Christ Church

Christ Church is a Victorian parish church built in 1869–70 by the architect Ewan Christian, designed in Early English style. It stands in Gedney Dawsmere, a new village created in the 1850s on reclaimed marshland.

The church is constructed of red brick with stone bands and a slate roof. The plan comprises a nave and apsidal chancel in one, with a south porch and a small vestry to the north of the chancel. A large roof sweeps down over the nave and curved apse. The vestry has a catslide roof, and above the chancel sits a wooden bellcote with a flèche. Lancet windows with red brick voussoirs punctuate the apse, south and north sides. The foundation stone of 1869 is set into the centre of the apse wall. On the west side, two tall lancet windows feature billet moulding and a dog-tooth eaves course. The south porch has a pointed arch, also with billet moulding and dog-tooth eaves course. The church door is hung with decorative wrought iron strap hinges.

The interior walls are of exposed red brick with stone dressings. The apse roof is rendered and fitted with thin wooden ribs. Lancet windows in the apse have deep reveals and contain stained glass depicting Christ, St Mark and St Luke. A chancel rail with foliated wrought iron supports divides the chancel. The choir stalls and lectern appear to be original, while the carved wooden reredos and pulpit in Decorated Gothic style are probably later additions. A pointed arch leads from the chancel into the vestry, which houses the organ. The nave features a large scissor-truss roof and a complete set of functional Gothic benches arranged on platforms. At the west end stands a carved octagonal stone font with floral encaustic tiles in the base.

The church was built to hold 192 worshippers. Until 1850, Gedney Marsh contained only one centre of population, Drove End. In 1855, the politician Edward Cardwell (later Viscount Cardwell) and his brother Charles purchased some 3,000 acres in Gedney Marsh. The area lay near Daws Mere Creek, likely named after Sir Abraham Dawes, who undertook the land reclamation from the sea in 1660. The Cardwell brothers developed a new village at Dawsmere, approximately 1¼ miles from Drove End, building paired cottages, a smithy, joiners shop, school, shop and parsonage. They also provided a church site and contributed half the building costs. The ecclesiastical district of Drove End was created in 1855, but the church took another 15 years to build. During this interval, services were held in the kitchen at Red House Farm and, from 1857, in the school at Dawsmere. The foundation stone was laid in 1869, and the church was consecrated on 7 April 1870 by Bishop Wordsworth.

Ewan Christian (1814–1895) was a prolific architect credited with around 2,040 works, including 90 new churches and numerous church restorations. He was architect to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners from 1851 until his death. As a devout evangelical churchman, he favoured auditory rather than highly ritualistic designs. His most significant secular commission was the National Portrait Gallery in London (1890–95). He served as President of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1884–6. His contemporaries regarded him as "a safe man", "in no sense a heaven-born genius, or even possessed of brilliant parts, but a man of inflexible honesty, great industry and great business capabilities".