Shefford Methodist Church

TL 1438 SHEFFORD AMPTHILL ROAD 11/93

• Shefford Methodist Church

• II

Methodist church. Erected 1912 on site of Wesleyan chapel. (Kelly's Directory of Bedfordshire, 1914, p.168). Red brick with stone dressings. Slate roofs with terracotta ridge cresting. Rectangular building oriented N - S, with shallow transepts towards S end. Art Nouveau Gothic style, remarkably unaltered. N (road) gable: semi-octagonal porch to centre, from which rise 2 decorative buttresses. Small battered towers to corners. Stone banding and coping to gable and porch. Most windows have pointed-arched heads, with cinquefoiled ogee arch to each light. Central window is large, of 3 lights, flanking ones are long single lights. Corner towers have lancets. Small single lights to porch. Segmental-arched doorway contains 5-light fanlight above part-glazed double doors painted to imitate oak and retaining original strap hinges. Decorative stone tracery to apex of gable. Wrought ironwork decoration to roofs of corner towers. Other elevations: similar 2 and 3-light windows. Interior: apparently unaltered, the decorative features include moulded ceiling timbers, ogee-headed panelling to S end, fine Art Nouveau stained glass, and variety of brass fittings.

Listing NGR: TL1409138952