Church of St Dubricius and All Saints

Church of St Dubricius and All Saints

This is a Gothic Revival church built in 1909-1910, designed by architect William Samuel Weatherley and constructed by Messrs Bowers of Hereford. The building is oriented north-east to south-west and comprises a nave, apsidal sanctuary, vestry and porch.

The walls are constructed from local rubble sandstone with Corsham stone dressings. The roof structure and wooden flooring are pine, with a covering of plain clay tiles. The walls are rock-faced coursed stone, with ashlar Corsham stone detailing and window tracery in Decorated style. Each window has a stone arch in rock-faced stone above it. The roof is pitched with plain crested ridge tiles, and below the eaves are exposed rafter ends and a string course running across both the north and south elevations of the nave and apse.

The north elevation of the nave has three arched windows, each with three lancets beneath three quatrefoils, the top quatrefoil being truncated. A small buttress with dressed stone offsets finishes where the nave meets the apse. The south elevation of the nave has two three-lancet windows of similar design. At the south-west end is a single-storey pitched roof entrance porch with a stone pointed arch door surround and a cruciform finial at the apex of the gable.

The vestry projects to the south from the south-east end of the building and is a single bay with a window of two lancets under a quatrefoil. It has a pitched roof with a single doorway in an outshut beneath a separate, lower hipped roof. The gable end has coping stones with moulded kneelers and a short shaft at the apex. The eastern elevation of the vestry is blind.

The east elevation forms a five-sided polygonal apse with a pitched polygonal roof. Four of the five sides have single lancet windows; the southernmost side is obscured by the vestry. Four windows contain stained glass, while the fifth on the north side has plain diamond leaded lights.

The west elevation has a projecting rectangular shaft in line with the gable apex supporting a bellcote at the centre. The bellcote is made from Corsham stone and houses a single bell with a parapet to the base. Two windows with two lancets beneath a quatrefoil are positioned below.

The interior is accessed through the entrance porch on the south elevation into the west end of the nave. The arch above the entrance door is pointed, with double doors of eight panels each. The nave has wooden parquet block flooring. The roof structure is barrel vaulted and made from pine wood. A stone cornice runs the length of the nave at wall plate level on the north and south elevations. Recesses housing radiators are located between the eastern-most and middle bays on each side.

The chancel is delineated from the nave by a step up onto natural stone tiles oriented at 45 degrees with flagstone copings. Two choir stalls occupy either side of a central aisle. The pointed chancel arch is made from Corsham stone supported by imposts on either side. Five sides form the apse, four clad in wooden panelling; the fifth, southernmost side abuts the vestry and houses the organ. A carved stone piscina is present. The sanctuary roof is part barrel vaulted and part rib vaulted with a carved boss at the intersection of the ribs. The sanctuary is a step up from the chancel, with a further step up to the carved wooden altar and reredos.

The vestry is accessed through a door at the west end of the south wall of the nave, leading to a small stone-floored hallway within the outshut. The entrance from the nave to the outshut has a decorated lintel and pyramid stop chamfered architrave. The vestry floor is parquet wood, with double pane plate tracery windows.

The stained glass windows include three in the apse by C C Powell dating to 1918, depicting Saint Peter, Jesus and Saint Paul from north to south. Powell also designed four nave windows: two to the south in 1914 and two in the west in 1921. The south nave windows depict Saint Francis, Saint Ethelbert, Saint Anselm, Saint Alban, Saint George and Saint Martin from east to west. The west nave windows depict Jesus blessing three children and the Magi visiting Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The three windows on the north elevation of the nave are by Kempe and Co., depicting from east to west: Mary and Jesus on a donkey led by Joseph, Mary visiting Elizabeth, and Mary being visited by the Angel Gabriel.

A plaque on the west wall of the nave was installed by Mary Walker, dedicating the windows above it to the memory of her husband Arthur. Below this is a memorial plaque to Mary.

The font, located at the western end of the nave, is made from Corsham stone and comprises a plinth, octagonal shaft and octagonal basin. The basin has tracery, an I H C monogram and animal carvings.

On the west wall are two Della Robbia ceramic plaques: one under the south window depicting Joseph and Mary at the birth of Christ, and the other under the north window depicting the Angel Gabriel visiting Mary.

The pulpit is located to the north-west where the nave meets the chancel. It has a stone plinth with three steps leading up to a polygonal carved oak pulpit with carvings of religious figures.

The reredos was painted and gilded by Innes Fripp in 1912 and includes images of the Angel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary, flanked by Saint John the Evangelist and Saint John the Baptist. The base has an I H C monogram. The altar is carved from oak and depicts the lamb of God.

The pipe organ is on the east side of the sanctuary and was built by Forster and Andrews of Hull in 1911.

The nave has hanging three lamp light fixtures, each with three lamps, with a crucifix above the central lamp.