United Reformed Church

UNITED REFORMED CHURCH

A Congregational church, now United Reformed Church, designed in 1905 by G. Baines & Son of London. The building is constructed in brick with slate gabled and lean-to roofs, featuring ashlar dressings and bands throughout. The plinth is chamfered, and the gables are shaped and coped with shaped kneelers. Large curved iron gutter brackets are a distinctive feature.

The church adopts a Gothic free style. The plan comprises a nave and chancel under a continuous roof, with a south-west tower, bell tower, north and south transepts, and vestries. Windows are predominantly untraceried double and triple ogee lancets with square-headed reveals, all containing patterned stained glass.

The west end of the nave contains central doors with a traceried overlight and moulded opening with a segmental head and crocketed finial. Flanking panelled buttresses with shaped heads frame these doors. Beyond are single lights, and above rises a traceried 5-light ogee lancet with hood mould, surmounted by 3 slit lights. Each side of the nave has a central panelled buttress and 2 double lancets, with 3 smaller lancets above.

The battered tower rises in three stages and is articulated by two moulded string courses and lintel bands, plain bands, and a billeted cornice with 4 gargoyles. The parapet is shaped and pinnacled. The south face displays a datestone inscribed 1905, below which is a double lancet. To the west is a door with moulded segmental head and a double lancet above. The second stage has slit lights on three sides. The third stage features 4 diagonal buttresses with, on each side, a double ogee louvred lancet. Above this rises an octagonal leaded spire. The adjacent square bell tower shares similar string courses and bands, and is buttressed by 4 diagonal buttresses with pinnacles. Its west face shows a single blank lancet with a louvred opening above, topped by an iron finial.

The south transept gable contains a door to the left and 2 lancets to the right, with a 4-light traceried lancet above. The north transept features similar but simpler tracery. A two-storey north-west stair tower has a panelled diagonal buttress and hipped roof with finial. Its west side contains a doorway with moulded segmental head and a double lancet above, while the north side has a lancet with a double lancet above.

The east end displays a blank gable with a door flanked by single casements. A vestry adjoins, with a casement and door. To the right are a door and casement. The south side has a casement. A single external corner stack is positioned on the building.

Internally, the nave is spanned by a principal rafter roof with false hammer beams, arch braces, and knee brackets. A glazed screen at the west end is flanked by single doors. Four clustered iron piers support straight side galleries and a curved rear gallery, all with panel traceried fronts. The galleries feature arcade posts with arch braces; those to the west incorporate foliate corbels. The east end contains a moulded four-centred arch with corbels and shaft imposts, above which rises a traceried panelled gallery with sloped ends. An organ in a panelled case is positioned above.

The entrance hall contains two dogleg concrete stairs with iron balusters and vase newels. The nave fittings include a semi-circular dais with a canted traceried pulpit flanked by stairs, and curved benches with pierced and shaped ends.

The vestry contains a re-set datestone inscribed "Erected AD MDCCXLIII Ebenezer. Enlarged AD MDCCCXV" (erected 1743, enlarged 1815). Memorials include re-set marble and slate tablets dated 1849 and 1924, a tablet and brass from 1921 and 1917, and a brass war memorial shield dating from around 1920.