Church Of Emmanuel

Church of Emmanuel, Windsor Road, Saltburn

Parish church built 1867-9 by JP Pritchett of Darlington, with later additions and alterations. The tower was added in 1898 by William Pitts & Son of Leeds, and the south porch in 1902 by Clark & Moscrop of Darlington.

The church is constructed of rock faced sandstone with ashlar dressing and stone slate roof. It is designed in the Gothic Revival style with a complex plan comprising a chancel with south vestry and low north tower, an aisled nave with north and south transepts, and a west tower.

The exterior features a half octagonal east end with traceried 2-light windows on a sill string that breaks forward around gabled buttresses. The east bay is raised with a 4-light window inserted at roof level under a raised gable. A square tower at the north-east has angle buttresses and irregular fenestration with square and pointed arched heads, and a zigzag edged ashlar frieze. The south vestry is low and flat-roofed with paired traceried lights under a square head. The tall gabled south aisle has a pointed-arched door and rose window in the gable peak, with similar windows in the gable peaks of the north and south transepts over tall paired 2-light windows. The 3-light aisle windows and round clerestory windows all have dripmoulds with block stops. The north porch has side buttresses flanking a pointed-arched door with two orders and a round window in the gable peak, whilst the south porch has a side door in a moulded shafted surround and a south lancet below the gable with a vent slit. The impressive west tower has angle buttresses rising through three tall stages, the first containing 2-light south and tall 3-light west windows with small lights below a three-faced clock. Above are three tall louvred belfry openings with Y-tracery separated by shafts rising through the eaves string to battlement pinnacles.

The interior is constructed of red brick with bands of blue Staffordshire bricks and ashlar dressing of Ancaster stone. The chancel features ashlar with a painted roof, whilst the nave has polychrome brick with ashlar dressings and a boarded barrel roof on corbelled wall shafts. The chancel has nook shafts and ballflower stopped hoodmoulds to roll moulded windows, with a raised altar canopy on angle wall shafts bearing richly carved corbels with symbols of the evangelists. The interior carving was completed in 1885 by WG Milburn of York. The chancel was altered around 1923 by raising the apse and was refitted in 1925 by CA Nicholson of London for War Memorial windows (signed drawing in church). A vestry was added in 1930 and a west baptistry in 1931, also by Nicholson. Trefoil responds support the high wide chancel and transept arches. The four-bay nave arcades are quatrefoil with angel corbels to responds and stiff leaf capitals supporting roll-moulded pointed arches. A tall narrow tower arch has quoin jambs. The chancel floor and west bay of the nave feature brightly coloured geometric tiles. The piscina and sedilia have crocketed gablets, and there is a brass communion rail with leaf scroll. A roof beam with large wood figures commemorates JRB Kennedy.

The church contains significant fittings. An ashlar pulpit with Gothic piercing features ballflower and crocket ornament with a sounding board. The choir stalls are richly carved by William Hedley of Newcastle upon Tyne. An organ of 1907 by Harrison & Harrison is housed in a Gothic case in the south chancel aisle, with stencilled Gothic decoration on the pipes. A Gothic marble monument to HN Ayrton, a midshipman in the Royal Naval Reserve who died in 1876 aged 16, is located in the north transept and was executed by A Welsh of Leeds. The south aisle contains a War Memorial brass. A chamfered square font is positioned three steps up in the tower with a carved cover of Mary and Child Jesus in a classical canopy. The tower has an alabaster panel marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first vicar, Reverend B Irwin.

The stained glass is of high quality. The chancel contains five original windows by Alexander Gibbs with richly coloured scenes from the life of Christ, above which is a 1923 window by Nicholson, executed by HW Boyers, depicting the Saints of Northumbria. A window in the style of Kemp in the north chancel chapel commemorates members of the Johnson family who died in 1915 and 1920. A striking west window is possibly by the Irish school. Windows in the north porch were painted by Miss Jackson.

The site was donated by William Morley of The Cottage, Saltburn. The nave, north transept and north aisle were opened for worship in 1868, whilst the chancel, south transept and south aisle were dedicated in 1879. The south porch was built to commemorate the silver jubilee of the church in 1902.