Castle Street Methodist Church And Sunday School Including Front Gates And Railings

The building comprises a Methodist Church and Sunday School, constructed in 1914 by A.F. Scott and Son of Norwich. It is built of red brick with stone-coloured faience dressings and coped slate roofs, executed in a Tudor Perpendicular style. The church features Tudor-arched windows with hood moulds and foliage stops, some incorporating tracery, and angle buttresses to the front. It consists of a nave with a gabled front, a tower to the right, and an organ chamber at the east end. A narrow yard separates the church from the Sunday School, which is also gabled and two storeys high to the rear, connected to the church by a two-storey linking range.

The church's slightly projecting frontispiece porch has a double-leafed door. Single-light windows are positioned on either side of the porch, topped by a five-light window. A low projecting element is present to the left, and the two-stage tower to the right has a single-light window to the front and right side, with larger windows above. The tower features a pierced balustrade. The nave sides have three-light windows, while the organ chamber has a two-light window. The rear facade, facing St. Peter's Street, contains two windows to the organ chamber ground floor, two single-light windows to the link range on both floors, and three windows on both floors to the rear of the Sunday School, all matching the primary windows with hood moulds and foliage stops, and some with tracery. The Sunday School’s front, facing Castle Street, incorporates a double-leafed, part-glazed door, a three-light window above, and two two-light windows with tracery either side. Three gabled dormers with three-light windows are present on each side. A further arched entrance is found within the narrow yard, set within a single-storey, flat-roofed corridor backing onto the linking range. Cast-iron gates and railings run across the front of both buildings.

Inside the church, a hammer-beam roof is boarded to the sides and at collar level. Original fittings are exceptionally complete, including a west gallery with cusped arcading on the front, a set of pews with carved, cusped ends, a wide east end arch housing a moulded and carved reading desk and communion rail, and a choir gallery behind the organ, with an arcaded front and cusping.

The Methodist Church and Sunday School form a richly detailed ensemble, carefully designed to be viewed from all angles, taking advantage of the sloping site on the Castle Street front. It is part of a group alongside other listed buildings.