Ashbourne Methodist Church

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SK 1746 822-0/1/10001

ASHBOURNE CHURCH STREET Ashbourne Methodist Church

GV II

Methodist church. Dated 1880 by John Wills. Orange/red brick with ashlar sandstone dressings and terracotta ornament; Welsh slate roof. Two storeys with basement having symmetrical 1:3:1 bay facade with corner towers and 1:7 bay right return. Classical details. Chamfered plinth over basement windows; full entablatures above ground and first floors of facade have terracotta roundels on the friezes and modillioned cornices. Nosed steps to central entrance having panelled double doors and fanlight with roundel beneath archivolt with acanthus keystone; Corinthian half columns to each side. Bays two and four have narrow round-arched windows with apron panels and moulded sills on triglyph blocks all set in round-arched recesses with ashlar imposts. Corner Towers have corner pilasters with panels of terracotta roundels and similar windows to bays two and four but largely infilled by more terracotta.

First floor: Ionic half columns between round-arched windows of central recess; terracotta aprons, moulded sills and imposts, keystones. The Towers have Ionic pilasters which flank shouldered windows beneath dentilled cornices. Central pediment with dated triangular panel in tympanum. Corner Towers with terracotta-panelled parapets surmounted by balustrades which link corner dies with draped and finialled urns. Right return: bay one detailed as tower then seven bays of which the central five have segmentally-arched basement windows and round-arched windows lighting the church; piers between.

Interior: two aisles; pitch-pine pews; end gallery. Later organ in coved recess beneath basket arch on Corinthian columns; round-arched doorway to each side. Brackets on carved corbels support flat ceiling with coved edge; tie rods with scrollwork.

Opened March 15th 1881 as the 'New Wesleyan Chapel'.

Rear-right corner of building is linked to church rooms known as Central Hall, Station Road (q.v.).

Listing NGR: SK1785246569