Christ Church, Latchingdon

Christ Church is a Gothic revival church in the decorated style, dating to 1856 and built to the designs of J P St Aubyn. The church is constructed of Kentish ragstone with ashlar dressings, and has a tiled roof. The building is rectangular on plan, with a porch projecting from the south-west.

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

The interior is high church gothic. The nave has a scissor-braced roof with five principal beams resting 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, where the floor is tiled and there is an altar rail of decorative ironwork. The nave pews stand on slightly raised timber platforms, and the central aisle is tiled and now carpeted. Stained glass is present in two nave windows and the chancel windows, the latter being William Morris designs and depicting scenes from the New Testament. The nave window to the south commemorates three daughters of the local Howard Flanders family and depicts St Helena and 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. The bellcote is partially exposed, with bellropes hanging from it, and a 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.