Church of St Anselm, Hayes

Church of St Anselm, Hayes

A church completed in 1929 to the designs of architect Hubert Christian Corlette (1869-1956).

The building is constructed of London stock brick laid in English bond with red Binfield brick detailing and Clipsham and Weldon stone dressings. The nave roof is covered in tiered Old Delabole slates, while the side aisles and vestries have flat roofs. The church is entered from the road at its eastern end, reversing the normal liturgical compass points; liturgical directions are used throughout the description that follows.

The interior plan comprises a nave and choir placed under one roof, divided from the side aisles by arcades of three wide bays with two half-bays at either end. A short chancel projects at the eastern end. Two porches are positioned at either side of the western end. A choir vestry is attached to the southern side, and a clergy vestry is placed underneath the organ loft at the south-eastern corner. A combined bellcote and boiler chimney stands at this same corner.

Externally, the nave aisles have tall walls extending almost to the full height of the nave, with three traceried windows to each side. The brick walling projects in front of the wall surface to form a distinctive leitmotif of the design. The walls consist of yellow stock London bricks with flush bands of red brick. Flank windows each have two lights with traceried heads. Blind projections forming buttresses appear at either end of the flanks, corresponding to the internal half bays; the south-eastern buttress rises higher to form the bellcote. Small square lights are set in the upper wall, with similar windows forming a clerestory in the upper nave walling. Burnt brick headers and stretchers placed on end create cross patterns in the panels between window bays. The aisle walls are crowned by a parapet topped with pantiles, creating the impression of subsidiary pitched roofing.

The western street front features a central three-light window with traceried head, flanked by lancets at the aisle ends. Two porches with basket-arched heads and tumbled brickwork stand in front, positioned at the offsets of flanking buttresses. The eastern window also has three lights and projects upward into shallow-pitched gables finished with cross finials. Below the eastern window is a foundation stone inscribed "AM + DG / THIS STONE WAS LAID BY THE / RT HON LORD JUSTICE BANKES / CHAIRMAN OF / THE LONDON DIOCESAN FUND / MAY 13 1927". The choir vestry on the southern side has a porch on its western side and two two-light casements on its southern flank.

The interior side walls and arcade are of exposed brick, with red brick to the lower wall and stock brick above. The octagonal piers of the arcades are of Clipsham stone with moulded caps and bases. The panelled and painted roof, designed and executed by MacDonald Gill, is supported by braces springing from stone brackets set in the side walls. The panels are painted with stars and the signs of the Zodiac surrounding the sun; symbols from the Book of Revelation appear over the altar and symbols of the Passion over the font. Braces and ribs are painted with a chequered pattern.

Furnishings designed by Corlette include the font with a square bowl, the pulpit and communion rails, the altar and carved screen to the Lady Chapel, and a carved high altar now placed at the west end. The lower chancel walling at the east end has been panelled. The carved screen forming the original surround and reredos to the high altar has been removed, as have the original low choir stalls. Flooring consists of green and cream coloured terrazzo and wood blocks.

The east window is by Powell of Whitefriars, dated 1952.