Welholme Galleries

Welholme Galleries, Grimsby

This building comprises two churches, now used as museum stores and offices. The complex stands on Welholme Road and represents two distinct phases of construction.

The principal structure is the 1907 Congregational Church, designed by the architects Bell, Withers and Meredith, with construction by Hewins and Goodhand. Built in red brick with ashlar dressings and a plain tiled roof, it exemplifies free Gothic Revival style. The church plan consists of a two-bay chancel and three-bay aisled nave with single-bay transepts. A Gallilee porch sits at the ritual west end with a tower rising from the south-west angle. Single-storey vestry and church rooms occupy the east end, connecting to the earlier 1894 building. Buttresses appear at angles and between bays, topped with ashlar gablets that project above the eaves.

The exterior displays considerable Gothic detail. The nave features three-light cinquefoiled aisle windows set in segmental-arched recessed panels, while pairs of trefoiled two-light clerestory windows with miniature buttresses between sit above. The south transept, facing Heneage Road, contains a stepped triple south window with traceried two-light segmental-headed windows beneath ashlar hoodmoulds and raised panels flanked by buttress shafts. A segmental-arched door opens to the west side. The east extension rises two storeys with cusped windows to each floor and a coped embattled parapet. A single-storey south-east annexe features an arched door in a moulded surround and a pair of three-light cusped windows. The north transept displays similar detailing in simplified form. The nave's larger west windows have ashlar heads set within a buttressed surround.

The Gallilee porch comprises five bays and incorporates the tower to its right. Its central canted bay contains a square-headed door beneath a lead hood, flanked by single-light windows. Flanking bays display moulded segmental-arched openings with three-light windows above brick blocking, while outer bays have single square-headed windows. Tall buttresses support a coped and embattled parapet, with moulded segmental-headed doorways on the left and right returns.

The south-west tower rises in three stages. Full-height clasped buttresses frame the first stage, which is embattled and features a south door and west three-light segmental window. A foundation stone on the south face is dated 15 October 1907. The tall second stage contains slit lights. The ashlar top stage displays panelled buttresses and segmental-arched three-light traceried belfry openings. Above this rises a stepped-in open lantern section with central buttresses to each side, flanked by twin segmental-arched openings and tall projecting diagonal buttresses at each corner. A slender leaded needle spire crowns the composition. An octagonal brick bellcote with louvres and a spirelet rises from the nave's east end.

The chancel features a pointed traceried five-light east window, with single square-headed two-light traceried windows to north and south.

The interior displays three-bay ashlar nave arcades with chamfered piers and four-centred moulded arches dying into the jambs. Wide four-centred ashlar arches spring to the transepts, with a chamfered brick arch to the chancel. Chamfered brick arched buttresses extend from the nave arcades to the aisle walls. The east annexe contains chamfered brick arches serving the transept and chancel. Wood panelling lines the chancel's lower walls. The south aisle contains pictorial stained glass windows, including one by Atkinson Brothers of Newcastle upon Tyne, whilst other windows feature plain glass with Art Nouveau-style designs. The nave roof is of hammerbeam construction, whilst the chancel roof is arch-braced. The north transept contains a re-set stone plaque inscribed "Ebenezer" and a datestone of 1786, both removed from an earlier Grimsby chapel.

The 1894 Mission Church adjoins at the south-east end. Designed by HC Scaping of Grimsby with construction by H Thompson and Sons, it employs red brick in English bond with terracotta dressings and a Welsh slate roof. Gothic Revival in style, it presents a rectangular plan with an aisled nave of four and a half bays and doors to the aisles at the ritual east end.

Externally, the building features a chamfered brick plinth and sill string course beneath a moulded brick eaves cornice. Pairs of stepped buttresses with gabled caps occur at east and west ends. The aisles contain single and twin lancets; east entrances display fillet-moulded arches with nook shafts, all beneath hoodmoulds with moulded stops. The nave shows a stepped triple east lancet in a moulded and shafted surround with flush ashlar bands and a blind lancet panel to the coped gable with shaped kneelers and finial. A foundation stone beneath the east window is dated 1 September 1894. The west end of the nave contains a quadruple stepped lancet with similar moulded surround. Three-light mullioned dormer windows with cusped lintels and hipped roofs with finials punctuate the roof, which features crested ridge tiles.

The interior of the Mission Church features an arch-braced roof.