Christ Church, Latchingdon

A Gothic revival church in the decorated style, dating to 1856 and built to the designs of J P St Aubyn.

MATERIALS: the church is constructed of Kentish ragstone with ashlar dressings. It has a tiled roof.

PLAN: the building is rectangular on plan with the porch projecting from the south-west.

EXTERIOR: the church is in the decorated Gothic style with tracery to the 2-centred windows and diagonally projecting shouldered buttresses. The nave is higher and wider than the chancel. The main entrance is a pointed arch doorway in the south porch which has a moulded hood mould with carved head stops. There are two pointed windows to the west elevation with a wheel window above. There is a pair of windows to each side elevation for the nave and a further two in the chancel. The large east window has decorative tracery with lancets and quatrefoils interlaced above. The gabled porch projects to the south. An Essex bellcote rises from the western end of the church with a tiled lower stage and shingled belfry above; the steeple is conical and slated. There is a small vestry projecting at the north-eastern corner of the building.

INTERIOR: the interior is high church gothic. In the Nave a scissor braced roof with five principal beams rests on the wall-head and supporting crown posts. The chancel roof is of similar construction but without the principal beams. Two steps through a simply moulded gothic arch lead to the chancel. Here the floor is tiled and there is an altar rail of decorative ironwork. The chancel floor is tiled. The pews in the nave stand on slightly raised timber platforms. The central aisle is tiled and now carpeted. There is stained glass to two windows in the nave and chancel respectively; the chancel windows are William Morris. These depict scenes from the New Testament. The nave window to the south commemorates three daughters of the local Howard Flanders family and depicts St Helena, St Mary St Margaret. The other nave window is dedicated to Charles Pulley who donated the land for the church. The east window contains scenes from the life of Jesus. The organ stands towards the north-west corner of the church. The bellcote is partially exposed with bellropes hanging from it whilst the timber and octagonal pulpit is located by the altar of the former St Michael’s. A plain font is located in the south-west corner, standing on a floor of diamond red and black check terrazzo tiling with a decorative border.