Friary United Reformed Church And Adjoining Sunday School

Friary United Reformed Church and adjoining Sunday School, on the west side of Musters Road in West Bridgford.

This Presbyterian Church, now a United Reformed Church, was built in 1898 to a design by Brewill and Baily in the 15th-century style. The main building and Sunday School are constructed in tooled and plain ashlar with brick, and feature hipped, gabled and lean-to plain tile roofs with a chamfered plinth, moulded parapet, and shouldered coped gables, one topped with a cross. The ornate iron gutter brackets and single roof stack are notable external features.

The plan comprises a tower, nave and chancel, north and south aisles, a vestry and adjoining Sunday School. The north-west tower is a single stage with a string course and four pairs of battered corner buttresses plus a single central buttress on each side. The corner buttresses extend upward to form pinnacles, while the central buttresses have spouts at their heads. The tower has a moulded and shaped crenellated parapet. To the north are two casements; to the east are two double doors with moulded segmental heads, with two double casements above them, and above again on each side a double lancet louvred opening with moulded segmental headed reveal.

The nave clerestory features on each side five Decorated triple lancets with ogee heads. The nave's east end has a pair of battered buttresses with stepped heads and three inscribed foundation stones, the central one dated 1900. Above are three mullioned casements, and higher still a five-light Decorated lancet with flanking buttresses to the mullions. The chancel's west end has a five-light Decorated lancet with flowing tracery and hood mould, with a small casement above.

The north and south aisles each have five triple mullioned casements. The vestry to the north-west comprises three bays with a shaped parapet and central coped gable. Its north side displays a pair of double casements flanked by single doorways with moulded segmental heads and battered flanking buttresses, with a further casement to the right. The west side has two casements.

The adjoining Sunday School is constructed in brick with ashlar dressings. Its north side has three casements. The west side has an off-centre gable with a large metal casement, flanked to the left by two smaller metal casements and to the right by six. The east side contains a central porch with a coped parapet and a doorway with a moulded segmental head, flanked by single casements. The south gable has a casement and, to the right, a parapeted porch in the return angle with a single segmental headed doorway. The south-east porch has to the south two pairs of pointed double doors in a pointed opening with a hood mould, with a pair of battered flanking buttresses and a casement to the east.

Internally, the nave has north and south arcades of five bays with octagonal piers and moulded segmental arches, with a panelled dado and a glazed draught screen at the west end. The roof is a hammer beam design with large curved braces. The north and south aisles have lean-to roofs and a door with a segmental head at their west ends.

The chancel features a chamfered and pointed arch. Its left side has a pointed opening containing an organ in a 15th-century style traceried case. The east end has a panelled canopied screen. At the centre is a door with a segmental head, flanked by single niches with segmental heads containing War Memorial brasses dated around 1920, with a similar brass above dated 1945. The east window contains a stained glass memorial design of around 1920.

Monuments include a large re-sited 14th-century style wall tablet from 1852, a 20th-century stone tablet, and two 20th-century brasses. Fittings comprise an octagonal oak pulpit with buttresses on an ashlar base, with a matching sounding board from 1953; a panelled oak font on a stand; and panelled softwood benches and stalls.

An adjoining church hall is of no special interest.