Church of St Augustin

Church of St Augustin

This is a Grade II listed church built in the Early English style. It is constructed of squared coursed sandstone with ashlar dressings, whilst the later vestry is of uncoursed square sandstone with ashlar corner piers. The roof is covered in Westmorland slate with red terracotta ridge tile and cast iron rainwater goods, though some have been replaced with UPVC pipes. The windows contain stained or leaded glass.

The church plan comprises a rectangular nave with aisles and chancel. The chancel has a large organ chamber attached to its south side and a vestry to its north side.

On the north elevation, the chancel features paired lancets and is accompanied by an attached two-storey, three-bay vestry with a flat roof and slightly projecting corner piers. The vestry has a castellated parapet with a central open bellcote. A pointed arched ground floor entrance in the right bay has paired lancets above; the left bay has paired lancets to each floor and the central bay has a single lancet to the ground floor. The five-bay nave has a clerestory of large roundels with cinquefoil tracery set within short pointed arched recesses with continuous hoodmoulds. The windows alternate with short buttresses. The aisle is pierced by four round-headed windows with continuous hoodmoulds and a sill stringcourse, also alternating with short buttresses. A buttressed pointed arched gabled entrance at the west end has moulded and columned reveals and double wooden doors with a blind vesica over.

The west end is buttressed and features a large single pointed arched window in the end of each aisle with hood moulds. The steeply pitched nave has skew stones and a small oculus at its apex with a large vesica below and paired large pointed arched windows.

The east elevation is similarly steeply pitched and detailed, with a large oculus and triple lancet windows below. The apex is surmounted by a stone Celtic cross. The attached full height organ chamber has a pyramidal roof and a lancet with continuous hoodmould.

The south elevation is partly obscured but similarly styled to the north.

Internally, the chancel has exposed red brick walls above vertical oak panelling, marble flooring and steps to the dais, and an intricately carved wooden altar. The stained glass of the east window is a memorial to the Fallen of the First World War and depicts various Saints, The Risen Christ and The Virgin Mary. It is influenced by the Baroque of Italy and Spain whilst incorporating contemporary fashions seen in its striking colour scheme and bold patterns. Beyond the ornate metal altar rail are choir pews to either side in carved oak. To the right is the full height pointed arched organ chamber and organ with carved screen and decorative pipes. An ornate metal chancel screen is set on a stone base, as is the richly carved oak pulpit situated immediately left of the chancel arch. Behind the pulpit is a brass plaque recording the building of the church, and on the south side of the chancel are brass war memorials listing the names of the Fallen. A small Lady Chapel with an oak reredos is set into the east wall of the south aisle. A clergy vestry and entrance lobby with choir vestry above are attached to the north wall of the chancel and accessed through double wooden doors through the east wall of the north aisle; both vestries have fitted wooden cupboards.

The nave roof is a wooden barrel vault. The aisles have large lean-to trusses to each column and timber purlins at the mid point. The nave has exposed red facing brick walls and is divided from the aisles by five pointed arches supported on alternating octagonal and circular columns with capitals; piers and arches are in ashlar sandstone. Both aisles have stained glass windows. The benches are pitch pine and the floor is tongue and groove boarding. The lobby occupying arch four of the north aisle is oak-panelled with double wooden doors with leaded upper panels. A sandstone font at the west end comprises a shaft of four attached pillars and an octofoil bowl. Toilets inserted into arch five of the north aisle and a kitchen and former Sunday school room (now a crèche) inserted within arches four and five of the north aisle are not of special interest.