Church Of St Gabriel

Church of St Gabriel

Parish church built 1938-39 to the designs of Lavender & Twentyman, with Richard Twentyman as partner in charge. The building features reinforced concrete foundations and solid brick walls with reinforced concrete roofs. All copings, window and door surrounds, and mullions are of Clipsham stone. Joinery is of oak with some mahogany.

The church comprises a five bay nave with a south-west porch as the main entrance. A choir and organ gallery occupy the west end, with an adjoining choir vestry at the same level. A Lady chapel is situated on the north side, and the chancel sits within an east end tower.

Exterior

The south elevation displays six bays (not including the tower). The aisle projects proud of the nave at ground floor level, with the main entrance at the south-west end featuring a low-pitched gable and arched door. The aisle has mullioned windows at bay intervals. At the east end is a canted chancel and ambulatory entrance, with the ambulatory continuing eastwards with mullioned windows for four bays. The nave, including choir and organ gallery, has six bays defined by tall narrow windows with stone architraves and splayed bases. The roof is concealed behind a parapet with stone coping and brick modillions in the manner of John Soane and contemporary Scandinavian motifs below. The chancel tower is the focal point of detail, featuring a bell turret with slits for illumination and long vertical openings in the bell section. Between the bell turret and a shallow south-east buttress are four arched chancel lights. In contrast to the Modernistic character of much of the church are the vernacular-style aisle, Lady chapel and ambulatory ground floor mullioned windows with leaded lights.

Interior

The five bay nave features an unmoulded arched aisle arcade with corresponding nave windows above. The dominant interior feature is a huge chancel arch. The nave is furnished with chairs alone and accommodates 510 people including the Lady chapel and choir. Much of the aisle window glazing dates from 1984; originally all glazing was plain. The font, a noteworthy neo-classical design with a tapered fluted profile on a stone plinth with tiled base (effectively an inverted Doric column), has been repositioned from underneath the organ gallery to a southern aisle arch. The nave retains unusual projecting light fittings complete with original glass covers.

Originally very plain, the chancel has accumulated furnishings and fittings over time, including a reredos installed in 1964. The chancel underwent reordering in 1991. Original to the chancel are the streamlined lectern and pulpit, one with an eagle motif and the other with a Lamb of God motif. Figures on the east-end wall were installed in 1981. The chancel ceiling is coffered. Integral original features include the Continental Modernist-style ambulatory and clergy vestry area cupboards, organ gallery seating, nave light fittings and incidental details such as a vestibule bookcase fitted neatly into a corner emanating from the skirting board. The Lady chapel was initially a plain room with minimal decoration except for a comparatively ornate east-end altar and reredos. Ceiling lights are set into recessed roundels.

History

St Gabriel's was the first church designed by the distinguished Wolverhampton-based practice Lavender and Twentyman. Richard Twentyman (1903-79) studied at the Architectural Association and qualified in 1931 before joining Ernest Charles Lavender (1890-1942) in partnership. The firm specialised in public houses in the early 1930s but in the post-war period—by then operating as Lavender, Twentyman and Percy—established a reputation for good modern churches, chiefly in the West Midlands. St Gabriel's proved important in establishing their reputation in this field.