Church Of St Stephen

The Church of St Stephen is a redundant, but now reopened, church built between 1869 and 1871, designed by S. S. Teulon. It is constructed of purple Luton brick with stone dressings, bands, and sculptures, and has slated roofs. The architectural style is a modified Early French Gothic style with plate tracery.

The church comprises a six-bay aisled nave with a clerestory, transepts and a polygonal sanctuary with a mezzanine floor of meeting rooms beneath. A tall crossing tower with a pyramidal roof is complemented by an attached stair turret with a conical roof on its south-east angle. The west front features a gabled portico with three arcaded arches on clustered columns. Large stepped buttresses flank the portico and are connected by flying buttresses, incorporating sculpted figures. A modillion parapet rises above nine grouped arcaded windows, which illuminate an internal gallery. Above the gallery is a plate tracery wheel window. The aisles have lean-to roofs and square-headed, four-light, trefoil tracery windows. The clerestory features slightly pointed arch windows of four lights with quatrefoil tracery and sculpted demi-angels, likely the work of Thomas Earp. Buttressed transepts have gabled fronts with five-light windows, and each includes a rose and a wheel window; the north transept has a gable sculpture of King David by Earp. The buttressed sanctuary has windows with trefoil and rose tracery. The crossing tower’s belfry openings are paired and louvred, with clocks on each face, and an arcaded gallery that extends around the stair turret.

The interior, though not inspected recently, was noted to be magnificent when complete, retaining considerable interest even in a derelict state. The brickwork is banded in pale yellow, white, and grey, with a fine brick vault to the crossing, a double chancel arch, and a vaulted sanctuary. The nave roof features timber trusses with arch-braces, Queen posts, and collar purlins. Nave arcading is on sandstone columns supporting brick arches with dogtooth decoration, projecting headers and stretchers. Capitals were carved by Earp, and sgraffito roundels are situated above. A narthex includes a brick gallery opening onto the nave through segmental arches supported on coupled columns with unusual unhistorical circular dosserets. Stained glass, now vandalized and with some pieces stolen, is by Clayton and Bell, Heaton, Butler & Bayne. Vandalized mosaics by Salviati are also present. A font, likely designed by Ewan Christian, was formerly part of the church’s fittings. Removable fittings previously included woodwork by Temple Moore, a Henry Willis organ, and a good pulpit.

Historical records indicate the building cost rose from an original estimate of £7,500 to £27,000. St Stephen’s was considered the culmination of Teulon's career and life. It was famously described by John Ruskin as "the finest specimen of brick building in all the land." The church was declared redundant in 1977, but has since reopened.