Church Of St George

WORCESTER

SO8456SE ST GEORGE'S SQUARE 620-1/6/561 (East side) 05/04/71 Church of St George

GV II

Church. 1893-5, by Sir Aston Webb. Red brick with ashlar banding and dressings and Westmorland slate roof. Aisled nave with chapels flanking chancel and north vestry. Free Gothic Revival style. West front in Perpendicular style, stylistically after King's College and St George's Chapel, Windsor and its overall form based on the west front of Tewkesbury Cathedral, with large 4-light transomed window set in deeply-splayed surround with 2 orders of chamfering to 4-centred stone arch, the outer spandrels sunk into the sides of octagonal-plan flanking turrets which rise to parapet and are surmounted by crenellated upper stages and spirelets; spirelets flank central gablet with East Anglian-style chequer work above banded brick and stone; entrance porch is brought forward, recessed slightly behind plane of turrets, and has similar chequer work to parapet above frieze of vertical panels, broken at centre by head of doorway; this has statue of St George and the Dragon set in cusped niche and concave-swept surround, set above horizontal cornice and banded spandrels to round arch with moulded head and splayed jambs, the inner Perpendicular-style surround with segmental arch and shafts surmounted by cusping carved into tympanum. Plain brick side elevations have cusped lancet windows, paired to each bay of clerestory; 7-light west window with flowing curvilinear tracery; north vestry has 3-light plate-tracery window. INTERIOR: Brick with stone banding to piers, shafts and dressings, the chancel distinguished by a greater use of stone with traceried panels to the arch. Shafting runs up double-chamfered piers to the open timber roof, with double-chamfered surrounds to round arcade arches. Low stone pedestals with trefoil panels, framing balustrade and gates, mark the entrance to the chancel. Stencilled Arts and Crafts decoration to organ case and pipes on N side of chancel, all that remains of internal decoration. Art Nouveau styling to screens which separate chancel from chapels, arcaded reredos with coloured marble in spandrel quatrefoils, Gethsemane scene and Symbols of the Evangelists. Altar rail with decorative panels. Stained glass includes east window of St George and aisle and chapel windows by Kempe, the east window to the Lady Chapel being particularly fine with Virgin and Child with the Heavenly Hosts set against an azure star-spangled background. (The Builder: 1894-1895).