Christ Church

Christ Church is a parish church built in 1836 to designs by George Jenkin, extended in 1901, and with the porch altered around 1918. It is constructed of red brick with grey sandstone ashlar and some red sandstone ashlar dressings, with a slate roof.

The church comprises a six-bay nave, a partly integral west tower, and a one-bay chancel of 1901. The style is Lancet Gothic for the main body, with the chancel added in Decorated Gothic style.

The tower rises in two stages externally and has a chamfered plinth with diagonal buttresses to the first stage featuring three closely-spaced chamfered stone offsets. The west front has a corbelled section with chamfered offset above and a square stone panel with a circular inner panel (possibly intended for a clock) with trefoil-panelled spandrels. A coved stone string course runs below a battlemented parapet with chamfered stone coping and panelled and crocketed corner pinnacles. The belfry contains paired louvred chamfered lancets with stone cills.

Beneath the tower sits the porch, featuring a double chamfered west archway with moulded bases and capitals and a hoodmould with carved stops. The inner chamfer bears the inscription "Enter into His Gates with Thanksgiving". The interior of the porch contains a west doorway with a four-centred arch and a four-panelled door with quatrefoil panels to the base. Panelled oak side benches are present, along with a 1914-18 war memorial in memory of Ivor Bulkeley. The walls are lined as ashlar.

The nave has a chamfered stone plinth, buttresses with chamfered corners and three closely-spaced chamfered stone offsets, corbelled eaves, and parapeted gable ends with chamfered stone copings. Small-paned cast-iron windows with intersecting tracery light the nave; two windows were replaced with stained glass in the late 19th century. The windows have chamfered reveals and painted stone cills. Circular quatrefoil panels with central uncarved shields appear in the western bays to north and south. A chamfered-arched north doorway in the north-western bay contains a pair of two-panelled Gothic doors.

The chancel has a chamfered stone plinth, corbelled eaves, and a parapeted gable end with shaped stone kneelers, chamfered stone coping and a cross at its apex. Triple-chamfered lancets to the east have a chamfered brick sub-cill and continuous hoodmould with carved stops. Windows to the north and south comprise two trefoil-headed lights with a quatrefoil in the tracery, hollow-chamfered reveals and returned hoodmoulds.

Internally, the church underwent alterations and additions around 1900 and in 1936. The nave walls are lined as ashlar, with windows featuring double-quirked beaded corners. The four-bay nave roof of 1836 employs bolted collar and tie-beam trusses with queen struts and raking struts; the brackets have pierced sexfoils in the spandrels. Pairs of purlins support a boarded soffit. A small chamfered rectangular opening appears in the west wall above the gallery.

Panelling at the west end of the nave incorporates unfluted pilaster strips and is dated 23 October 1936 (the centenary). Three Gothic west doors have 1936 surrounds with fluted Ionic pilaster strips. An earlier door from circa 1836 retains decorative strap hinges and four-panelled outer doors. The west gallery stands on a pair of fluted Ionic square posts (a 1936 alteration) and has an arcaded Gothic-panelled front. Three chamfered four-centred arched west doorways lead to the gallery. Nineteenth-century or early twentieth-century Gothic dado panelling lines the nave and chancel; the nave panelling to the right of the chancel arch is inscribed as a 1914-18 war memorial. A chamfered four-centred chancel arch spans into the chancel, which has a ceiled wagon roof. Chamfered rear arches frame the chancel windows.

Fittings are mostly of the late 19th century and include a reredos, wrought-iron and wooden altar rails, and choir stalls. An octagonal wooden pulpit dated 1899 displays profusely carved panels and frieze. A wooden lectern and plain pews with flush-panelled backs are present. An octagonal stone font with moulded base and top has a wooden cover with decorative wrought-iron work. Encaustic floor tiles pave the chancel. Stained glass fills the east window and one north and one south window of the nave. Various minor 19th-century monuments are scattered throughout. A north-west vestibule to the gallery has walls lined as ashlar and contains a circa 1836 staircase with closed string, rectangular-section stick balusters (two per tread), a tall columnar foot newel, and handrail.

The ecclesiastical parish of Ash Magna was formed in 1844. The chancel was built in memory of the Reverend Henry Brumell Finch, vicar from 1882 to 1899. This church is a Gothic version of Christ Church, Tilstock, with plans that are almost identical, sharing a partly integral tower and short chancel (now rebuilt at Ash). The church is aligned north-west/south-east, though this description uses liturgical compass points.