Church Of St Stephen

Church of St Stephen

A parish church built between 1858 and 1861, designed by George Gilbert Scott in the Geometrical Decorated style, rooted in mid-13th century English Gothic. This architectural approach represented what Scott and his contemporaries regarded as the stylistic high point of Gothic design.

The church is constructed of flint rubble encircled by two continuous bands of limestone, except at the vestry which features only one band. All windows are set beneath arches formed by alternating voussoirs of knapped flint and dressed limestone. The roofs are plain tiled, with the spire shingled.

The church is traditionally orientated east to west, with a chancel, nave, north aisle, north organ chamber, north vestry, south porch, and a distinctive round west tower containing a baptistery in its base.

Exterior

The south elevation comprises a four-bay nave with a porch and a two-bay chancel, featuring five windows. Each window has a sexfoil oculus above two cusped lancet lights, enclosed within a pointed arch surmounted by a hood mould with carved head stops. The gabled south porch projects from the nave with a plain tile roof and decorative flushwork. Its entrance is a large pointed archway flanked by columns with bell-moulded capitals. Inside the porch runs a continuous stone bench along both walls, above which are deeply recessed windows with chamfered surrounds, divided by a carved limestone column.

The round west tower rises in three stages and is topped with a shingled spire above a corbelled parapet. An engaged stair turret projects to the south. The bell chamber features a blind arcade with some louvered openings. The second stage contains a single narrow lancet, while the lower stage has three cusped lancets, each with a trefoil head.

The north elevation includes the north aisle and vestry, both under single-slope plain tile roofs. The aisle has three paired-lancet windows with cusped heads and a wooden door set within a pointed arch with a moulded hood and carved head stops. The vestry has one pair of square-headed windows, a wooden door set within a stone cusped surround, and an engaged flint and limestone chimney stack. The east vestry wall features paired cusped lancets with a carved stone oculus above, echoing the adjacent East Window.

The East Window, the principal feature of the eastern elevation, emulates 13th century plate tracery. It comprises a cinquefoil oculus above two sexfoil oculi, which surmount three cusped lancets. These are framed by columns with bell capitals, supporting a pointed arch with a carved hood mould and head stops.

Interior

The baptistery at the west end displays elaborate design with a ribbed vaulted ceiling supported by wall shafts with richly carved corbels, capitals, and bosses. The font is a circular stone tub with a rope-patterned rim, set on marble columns, with a cover featuring a wrought iron rim and decorative boss. The baptistery window depicts the Good Shepherd and illustrates the phrase "Suffer the little children".

The nave comprises four bays with a north aisle beyond an arcade of octagonal columns and pointed arches. The church has open timber roofs, with the nave featuring a crown post roof. At the east end of the nave stands a stone pulpit with rich foliate carving, marble shafts, and carved busts of St Peter and St Paul. Both the pulpit and font were created by William Farmer (1825–1879), a notable carver who in the 1860s entered into partnership with his employee William Brindley (1832–1919), forming one of the best-known firms of architectural sculptors of the period. The church retains its original open benches in their entirety, and the north aisle west end contains children's pews. The main south, north, and vestry doors feature high-quality wrought iron strap hinges and decorative bosses. The baptistery, aisles, porch, and chancel are floored with red and black quarry tiles bordered by decorated encaustic tiles.

The north vestry is plain and modest, with a wooden floor and a simple stone fire surround. The organ chamber still houses an organ built by Prosser, which originally stood in St Mary's, Denham.

A great chancel arch with moulded column capitals frames the chancel, where the architectural quality and detail are elevated. The sanctuary is raised by three steps and features tessellated and encaustic tiles by Minton, extending up the east wall to sill level in tiled bands. The reredos is alabaster inlaid with non-figurative decorative work in green Galway marble, by William Field of Parliament Street in London. The south wall contains sedilia set into the rebate and sill of a stained-glass window. The north wall has a cusped piscina. The communion rail is supported by wrought iron stanchions. Four brass candelabra survive in the choir. The choir stalls have ornamented bench ends and desks. The east window depicts the Crucifixion in the main lights, with canopy work, and in the foiled openings above, angels and the Mystic Lamb. Ringed shafts of Purbeck marble with stiff-leaf limestone capitals stand between them. The south windows depict the Annunciation and the Martyrdom of St Stephen.