Church Of The Ascension Including Church Hall To East

The Church of the Ascension, built in 1903 by Walter Tapper, is a parish church located on Somers Park Avenue, Malvern. Constructed of rendered brick with Guiting stone ashlar dressings, the church has a collyweston stone tile roof, with the chancel reclad in the late 19th century and the west tower containing an organ chamber in its first stage. A detached church hall is situated at the east end of the chancel. The church is designed in a Free Early English lancet style.

The church features a tall, four-bay nave with pairs of lancet windows set high in the north and south walls, framed by flat buttresses and a prominent moulded plinth. The south doorway has two orders, topped with brattishing. The plinth continues around the chancel, where the ground level is lower, creating the impression that the three-bay chancel is taller. The chancel has single lancet windows on its north and south walls, a triple lancet east window, and a stone bellcote at the junction with the nave. A small ashlar west tower, cross-gabled, has two-light north and south bell openings. Below the west gable is a stone relief depicting the Ascension, carved by Harry Hems of Exeter, accompanied by a carved inscription and a triple lancet window beneath. A small stair turret is located in the northwest angle of the nave and tower. The church is topped with a wrought-iron weather vane, a cross over the east gable, and a stone chimney on the north side of the chancel. The church hall, linked to the chancel by a porch, contains two pairs of three-light cross-mullion windows with transoms, spanning two bays.

Inside, the walls are plastered with stone dressings. The nave vault has transverse ribs on tall shafts. A triforium extends across the four bays of the nave, with arcades. A tripartite arcade provides access to the organ loft above the tower arch. The triforium continues around the chancel, which is rib-vaulted and features detached shafts supporting the tripartite east window, a three-bay sedilia, and a tall chancel arch. The furnishings include a wrought-iron screen, a font cover, and altar ornaments created by George Bainbridge Reynolds. A rood, originally from Oberammergau, is also present, along with a painted reredos, a panelled polygonal pulpit with a canopy, a Purbeck marble font with clusters of detached shafts, and choir stalls with poppy-head ends and traceried fronts. A carving of St Michael is positioned over the tower arch, likely by Hems.

The church was gifted by Louisa Vavasour Livingstone in memory of her husband, Arthur Guinness Livingstone.