorated chancel, which has some exceptional fittings, including original choir stalls, clergy stalls and sedilia.  The mosaic floor in the chancel, which was probably installed in the early 20th century, is also of the highest quality. The stone altar and reredos are framed and bathed in light by the shafted chancel windows, these mirroring the style of the aisle arcades, the ceiling with a rib-vault.  The All Souls Chapel (or Lady Chapel) at the east end of the south aisle has a very fine altar, see below.