Christ Church

Christ Church stands on Thorne Road in Doncaster. Built between 1827 and 1829 by William Hurst, it is a Commissioners Gothic church in limestone ashlar with a slate roof and copper spire. The chancel was enlarged by Scott in the 1850s, and minor alterations followed later.

The building comprises a four-stage south tower with flanking single-stage entrance bays, a six-bay aisled nave, and a narrower canted two-bay northern chancel with a western vestry. A continuous deep stepped plinth with moulded coping runs around the building. The lower two stages of the tower are square in plan, while the upper two are octagonal. The lower stages have clasping octagonal buttresses that rise above the parapets as tall pinnacles with crocketed finials.

The south elevation features a tall pointed moulded doorcase with double leaf doors decorated with blind Gothic tracery. The slightly recessed flanking bays have pointed two-light cusped Y-tracery windows to the south and similar doors in deeply chamfered pointed doorcases to the returns, with diagonal stepped corner buttresses rising to pinnacles with crocketed finials. Each bay has an embattled parapet over the eaves stringcourse and hipped roof.

The second stage of the tower displays a pointed three-light cusped intersecting traceried window to the south and a pointed niche on moulded corbels with colonnettes to the jambs and an ogee hoodmould with foliage finial to the east. Eaves stringcourse and embattled parapets rise above. The octagonal stages above are recessed, with stepped and gabletted buttresses with crocketed tops to each corner of the third stage. At the base of this stage are flying buttresses from each corner pinnacle and clock faces to alternating faces. Above, the stage slopes in and has pointed two-light bell openings with cusped Y-tracery and friezes of pierced quatrefoils at transom level to each side. Eaves stringcourse and embattled parapets sit above. The top stage recesses again and features narrow trefoil-headed lancets to each side below crocketed gables, with a copper spire and finial to the top.

The nave aisles have set-back stepped buttresses with diamond-set pinnacles topped by foliage finials to corners and similar buttresses between bays. Six three-light pointed cusped intersecting traceried windows with friezes of pierced quatrefoils at transom level sit in deeply chamfered surrounds. A coved stringcourse and embattled parapets crown the structure. The nave has a low blind clerestory and hipped roof mostly hidden by the aisles. Both aisles are similar in character. Tower and aisle openings all feature returned hoodmoulds except on the fourth stage of the tower.

The chancel has a small projecting vestry to the west with a triple lancet window, a four-centred arched door, and embattled parapets over a stringcourse with fleurons. A blind traceried lancet sits above. The canted sides have pointed three-light geometric traceried windows with foliage stops to the hoodmoulds. A similar five-light north window is flanked by stepped diagonal buttresses with crocketed pinnacles. A plain coped gable sits over the north window, with embattled parapets to the sides. The east elevation of the chancel mirrors the west but has a four-centred arched door to the north and glazing to a traceried lancet to the south.

The interior reveals an open well stone staircase with wreathed handrail and panelled balustrade in the eastern entrance bay, a ribbed quadripartite vault in an octagonal hall at the base of the tower, and a vestry in the western bay. The main body of the church has an arcade of keeled and colonneted clustered cast-iron piers supporting similarly moulded pointed arches, with colonnettes featuring foliage capitals. Pierced quatrefoils sit over each arch, and keeled wall shafts on foliage corbels crown each pier. Galleries on three sides are supported to the aisles by braces with pierced mouchettes hung between the main piers and large foliage corbels attached to the aisle walls. The southern gallery is supported on similar braces with short clustered piers to the front. The gallery has banded colonnettes with panels of elaborate blind Gothic tracery and dogtooth moulding between. Blind traceried Gothic pointed doors from the gallery lead to the staircase.

Aisle roofs feature ribbed quadripartite vaulting with bosses, while the nave has a painted grid-beamed ceiling also with bosses. The chancel roof incorporates a mid-19th century scissor truss. The chancel arch is similar to the nave arches but wider, with Caernarvon arched doors to either side from the aisles to the chancel. The chancel has two-bay arcades of moulded pointed arches on octagonal piers and responds with foliage capitals.

A fine limed oak pulpit in Gothic style stands in the nave. Original pews with Gothic traceried bench ends occupy the gallery; all other fittings are 20th century. To either side of the chancel arch at aisle and gallery level are four good early 19th-century marble wall monuments; other wall monuments date from the late 19th or early 20th century. The stained glass to the chancel is mostly mid to late 19th century.