Baptist Church

The Baptist Church, dating from 1905, was designed by G. Baines & Son of London, as recorded on the foundation stone to the left of the main doors. It is constructed of red engineering brick with terracotta bands and dressings, and has Welsh slate roofs with terracotta ridge crestings. The building is oriented in an unconventional manner, with terms used being ritualistic. The layout consists of a clerestoried nave with aisles, a pair of gabled north and south transepts, a short chancel, north-east and south-east vestries, and north-west and south-west towers. The architectural style is Arts and Crafts Gothic, incorporating Perpendicular-style tracery.

The west front has three bays, with a gabled central section flanked by slightly projecting, two-stage towers. The central doorways are paired and segment-headed, set three steps above ground level, with panelled double doors within chamfered and moulded surrounds, topped with poppyhead finials. Buttresses flanking the doorways have trefoil-headed panels set under curved gables. Above the doors is a segment-headed window with a hoodmould featuring finials and foliate stops. Ornate moulded ventilation grilles are located on either side of the window, and the apex of the gable features plain triple vent slits, flanked by buttresses rising above the eaves and culminating in metal brazier finials. Each tower has a similar doorway below a three-light window, and a pyramidal roof with a matching finial on a trumpet-shaped stem. The returns of the nave each feature three four-light, plain timber-mullioned clerestory windows. Similar, but more restrained, details are present on the two-bay aisles, transepts and vestries, reflecting the west front’s design. A stump of a metal ventilation lantern sits on the ridge of the nave roof. All roofs have exposed, shaped rafter ends at the overhanging eaves.

Inside, four-bay wood arcades are characterized by square, quasi-Tuscan columns with arched braces and ogee-shaped struts in the spandrels. Straight braces support the aisle rafters. The false hammerbeam roof features arched braces, traceried spandrels, and wrought iron ties with scrolled braces; it is ceiled above the collars and incorporates patterned vent panels. The patterned leaded-light windows contain good-quality coloured glass. The floor is slightly raked, with curved benches arranged to form a semi-circle. The curved, pierced bench ends have metal umbrella brackets. The organ, located in the chancel, is accompanied by similar choir benches, a screen, and a square pulpit with chamfered corners, all sharing similar panelling. Ornate brass door fittings and a scrolled balustrade adorn the pulpit stair. Metal wall-vent covers display fleur-de-lys ornamentation. The patterned, tessellated pavement in the entrance lobby also features fleur-de-lys motifs. A cantilevered concrete staircase, featuring iron stick balusters and a moulded wood handrail (ramped at the landings and ends), is located in the north-west tower. Church schools and a hall, built in 1934 and adjoining the east end, are not considered of special architectural interest.