Former Church of St Edmund and Youth Centre, Anchorage Lane, Sprotbrough

The Former Church of St Edmund and Youth Centre on Anchorage Lane, Sprotbrough, originated as a barn and agricultural building in the 17th or 18th century, before being converted to ecclesiastical use by architect George Pace in 1954. A further extension was added in 1963. The complex is built of magnesian limestone, buff and red brick, with a red pantile roof.

Plan and Layout

The building comprises a linear, double-height range running east to west. The church occupies the west end in what was formerly the barn. A single-storey extension containing a meeting room and vestry opens off the north side. An entrance lobby at the east end of the church provides access westward into the church itself and via a short corridor to the youth centre (later used as a community hall) at the east end. The youth centre features a small stage at its west end. A doorway leads to enclosed steps built against the exterior of the north wall, rising to a first-floor room above the entrance lobby, with a water closet beneath the steps accessible from the entrance lobby. A modern lean-to structure against the east gable wall of the youth centre houses a kitchen and water closet (this lean-to is excluded from the listing).

South Elevation

The principal double-height range faces south towards Anchorage Lane. It is constructed of roughly coursed magnesian limestone rubble and consists of two contiguous buildings of similar size with rough quoining to the left-hand corner and a straight joint at approximately the midpoint. The right-hand, east building projects forward very slightly at this point. Both buildings share a double-pitched roof of red pantiles with a continuous ridgeline. At the apex of the west gable sits a simple stone cross, with a small stone bellcote positioned on the ridge just to the left of the straight joint.

Part of the front wall has been raised at eaves level along the length of the range to form flat-roofed dormers containing rows of square clerestory window lights with timber frames. At the left-hand end of the church is a dormer with a row of four clerestory lights. The eaves level drops over the former cart entrance, then rises again for a continuous dormer spanning both buildings with a long run of clerestory windows: the church building has a row of five lights followed by a row of six lights, whilst the youth centre has a long row of twenty-one lights extending along much of its length.

The former cart entrance to the barn has been fitted with a concrete lintel, and the large double-door opening has been infilled with a concrete grid containing five rows of four square window lights with timber frames. On both sides of this window is a ground-floor and first-floor ventilation slit, now glazed. At the right-hand end of the church, beneath the six-light clerestory window, is a double doorway with a cross window to its right, both sharing a concrete lintel. The doorway has diagonally boarded doors and a concrete sill. The mullion and transom of the window are also of concrete, with rectangular lights fitted with timber frames. The youth centre has a doorway positioned approximately at its midpoint, with a narrow timber lintel and diagonally boarded double doors. To the left of this doorway is a cross tie bar. At the right-hand end is a blocked doorway.

The west gable wall of the church contains two ground-floor ventilation slits and two first-floor ventilation slits above, all now glazed. The east gable wall of the youth centre displays the ends of the timber wall plates, two purlins to each side, and the ridge post, all visible embedded in the stonework.

North Elevation

The rear elevation of the range is built of roughly coursed magnesian limestone with rough quoining to both outer corners. The youth centre to the left has a large, full-height opening with straight joints immediately to the left of the bellcote, which has been infilled with red brick in English garden wall bond (five courses of stretchers to one course of headers). There are also small areas of red brick patching. At the far left-hand end is a doorway with a board door, timber lintel and red brick jambs. Immediately to its right is an area of red brick infill in stretcher bond beneath a timber lintel. Towards either end of the youth centre is a square window at eaves level (both presently boarded). At ground-floor level within the full-height brick infill is a timber casement window with a timber lintel and breeze-block wall beneath. To the left is the circular restrainer of the tie bar. Immediately to the right is a flat-roofed porch and staircase block with an external staircase rising to the right and enclosed by a breeze-block wall. The porch has a doorway in the east wall, and the staircase has a window at ground-floor level and one above at first-floor level (both presently boarded).

The church wall has a first-floor glazed ventilation slit towards the right-hand end but is otherwise largely obscured by a single-storey, flat-roofed extension of buff brick in stretcher bond with a horizontal timber eaves band. This extension abuts the staircase block at the left-hand end. Its north elevation has a large, full-height window formed by a glazed timber grid.

Church Interior

The church comprises three internal bays with two pegged principal-rafter trusses featuring empty mortices for down braces and single tusk-tenoned purlins to each side, supplemented in part with machine-sawn purlins alongside. The closely-spaced battens are of machine-sawn timber and on the south side incorporate the dormers of the clerestory windows.

The sanctuary is placed against the west gable wall and lit by a clerestory window and the two lights of glazed ventilation slits, which are splayed to the interior with rough timber lintels. The west gable wall incorporates a timber wall plate. In the gable apex above is a square pitching hole with a timber lintel and recessed blocking. The sanctuary is raised by one step which projects out on the right-hand side to form a plinth for a reading lectern. There is a shallow plinth for the altar, now removed. The floor is tiled with small, square terracotta tiles, and there is a timber communion rail which is hinged in the centre and bears a name plaque dated 1958. The lectern has a rectangular rubble-stone base supporting a simple timber reading slope.

The central bay is lit by the large grid of square lights in the cart entrance doorway on the south side. On the north side is a lower but wide opening with a concrete lintel beneath a rough timber lintel. This has sliding timber screen doors and opens into the 1963 extension. There is evidence of original ventilation slits in the wall on both sides which are not visible externally because of the extension.

The east bay is lit by a clerestory window and contains an organ gallery against the east gable wall. The gallery stands on slender, square-section steel columns painted black. The front of the gallery is formed of vertical timber slats, and in the north-east corner is a spiral staircase partially enclosed in vertical timber slats with timber treads around a slender circular steel column. The east gable wall has a central doorway with diagonally-boarded double doors and a timber wall plate.

The 1963 extension has brick walls built against the stone wall of the church, with timber herringbone parquet flooring and a boarded ceiling. It contains one large meeting room with a timber partition separating off a vestry at the east end.

Entrance Lobby and First-Floor Room

The entrance lobby is plastered with partially exposed stone cross walls. The first-floor room above is reached from the youth centre beyond via the enclosed external staircase, which has concrete steps. The room is lit by clerestory windows and is plastered with a boarded ceiling.

Youth Centre Interior

The youth centre has a small stage across the west end. The hall features timber board panelling to the lower half of the walls. The ceiling is boarded with a cut-out for the long row of clerestory windows which light the hall. Three trusses are visible on the window side, encased in plasterboard.