The Old Church

The Old Church is a former church, now offices, built between 1850 and 1856. It was designed by Charles Parker for Alexander Raphael, a Member of Parliament. The building was converted and extended in the 1980s. Constructed of ashlar, the roof originally featured Roman pantiles and was later replaced with asbestos slate. The church comprises an aisled nave with a south-western campanile, a chancel with flanking vestries and a crypt below, and a link passage connecting to the former vicarage at the rear. The architectural style is Italianate, characterized by shallow-pitched roofs, heavily bracketed eaves, round-arched windows, and carved classical capitals.

The campanile features corner piers and three stages defined by bracketed bands and a heavy cornice. The lower stage contains double multi-panelled doors with a carved stone lunette above bearing the APXW symbol. The upper stages have triple-arched openings, with Corinthian capitals to the larger belfry lights and Tuscan capitals matching the clerestory windows. A bellcote is situated at the far end of the nave. The aisles have two-light windows in an Italian Renaissance style with foliated capitals. The lower vestries have wide arches; the one to the south has 20th-century doors, while the large, triple-arched chancel windows are visible above. 1980s extensions to the rear form an L-shaped wing, partially below ground, terminating in a broken ashlar gable with a fully-glazed projecting bay.

Inside, the campanile contains stone stairs leading to the belfry and multi-panelled inner doors. The nave has been partitioned into three storeys but retains three-bay arcades supported by Ionic columns. The arch soffits are carved with foliage panels, and blind oculi situated above are now concealed within attic spaces above the aisles. Moulded plinths and arches are present at the campanile and chancel. The chancel features wall piers with egg and dart capitals, Corinthian window details, and a 1980s staircase. Roof trusses, doubled over the nave and chancel, have heavy cut brackets and bosses. Clear leaded glass is present throughout, with 1880s stained glass only in the central eastern light, currently undergoing restoration.

The church was originally designed for St. Raphael in Surbiton, Surrey, which was built between 1846 and 1847 for Alexander Raphael. It was intended as a Roman Catholic church but was completed for the Church of England by Mrs. Isabella Worley. Consecrated in 1859, it was later used by Methodists. Despite its conversion, the building retains special architectural interest owing to its Italianate ashlar exterior and largely intact structure. It has group value with the former vicarage located to the rear.