United Reformed Church

The United Reformed Church, originally a Congregational chapel, was built between 1866 and 1868 by F. Drake of Leicester in a Ruskinian Venetian Gothic style. The church is constructed of red brick with an ashlar front and features a hipped slate roof. The two-storey front includes an attic in a gable-pediment, with a balustraded parapet at the cornice of the outer bays.

A full-height central projection is marked by rusticated quoins and topped with a gable-pediment. Below this, a three-part window is divided into six lights by an arcade adorned with capitals featuring designs of lilies, oak, and grapes. The ground floor has a central arched doorway flanked by two lower keyed-arch doorways. Columns on either side support an entablature and a central open pediment, with the capitals of the columns beside the central door inspired by the lily of the valley, while the outer pair are based on ferns.

The side bays also have rusticated quoins and tall double-height round-arched windows, which are divided by a single pier both vertically and horizontally by a traceried band. The sides of the building display five major bays with windows set in tall round-arched recesses, interspersed with four slightly shorter and narrower recessed panels. The most notable feature of this church is the Ruskinian influence evident in its style and particularly in the naturalistic foliage capitals of the columns.