Cromer Baptist Church

Cromer Baptist Church

This Baptist church was built in 1902 and opened in 1903. It was designed by A F Scott of Norwich and constructed by Girling and Smith of Cromer. The building is constructed of Fletton brick with terracotta dressings and a slate roof.

The building is rectangular on plan, aligned north-east to south-west, with the rear section to Surrey Street incorporating part of a 19th-century house that originally stood on the site.

The principal elevation to Church Street is designed in the Free Gothic Revival style and consists of two storeys in three bays. The central entrance bay projects forward with octagonal shafts rising to finials with a shaped panelled parapet between. At ground floor level is an arched entrance screen with continuous hoodmould to a recessed porch. The porch contains a central round-headed archway with wrought iron gates and flanking lancets with wrought iron railings. The porch floor is laid with encaustic tiles and has half-glazed doors with sidelights and fanlights. Above the doorway is a terracotta frieze with blind cusped tracery and the inscription 'THE MEETING HOUSE / OF THE / BAPTIST CHURCH' in relief. The first floor has a large five-light window with a four-centred arch. The two flanking bays are identical, each with slightly projecting ground floors containing three-light windows with four-centred arches, moulded string courses, shaped parapets and octagonal corner shafts. The first floors of these bays have lancets, moulded string courses and shaped parapets. All windows feature cusped ogee heads, quatrefoil tracery and hoodmoulds with foliated stops. The three- and five-light windows also have double-chamfered sills.

The rear elevation to Surrey Street is 19th-century work consisting of three storeys in three bays, with the right-hand bay being wider. At ground floor level is an off-centre recessed porch with a four-centred arch. To its left are two small horned sashes, with a large three-over-three horned sash to the right. The left-hand bay contains two-over-two horned sashes to the first and second floors whilst the central bay has blind window openings. The right-hand bay features a two-storey canted oriel with horned sashes rising through the first and second floors.

The entrance provides access to a small lobby with a parquet floor and vertically-boarded wainscoting. A screen wall with a central three-light window flanked by two-light windows on each side divides the lobby from the chapel; all windows have flat arches, stone surrounds and cusped ogee heads. Doorways to the chapel at each end have stone surrounds, half-glazed doors and fanlights with cusped ogee heads. A wrought-iron staircase with elaborate scroll work rises from the lobby's right-hand side to the balcony above.

The double-height chapel has a raked parquet floor and vertically-boarded wainscoting to the walls. It is divided into six bays by a blind arcade of Tuscan pilasters and three-centred arches. The rectangular ceiling is deeply coved and panelled with moulded ribs on simple wooden corbels, with a leaded glazed dome at its centre. A panelled and canted pulpit with blind cusped tracery, steps and side rails with pierced balusters stands at the north-east end. Behind the pulpit is a panelled backboard with a shaped pediment, a top row of square panels and a blind arcade of three-centred arches below, all rising beneath a round-headed arch carried on corner pilasters. Arranged in rows in front of the pulpit are bench pews with tongue and groove backs and plain bench seats with shaped bench ends. Attached to the aisle walls are individual folding seats, each with a bible stand and brass coat hook. In the late 20th century the south-west bay at the entrance end was partitioned and the pews removed to create a meeting room. Above this meeting room sits the balcony, set beneath a three-centred arch carried on large plain corbels. The balcony front comprises ornamental iron scroll work with pointed arches with trefoil tracery and flora and foliage motifs set above a row of Greek crosses with fleur-de-lys terminals to the arms. The balcony is raked and has bench pews, vertically-boarded wainscoting and a wooden floor. A panelled screen with small-paned lights is fitted to the balcony doorway. A moveable wooden screen has been constructed behind the first row of pews on the balcony to help conserve heat. All internal woodwork, including the pulpit, reredos and pews, is of pitched pine.

To the right-hand side of the pulpit is a wooden panelled door providing access to the surviving section of the 19th-century house that originally occupied the site. This comprises two rooms to each floor, simply fitted out but retaining a small number of original fixtures and fittings including built-in cupboards, panelled doors, dado rails and coat hook rails.