Christ Church

Christ Church, Bridlington

Christ Church was built in 1840–1 to the design of Scott and Moffatt, architects. The church was consecrated by the Archbishop of York on 30 September 1841. Its construction followed concern expressed in the late 1830s about inadequate established church accommodation in Bridlington. The parish church, situated about a mile away, could accommodate only around 1,000 people, while the growing population of Bridlington-Quay alone numbered nearly 2,000, many being invalids unable to walk that distance. John Rickaby donated the site. Christ Church was originally built with seating for 611 people. The building was progressively expanded: in 1851 the aisles were widened and the chancel lengthened; in 1859 the steeple was built; and in 1884–5 a church hall was added abutting the north side of the chancel. In the early 1960s, the interior was markedly transformed by George Pace, the York-based architect. Further ancillary buildings were added in the 20th century to the north of the nave, including accommodation linked by a west end block.

The church is built of coursed sandstone with sandstone dressings externally, while internally it is brick, plastered. The roofs are slate. The plan comprises a nave, chancel, north and south aisles, north and south transepts, and a south-west tower.

The architectural style derives from Early English work of the 13th century. The south-west steeple forms a prominent landmark in the town. The tower rises in four stages with octagonal angle buttresses that widen at the belfry stage to large octagonal turrets topped with octagonal pinnacles. The tower is fenestrated with lancet windows, and those at belfry stage consist of two lights with plate tracery. The tall spire above has two tiers of lucarnes.

At the east end, the chancel features moulded string-courses at window sill level. The east window comprises three graded lancets with hood-moulds terminating in carved terminals. The south transept has paired lancets in its east wall and a three-light plate-tracery window in its south face. Both aisles are lit by lancet windows, probably reused when the aisles were widened. The nave west window displays a 1-2-1 rhythm, with the central two-light opening headed by an uncusped circle. The 1880s church hall projects slightly forward of the east wall of the chancel and is also executed in the lancet style, featuring a shallow gabled porch with a chamfered doorway bearing a date and inscription.

The interior walls are plastered and whitened, with all internal stonework painted. The chancel arch at the east end of the nave has semi-circular responds with a fillet. Between the nave and aisles are tall three-bay arcades with octagonal piers featuring moulded capitals and double-chamfered arches. Wide double-chamfered arches open into the transepts, which have moulded timber wall-plates and canted plaster ceilings. The interior is dominated by 1960s vaulting in the nave and aisles, described as "egg-box style" work by George Pace. The chancel roof has been altered with a plain plaster vault incorporating a classical wall-plate and two arch-braced trusses (possibly 19th-century) on timber posts with classical detailing.

The principal fixtures are notable. A 17th-century font and 18th-century font cover were transferred to the church from York Minster in 1947. The font has a shallow, gadrooned circular bowl in Frosterley-type marble, with a stem of veined brown marble, and stands upon a base of the same material. The octagonal Baroque cover features a central baluster with serpentine timber brackets carved with acanthus motifs, tapering upward to a figure of a dove. A west gallery with pierced Gothic arches over panelling is present. At the east end, the 1924 reredos by Walker, Son and Field displays blind tracery and a central carving of the Last Supper flanked by statues in niches; the chancel is lined with matching panelling. The polygonal timber pulpit, dating to around 1950 and designed by Francis Johnson (a noted late Neo-Classical architect), rests on a wine-glass stem and is topped by a sounding board. Loose 20th-century chairs have replaced Victorian bench seating. Stained glass of the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th centuries includes three windows by J W Knowles (south transept 1898 and 1906, north transept 1908); a chancel north window of 1902 by Arthur L. Moore; and chancel south windows of 1957 and 1962 by Francis Spear.

George Gilbert Scott (1811–78) was the principal architect. He began practice in the mid-1830s and became the most successful church architect of his era. His new churches typically derive their character from late 13th- or early 14th-century medieval architecture, and while often criticised for over-restoration work, his designs proved generally respectful of medieval buildings and possessed a harmonious quality. Beyond ecclesiastical work, Scott designed significant secular buildings including the Albert Memorial and the Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras. He was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1859 and was knighted in 1872, later being buried in Westminster Abbey. Between 1835 and 1844, Scott was in partnership with William Bonython Moffatt (1812–87), a pupil of the London architect James Edmeston, under whom Scott had also trained. While Moffatt undertook independent design work, he contributed little to the partnership, which was dissolved in 1844.

George Gaze Pace (1915–75), the York-based architect responsible for the interior transformation of the early 1960s, was among the most successful church architects of the mid-20th century. Despite his deep knowledge and appreciation of historic church architecture, Pace was unafraid to introduce features in distinctly modern idiom, as exemplified by the "egg-box" vaulting at Christ Church. The ancillary buildings linking the church and the older parish room were designed by Anthony Blackmore in 1992.